5 of the best exercises to burn calories
Whether you want to lose weight or simply maintain good health, you would certainly benefit from daily physical activity. In fact, regular exercise has been found to reduce the risk of a host of serious diseases from diabetes to heart disease, stroke and cancer.
“Aim for 150 minutes of physical activity every week for a healthier you,” stresses Singapore’s Ministry of Health on its HealthHub website.
If weight-loss is your goal, a combination of diet control and regular exercise will help you to shed kilos – and keep them off.
Which exercises burn the most calories?
According to the Mayo Clinic, when it comes to burning calories, the exercises that achieve the best results are:
Running fast (12km/h)
Skipping rope
In both these activities, a person weighing an average 73kg would burn as many as 861 calories in an hour. Someone weighing about 90kg would burn even more – in excess of 1,000 calories for each of these activities.
(Henceforth, all calorie information is for a person weighing 73 kg)
The Korean martial art form taekwondo is also highly effective in burning calories. You can burn as many as 752 calories in an intense hour of taekwondo, sparring with your opponent using techniques such as fast kicking, head-height kicking, jumping and spin kicking.
Swimming is an excellent aerobic exercise that strengthens your cardiovascular health and also burns calories at a rapid rate. An hour of vigorous swimming burns 715 calories. At a less-intensive pace, however, you would burn far fewer calories in an hour, about 420.
Another winner when it comes to burning calories is climbing stairs or exercising on a stair-treadmill. Doing a workout on a stair-treadmill or stair-stepper can help to strengthen your heart and core muscles, and burn 657 calories in an hour.
