Which Exercises Burn the Most Calories? Your 20 Best Options

If you're looking to lose weight or maintain your current weight, choosing exercises that maximize calorie burn is an excellent way to enhance your workout routine. If you’re attempting to lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you’re taking in. Most people create that deficit either through exercise or eating less — ideally, a little bit of both. But, if you just cut calories and don’t exercise, you won’t just lose body fat, you’ll also lose muscle. And muscles not only keep you toned and strong, they also burn calories more efficiently, even when you aren’t working out. 

Understanding how many calories you can burn while walking, running, or lifting weights can help boost your motivation. Let’s take a closer look at which exercises can help you burn the most calories, and which exercises may be less effective in helping you achieve your fitness goals.

What affects calorie burn?

Not everyone burns calories at the exact same rate. There are several factors that go into this equation, including:

• Weight (People who weigh more will burn more calories with exercise.)

• Intensity of exercise

• Duration of exercise

To burn the most calories, it’s best to do vigorous-intensity exercise for a longer time. This is more effective than light or moderate exercise for a shorter time. You can check how hard you’re working by using the talk test. During vigorous exercise, you’ll struggle to say more than a couple of words without getting out of breath.

What type of exercises burn the most calories?

The exercises that burn the most calories are vigorous intensity exercises, like aerobic exercise, compound exercises, and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts. 

Aerobic exercises use the large muscle groups of the body for cardiovascular fitness. These include:

• Running

• Jumping rope

• Swimming

• Rollerblading or roller-skating

Compound exercises combine multiple muscle groups and joints, and they’re also high calorie burners. These include:

• Burpees

• Mountain climbers

• Planks 

HIIT workouts, which combine both aerobic and resistance exercise with a short rest period, burn more calories than most regular aerobic or strengthening exercises on their own. 

Exercises that burn the most calories

Here are 20 exercises and activities that burn the most calories. Keep in mind that the calorie burn will vary from person to person. Here are number of calories burned for approximately 30 minutes of exercise for someone weighing 150 pounds:

1. Running a 6-minute mile: 544 calories

2. HIIT: 416 calories

3. Jumping rope: 408 calories

4. Rollerblading or roller-skating: 374 calories

5. Running a 10-minute mile: 340 calories

6. Swimming: 340 calories

7. Martial arts: 340 calories

8. Snow skiing (cross country): 306 calories

9. Cycling on a home trainer: 300 calories

10. Burpees: 286 calories

11. Mountain climbers: 286 calories

12. Stair climbing: 275 calories

13. Basketball: 272 calories

14. Boxing (punching bag): 257 calories

15. Rowing (moderate speed): 238 calories

16. Aerobic dance: 221 calories

17. Lifting weights: 204 calories

18. Cross country hiking: 204 calories

19. Tennis: 204 calories

20. Walking (brisk pace): 170 calories

How can you burn more calories during your workouts?

Vigorous-intensity exercises, like HIIT or running, burn the most calories in the shortest amount of time. But, if your preferred form of exercise doesn’t burn as many calories, there are several ways you can increase the calorie-burning potential.

Let’s review how to increase the calorie burn during your workouts.

Do HIIT workouts a couple of times a week 

You don’t have to do a HIIT workout every day to reap its benefits. Doing this type of exercise a couple of times a week is a great way to burn calories in a short amount of time. With HIIT, you alternate between short, vigorous exercise for a period of time, followed by a lower-intensity exercise for a set time. You can then alternate between these intervals for your session. Many people aim for a duration of 20 to 45 minutes. 

During a HIIT workout, for example, you can do high knees for 30 seconds, followed by 60 seconds of marching in place. In the next round, you can do burpees for 30 seconds, followed by 60 seconds of walking in place. There are several HIIT workouts you can check out. 

HIIT workouts are useful because not only do you burn major calories during the session, but you also continue to burn calories for hours after you’ve stopped exercising.

Increase the intensity or resistance

Anything that makes your body work harder burns more calories. If you can run faster, row harder, or cycle against the wind, that will increase the calorie burn. 

For example, for someone who weighs 150 pounds, running for 30 minutes at a 10-minute mile pace burns 340 calories. If you can bump that up to running a mile in 6 minutes, your 30-minute calorie burn jumps up to 544 calories. 

Another way to increase the intensity is by switching up the terrain. Instead of staying on flat ground, look for hills that you can run, cycle, walk, or hike on. 

Add weights or a weighted vest

Next time you go on a walk or climb stairs, consider picking up a dumbbell or wearing ankle or wrist weights. An increasingly popular option is wearing a weighted vest. One study found that wearing a weighted vest can increase calorie burn by up to 40%. You can start with a weighted vest that’s 10% of your body weight and go up from there, as tolerated.

Go for a longer duration

It’s recommended that adults exercise at least 30 minutes a day, five days a week, doing moderate-intensity exercise, such as:

• Brisk walking

• Light jogging

• Cycling

To increase your calorie burn, try exercising for longer periods each day, or add an extra day of exercise. You can start with just five more minutes of movement, gradually increasing it, as tolerated.

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Written by:

Kim Grundy, PT

Kim Grundy, PT, is a writer, editor, and licensed physical therapist. She worked at an outpatient orthopedic facility, where she treated patients with chronic conditions and post-surgical athletes working towards recovery.

Edited by:

Karla Robinson, MD

Karla Robinson, MD, is a medical editor for GoodRx. She is a licensed, board-certified family physician with almost 20 years of experience in health through varied clinical, administrative, and educational roles.

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