10 Exercises that Burn More Calories than Running

Running is amazing. It allows you to get a stress-reducing, endurance-boosting workout with just a pair of shoes and an open road. It also burns calories, of course. At a 10-minute per mile pace, you’ll fry about 10 calories a minute.

That’s a solid number, and if you run faster, you can burn even more. But if running isn’t your favorite activity, there are plenty of other modes of exercise that can help you torch calories at a lightning fast rate.

[su_note note_color=”#fff” text_color=”#484e59″ radius=”5″]

In general, you burn more calories by doing high-intensity weight training than you do running. Most people don’t realize this, though. That’s often because the number of calories you’re told you just burned is typically estimated from The Compendium of Physical Activities, which calculates energy expended through aerobic metabolism. That works well for low- to medium-intensity exercise, but not so well for higher-intensity activities that rely on anaerobic metabolism.[/su_note]

In fact, when researchers at the University of Southern Maine used a more advanced method to estimate energy expenditure during exercise, they found that weight training burns up to 71% more calories than originally thought. Which suggests that a fast-paced circuit workout burns as many calories as running at a 6-minute per mile pace.

But resistance training isn’t your only option. There are also cardio exercises that can boost your burn, too. Here are 10 exercises that will help you incinerate calories—without ever having to hit pavement.

1. Kettlebell Swing

KettlebellSwing

This explosive exercise works the big, powerful muscles around your glutes and quads, and sends your heart into overdrive, according to research from the University of Wisconsin. In the study, participants burned 20.2 calories a minute and their average heart was 93% of its max for the course of a 20-minute workout. The kettlebell swing works you so hard because it’s not a movement you’re used to. You’re not super efficient at it, which is taxing to your body.

2. Indoor Rowing

indoor-rowing

A 185-pound person can burn 377 calories during 30 minutes of vigorous rowing, or about 12.5 calorie per minute, reports a Harvard University study. And because you need to utilize the muscles in your arms, legs, and back for efficient strokes, it’s a great total-body trainer. Want to row like an Olympian and burn even more calories on the rower?

Prev1 of 5
Use your ← → (arrow) keys to browse

Web Analytics
Scroll to Top