If you want to lose weight, burning more calories than you eat is the best approach, which includes regular exercise to increase your calorie expenditure. But not all exercises are created equal, since some are higher calorie burning than others.

The best way to gauge calories burned is with an accurate heart rate monitor that takes into account your personal factors, like age, sex, weight and height. Whether you use a heart rate monitor or other fitness tracker, it’s still good to have an idea of how many calories the most common exercises burn. Keep reading to find out how many calories typical exercises can burn and how to figure out your calorie burn during workouts.

What factors affect calorie burn during exercise?

Professional fitness trainer Brooke Taylor explains that the main factors that differentiate the number of calories burned during exercise include:

Heart rate training zone: You’ll want to figure out your target heart rate and your maximum heart rate zones to better understand what to aim for when you exercise.  

Resting heart rate: A normal resting heart rate is between 60 and 100 beats per minute. 

Weight: In general, the more you weigh, the more calories you will burn during exercise.

Types of exercise: Cardio-based workouts burn more calories than other types of workouts like strength training or yoga.

What burns the most calories?

Even though everyone is different, there are general estimates for how many calories you can burn when you exercise. The estimates below are calculated based on someone who weighs 130 pounds through the American Council on Exercise calculator. You can use that calculator to get a close estimate of how many calories you would burn daily during many common activities.

1. Running/jogging

206 calories per 30 minutes 

Running at even a slow pace burns a lot of calories for 30 minutes. On average, running burns between 10.8 to 16 calories per minute and putting it at the top of the list of workouts that burn the most calories. To up the calorie burn, increase the intensity or add in sprint intervals. 

2. Hiking 

176 calories per 30 minutes

Hiking is one of the best ways to escape to the outdoors, turn off technology and get in some movement. And since you’re not walking on a level path like walking down the street, navigating different terrains or hills challenges more muscles, so you burn more calories. 

3. Biking/cycling 5.5 mph

117 calories per 30 minutes

If you’re an avid biker, you may go faster than 5.5 mph, but if you tend to bike at a leisurely pace, you can still burn 117 calories per 30 minutes. Note that this is different than if you do high-intensity interval training or classes on spin bikes.

4. Jump rope (fast pace)

115 calories per 10 minutes

Let out your inner kid and take up jump rope for a surprisingly fast way to burn a ton of calories. Just 10 minutes of jumping rope burns 115 calories. 

5. Walking (moderate pace)

97 calories per 30 minutes

Walking is the most simple and accessible form of exercise. And if you’re anything like me, you rely on walks for much needed breaks from the house while in quarantine. Even if you don’t walk for 30 minutes or longer on every walk, all of the short walks you take add up throughout the day.

6. Weightlifting

88 calories per 30 minutes 

Although not the quickest way to burn calories, lifting weights increases strength, muscle tone and enhances your metabolism. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn at rest.

7. Stretching/Hatha yoga

73 calories per 30 minutes

While stretching or restorative yoga may not burn a ton of calories, it still warrants a well-deserved spot in your weekly workout lineup for enhanced mobility, flexibility, recovery and tension relief.

Exercises compared

Calorie burning exercises FAQs