by James - This article may contain affiliate links.
Do you dedicate your valuable time to staying in shape and want to know which exercise is worth it? Many believe that cardio exercises are the ultimate calorie-burners. But which cardio exercise burns the most calories?
Running burns the most calories per hour, especially if done at a high intensity and for a sustained period. But if you’re not interested in running, you can go for other cardio workouts that increase your heart rate the most, such as jumping rope, biking, and swimming. Typically the more intense your workout, the more calories you’ll burn.
Read on as we explore the factors that affect caloric burn and introduce seven calorie-burner exercises that you can incorporate into your workout routine. We’ll also give you some tips that help you burn more calories during exercise.
What Factors Affect Calorie Burn During Exercises?
How many calories you burn depends on several factors. Here are the main ones:
Exercise Intensity
Intense workouts make your heart work harder, making your body burn more calories. A two-minute moderate-intensity exercise can equal a one-minute high-intensity training. However, don’t risk injuring yourself; consult your trainer before increasing your workout intensity.
Body Weight
A calorie is a unit of energy, so the energy your body needs to move determines the calories you burn during exercise. A heavier person burns more calories during workouts because their body has to work harder and use more energy to move.
Age
As we get older, our metabolism rate decreases, and our body gradually consumes less energy to function. It happens because of hormonal and neurological changes and the loss of muscle tissue. Two days of strength training in the week helps you maintain muscle tissue.
Gender
As men tend to be larger and have more muscle mass, their body requires more energy to function. So they usually have a higher rate of metabolism and burn more calories than women.
Exercise Type
The kind of exercise you’re performing determines the number of calories you’ll burn. For example, cardio and strength training have a difference in caloric burn. Strength training burns fewer calories than cardio exercises at the moment. It maintains muscle tissues and increases caloric burn in the long term, even at resting moments.
The Most Calorie-Burning Exercises
Running
Running is the best and most popular workout for burning calories. It requires no equipment, can be done everywhere, improves flexibility, and promotes endurance.
High-knee running as a high-intensity and calorie-burner exercise strengthens your lower-body muscle and increases your heart rate. Lift your knees as high as possible while running. Pump your arms up and down quickly.
Running uphill also burns more calories than running on a flat surface and increases your heart rate in a few seconds.
If you’re an outdoor runner, look for hills and stairs on your running path. But if you’re running on a treadmill, slowly increase the treadmill incline. The higher the incline, the more calories you’ll burn, but only to a certain point. If you feel that you should hold on to the railings or lean forwards too far, you should decrease the incline.
Jumping Rope
Jumping rope has the same exercise benefits as running while building your leg strength. It also improves your balance and coordination. However, it’s not ideal for those who don’t have much space.
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When working out with a jumping rope, you can change the speed and style to prevent boredom. For example, you can jump on one foot, slow down, or speed up during the workout.
This video will teach you how to perform jump ropes properly and offers a great calorie-burner jump rope workout:
Kickboxing
Kickboxing works your upper body and core muscles without hurting your knees while burning more calories in a shorter amount of time. So it can be an excellent option for people who can’t jump or have knee soreness.
It also increases your heart rate, promotes strength, aerobic power, and agility, and improves balance and coordination.
Swimming
Swimming is one of the best no-impact exercises that burns calories, strengthens muscles, and improves blood circulation. It’s also the ideal option for people with joint problems and limited mobility.
Thirty minutes of swimming burns the same calories as thirty-minute jogging. If you want a bonus burn, you can swim more quickly or go for water aerobics.
Biking
Biking is an excellent way to get rid of extra pounds as you burn many calories while paddling.
It is a low-impact exercise that raises your heart rate and, compared to running and jogging, it doesn’t injure your knees, ankles, and other joints.
Cycling beyond a leisurely pace helps you maximize your fat burn. You can also increase the intensity or duration of your biking.
Mountain Climbers
A mountain climber is a full-body cardio exercise that burns a lot of calories in a short time since you have to engage your entire body.
Get into a plank position with hands shoulder-width apart. Make sure your body is parallel to the ground and keep your core engaged. Look down between your hands and keep your neck relaxed. Bring your left knee toward your chest and then quickly step back to the plank position. Repeat with the movement with the opposite leg.
Start with slow moves and then gradually speed up.
Dance Cardio
Calorie-burning exercises aren’t just running and high-intensity workouts. Dancing is a fun way to increase your heart rate, shed extra fats, and burn more calories.
You can try popular dance workouts like Zumba.
This video offers 20 minutes of dance cardio combined with toning exercises:
Tips To Burn The Most Calories During Exercise
Get Fired Up
If you want to keep your heart rate up during exercise easily, warm up your body in a way that sets you on fire!
This ten-minute cardio warm-up can be a great option if you’re working out in the home:
But if you’re at the gym, you can do high-intensity intervals on rowing machines or exercise bikes.
Your warm-up shouldn’t be more than 15 minutes.
Reduce Rest
Minimizing the rest periods keeps your heart rate up for longer and helps you burn more calories. Try supersets and let a specific muscle group rest by working another one.
Combine both upper-body and lower-body exercises in one set. For example, you can have a combination of push-ups and squats.
Exercise Faster
Increasing speed is the key to increasing exercise intensity. Interval training—high-intensity workouts along with relief periods— adds more speed to your workout and shoots up your heart rate.
Fast running and treadmill running with intervals are recommended.
Jump More
Add more jumping between exercises or sets to burn more calories and prevent your heart rate from falling during a workout.
For example, you can perform a combination of jumping squats and jumping lunges between rounds. Watch this video to learn how to execute it properly:
You can also do jumping jacks between sets. Performing light jumping jacks can be a great active rest.
Bottom Line
Running is the most calorie-burner workout, but you can try other calorie-burning exercises if running is not your thing. The number of burned calories depends on several factors, and no two people burn calories the same. However, there are some ways to turn your workout routine into a more calorie-burning one.
Last update on 2022-10-13 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
