Burn 500 calories! Top 10 calorie-burning activities & exercises

Looking for the best exercise to shred calories and help you reach your weight-loss goal? Running and rollerblading top the charts -- but there are at least a half-dozen other physical activities that can burn over 500 calories per hour.



One pound equals 3500 calories. That means to lose weight, you have to reduce the number of calories in your regular diet or burn calories through exercise. But both is the best of all! A commitment to a combination of eating fewer calories and burning calories through physical activity is the most effective weight loss plan.

If you reduce your caloric intake by 500 per day, and if your daily workout burns 500 calories, you will theoretically lose two pounds per week – a safe amount of weight to lose in a week.

Knowing the calories burned by your favorite exercise as well as others can help you design the most effective workout regimen for your fitness and weight-loss goals. The top 10 calorie-burning activities are listed below. Mix up your workouts and give a different mode of exercise a try – not only will the variety help you burn calories but it will keep you motivated to keep working out.

The biggest burners

Calories burned per hour*
Based on a 160-pound person

1. 986 calories burned: Running at 8mph
2. 913 calories burned: Rollerblading
3. 730 calories burned: Tae Kwon Do
4. 730 calories burned: Jump rope
5. 657 calories burned: Stair treadmill
6. 584 calories burned: Jogging at 5mph
7. 511 calories burned: Backpacking
8. 511 calories burned: Racquetball
9. 511 calories burned: Cross-country skiing
10. 511 calories burned: High-impact aerobics

* Values from the Mayo Clinic Exercise for Weight Loss chart

Of course, these values are estimates, and actual calorie expenditure will not be the same for everyone. Your mileage may vary (so to speak) depending on many factors, such as the intensity of your workout, your weight and your current fitness level.