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What Exercise Burns The Most Calories 2024: Top 10 Effectively At Home

Sevginur Akdas

Updated on - Written by
Medically reviewed by Dr G. Michael DiLeo, MD

what exercise burns the most calories
10 Exercises help you burn the most calories. Photo: El Nariz/Shutterstock

Fall and Winter… These seasons are the time of the year that we cover our extra body fat with clothes. But everybody knows that it is there. On the other hand, these seasons offer an excellent chance to gain healthy habits and move on to a healthy life. There are several tricks to burn fat, running, jumping rope, burpees… Let’s explore together what type of exercise burns the most calories.

10 Exercises That Burn The Most Calories

  1. Running
  2. Cycling
  3. Swimming
  4. Circuit training
  5. Jumping rope
  6. Rowing
  7. Aerobic step
  8. Soccer / Basketball / Tennis
  9. Boxing / Kickboxing / Judo
  10. Dancing

What Exercise Burns The Most Calories At Home?

According to Harvard Medical School, depending on your body weight (125 pounds/56 kg to 185 pounds/83 kg), the exercises that burn the most calories in 30 minutes are listed below. 

Running

what exercise burns the most calories
Running is an exercise that anyone can easily do and does not require any special equipment. Photo: Kitreel/Shutterstock

Basic Run

These involve running at your natural pace for a short or moderate period. The aim is to improve aerobic capacity.

Fartlek and Interval Run

Fartlek runs (Swedish term for “quick play”) involve running at different speeds for specified periods. In these interval runs, times or distances are fixed on which you run fastest. How many calories are spent because of the strenuous effort?

Hill Repeat

Hill training means running uphill. It involves going up a slope by running at maximum capacity, and down by jogging or walking at a slow pace. It is an effective workout both in terms of improving leg strength and cardio.

If you run around 6 mph (10 min/mile) speed, you can burn 360-420 kcal per 30 minutes depending on your body weight. 

Cycling

The training principles of cycling are quite similar to running. It is also possible to diversify the training for cycling. You can include interval ridings or increase strength by riding uphill in your training.

It makes you burn 250-336 kcal if you ride around 12-13.9 mph in 30 minutes.

Swimming

what exercise burns the most calories
You can burn 450 calories in 30 minutes with butterfly swimming. Photo: Ground Picture/Shutterstock

Swimming types also change the amount of calorie burn expenditure. You can burn 450 calories in 30 minutes with butterfly swimming, which is known as the most difficult style.

Freestyle swimming comes in second for calorie-burning at roughly 300 calories per 30 minutes of swimming; then backstroke and breaststroke follow.

In general low-impact swimming, you can burn between 180-250 burn calories in 30 minutes. An advantage to swimming over other types of exercise is that you won’t get overheated.

Circuit Training

Circuit training consists of a series of movements that work different parts of the body, performed one after the other within certain activity periods. Therefore, it easily can be diversified. 

Adding external weights to these workouts can turn them into training that includes strength and endurance.

You can burn about 240 calories in 30 minutes with circuit training.

Jumping Rope

Jumping rope is an effective training in calorie expenditure as we create a force against gravity. It also can be inserted into your high-intensity exercise burn.

By jumping rope, you can burn about 240 to 350 calories per 30 minutes. If you jump faster, it can even increase to 340-500 calories. The downside is the wear and tear on your knee joints and hips.

Rowing

Rowing is a high-intensity exercise and is good for calorie expenditure as it requires a high level of aerobic and anaerobic capacity. It strengthens the upper body.  

A moderate rowing exercise can cost you around 210-294 calories in 30 minutes. The higher intensity you row with, the more calories you can burn, about 255-440 calories. 

Aerobic Step 

Aerobic step training is also an exercise type that you would prefer to do with moderate intensity or high intensity. It is also possible to diversify the workout with bodyweight exercises or extra weights using the step board. 

Aerobic step training can burn 210 to 294 calories in 30 minutes.

Soccer/Basketball/Tennis

Team sports include varying movements, especially sprinting; for example, explosive sprints help you burn a significant amount of calories. However, movements that require sudden explosive power also can lead to injuries since you overburden your musculoskeletal system beyond its normal physiologic limits.

Therefore, for team sports, it is recommended to strengthen muscles and tendons gradually with different strength, balance, and endurance training while keeping within your own limitations.

You can burn between 210-290 calories in 30 minutes.

Boxing/Kickboxing/Judo

Martial arts are sports that require a significant amount of strength. In addition, they are high-intensity exercises due to agile and fast movements. On the downside, poor performance in a combative sport can result in injury.

 You can burn around 270-378 kcal in 30 minutes with martial arts sports.

Dancing

Dancing is a good cardio exercise. It is very entertaining as it is accompanied by music and can be a good choice for someone who is just starting to exercise. Additionally, dance as exercise is unique in the exercise realm in that it doesn’t involve competition or adversarial contact; instead, it is a social exercise, which is part of the enjoyment.

You can burn 180-250 calories–and have fun–while dancing.

How Long Should You Exercise?

According to the American College of Sports Medicine[1] “stand” on the quantity and quality of exercise for developing and maintaining cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal, and neuromotor fitness:

  • Moderate-intensity cardiorespiratory exercise should be done 5 or more times per week for more than 30 minutes at a time. A total of 150 minutes of cardio exercises per week is recommended.
  • If high-intensity exercise is involved, it is recommended to do it 3 or more times a week for more than 20 minutes at a time.
  • The recommended total energy expenditure per week should be 500 to 1000 kcal.
  • 2-3 weeks after starting exercise, it is recommended that adults do resistance exercises for each major muscle group and neuromotor exercises, including balance, agility, and coordination.

You may wonder what exercise you can do at home to burn the most calories if you don’t have the opportunity to go to the gym. Some high-intensity interval training exercises requiring no equipment are suitable for home or even the office, such as jumping jacks, squats, push-ups, lunges, etc.

Factors Affecting Calories Burned While Exercising

Several factors affect your body’s energy expenditure or exercise efficiency. 

Hydration

If you do not pay attention to adequate water intake during exercise, the numbers you see decreasing on the scale cannot go beyond your body water loss, for such a quick loss is due only to water loss. For this reason, you need to drink at least 1 ml of water for every 1 calorie you spend during exercise. (In fact, that’s how a calorie–or as it is usually designated, kcal–is defined[2]: the energy needed to raise one kg of water 1 °C.)

Hydration management[3] can be performed by weighing before and after exercise and calculating the difference in body weight as water loss.

Nutrition

It is thought that some substances contained in foods have effects that increase performance or exercise efficiency. These species are called ergogenics.

The most well-known ergogenic substance is caffeine which increases exercise performance[4]. A meta-analysis study[5] conducted in 2020 showed that moderate caffeine intake before exercise could increase fat utilization during aerobic exercise performed after a fasting period.

In addition, foods such as beetroot[6] and watermelon[7] have positive effects on exercise because they increase the molecule, nitric oxide[8], which is associated with better utilization of oxygen in the body because it is a vasodilator, allowing better circulation and thereby better oxygenation of tissues.

Weather

Although many people tend to gain weight during the winter months, these months are ideal for losing weight, too, because the body expends extra energy to maintain body temperature during outdoor exercises, e.g., running in winter.

General Health Status

If one has cardiovascular disease, it might be challenging to do such high-intensity training; it even may be harmful. In this case, the most reasonable aerobic exercise is walking.

According to a study[9] of diabetic individuals, aerobic exercises decrease blood sugar during exercise more than resistance training, but resistance training regulates good sugar status better per 24 hours. 

Another study[10] of obese individuals showed that high-intensity interval training alternating with regular aerobic exercises led to higher weight loss than aerobic exercises alone.

According to the same position stand cited by the American College of Sports Medicine, weekly expenditures of 1000 kcal energy with physical activity are good for cardiovascular health and the prevention of diseases. 

It is essential to ask your doctor before starting an exercise program whether your health may be at risk due to its intensity.

Efficient Ways To Burn More Calories During Your Workout

Muscle Mass

Body muscle mass is the main factor affecting basal energy expenditure[11]. As the body-muscle ratio increases, i.e., as more muscle mass is added, the energy required for metabolism increases. 

Therefore, to lose weight, it may be beneficial to increase your muscle mass with strength training instead of burning calories only with cardiovascular exercises, which involve fat.

Exercise Intensity

It is often stated that moderate-intensity physical activities are ideal for fat burning. However, it has been shown that its threshold, that is, high-intensity exercises performed at a high heart rate, also increases[12] the maximum oxygen utilization capacity (VO2 max.)

Therefore, when creating your weekly exercise program, you can create a plan that includes alternating moderate and high-intensity exercises. 

Core Strength 

You need to add strength exercises for the abs[13] to improve your fitness level. Ab workouts can also be a good calorie burner. Here are the ab workouts that burn the most calories: 

  • Burpees
  • High knee running
  • Mountain climbing
  • Tuck jumps
  • Planks and side plank

Diet

There is a common fallacy about exercise: “I can eat everything now!” But it is a myth and a huge mistake. Much research indicates that exercise has an effect of only 2%-6% on weight loss without dietary management[14]

The Bottom Line

Burning calories with exercise depends on the intensity of the exercise as well as its continuity and frequency (allowing for muscle recovery). It has been scientifically proven that moderate-intensity exercises affect fat burning when done regularly. 

In addition, diversifying exercises with high-intensity exercises, endurance, and strength exercises also contribute to weight management in many ways. It has also been shown that doing exercise or sports without making any improvement in nutrition is not very practical for losing weight. 

Don’t forget to consult your doctor first to have a training program suitable for your health status.


+ 14 sources

Health Canal avoids using tertiary references. We have strict sourcing guidelines and rely on peer-reviewed studies, academic researches from medical associations and institutions. To ensure the accuracy of articles in Health Canal, you can read more about the editorial process here

  1. Carol Ewing Garber, Blissmer, B., Deschenes, M.R., Franklin, B.A., LaMonte, M.J., Lee, I-Min., Nieman, D.C. and Swain, D.P. (2011). Quantity and Quality of Exercise for Developing and Maintaining Cardiorespiratory, Musculoskeletal, and Neuromotor Fitness in Apparently Healthy Adults. [online] 43(7), pp.1334–1359. doi:https://doi.org/10.1249/mss.0b013e318213fefb.
  2. Osilla, E.V., Safadi, A.O. and Sharma, S. (2022). Calories. [online] Nih.gov. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK499909/.
  3. Exercise and Fluid Replacement. (2007). Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, [online] 39(2), pp.377–390. doi:10.1249/mss.0b013e31802ca597.
  4. Guest, N.S., VanDusseldorp, T.A., Nelson, M.T., Grgic, J., Schoenfeld, B.J., Jenkins, N.D.M., Arent, S.M., Antonio, J., Stout, J.R., Trexler, E.T., Smith-Ryan, A.E., Goldstein, E.R., Kalman, D.S. and Campbell, B.I. (2021). International society of sports nutrition position stand: caffeine and exercise performance. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, [online] 18(1). doi:10.1186/s12970-020-00383-4.
  5. Collado-Mateo, D., Lavín-Pérez, A.M., Merellano-Navarro, E. and Coso, J.D. (2020). Effect of Acute Caffeine Intake on the Fat Oxidation Rate during Exercise: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Nutrients, [online] 12(12), p.3603. doi:10.3390/nu12123603.
  6. Cermak, N.M., Gibala, M.J. and van Loon, L.J.C. (2012). Nitrate Supplementation’s Improvement of 10-km Time-Trial Performance in Trained Cyclists. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, [online] 22(1), pp.64–71. doi:10.1123/ijsnem.22.1.64.
  7. Tarazona-Díaz, M.P., Alacid, F., Carrasco, M., Martínez, I. and Aguayo, E. (2013). Watermelon Juice: Potential Functional Drink for Sore Muscle Relief in Athletes. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, [online] 61(31), pp.7522–7528. doi:10.1021/jf400964r.
  8. Tsukiyama, Y., Ito, T., Nagaoka, K., Eguchi, E. and Ogino, K. (2017). Effects of exercise training on nitric oxide, blood pressure and antioxidant enzymes. Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition, [online] 60(3), pp.180–186. doi:10.3164/jcbn.16-108.
  9. Reddy, R., Wittenberg, A., Castle, J.R., El Youssef, J., Winters-Stone, K., Gillingham, M. and Jacobs, P.G. (2019). Effect of Aerobic and Resistance Exercise on Glycemic Control in Adults With Type 1 Diabetes. Canadian Journal of Diabetes, [online] 43(6), pp.406-414.e1. doi:10.1016/j.jcjd.2018.08.193.
  10. Berge, J., Hjelmesæth, J., Hertel, J.K., Gjevestad, E., Småstuen, M.C., Johnson, L.K., Martins, C., Andersen, E., Helgerud, J. and Støren, Ø. (2021). Effect of Aerobic Exercise Intensity on Energy Expenditure and Weight Loss in Severe Obesity—A Randomized Controlled Trial. Obesity, [online] 29(2), pp.359–369. doi:10.1002/oby.23078.
  11. McNab, B.K. (2019). What determines the basal rate of metabolism? Journal of Experimental Biology. [online] doi:10.1242/jeb.205591.
  12. Progression Models in Resistance Training for Healthy Adults. (2009). Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, [online] 41(3), pp.687–708. doi:10.1249/mss.0b013e3181915670.
  13. Akuthota, V., Ferreiro, A., Moore, T. and Fredericson, M. (2008). Core Stability Exercise Principles. Current Sports Medicine Reports, [online] 7(1), pp.39–44. doi:10.1097/01.csmr.0000308663.13278.69.
  14. DONNELLY, J.E., BLAIR, S.N., JAKICIC, J.M., MANORE, M.M., RANKIN, J.W. and SMITH, B.K. (2009). Appropriate Physical Activity Intervention Strategies for Weight Loss and Prevention of Weight Regain for Adults. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, [online] 41(2), pp.459–471. doi:10.1249/mss.0b013e3181949333.
Sevginur Akdas

Written by:

Sevginur Akdas, RD

Medically reviewed by:

Michael DiLeo

Sevginur Akdas is a researcher, medical writer, and clinical dietitian, who is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in metabolism, chronic diseases, and clinical nutrition fields. She has many scientific articles, meta-analyses, systematic reviews, and book chapters on nutrition, chronic diseases, dietary supplements, maternal and child nutrition, molecular nutrition & functional foods topics as a part of a research team currently. Besides her academic background, she is also a professional health&medical writer since 2017.

Medically reviewed by:

Michael DiLeo

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