Calories Burnt by Pushups: Intro
When it comes to how many calories (kJ) pushups burn, there’s a lot of conflicting information, and some even wonder if doing pushups is worth it to lose weight. The short answer is that pushups burn an average of 7 Kilocalories (i.e., 7 Cal or 9 kJ) per minute, but of course, you can burn more or less depending on the weight, age, gender, pushup form, and intensity of your pushups.
Pushups (or press-ups for Brits!) are the perfect bodyweight exercise to build upper body and core strength, and they are ideal for implementing a daily workout habit. However, pushups burn calories at a very moderate rate. It prevents pushups from being ideal for the sole purpose of losing weight.
Table of Contents
- 1 Calories Burnt by Pushups: Intro
- 2 Why Should I Pay Attention To The Number Of Calories Pushups Burn?
- 3 What Affects The Number Of Calories Pushups Burn?
- 4 Calculate The Number of Calories Pushups Burn: 1 Formula
- 5 Push-up Calories Calculator
- 6 How Many Calories Per Minute Do Pushups Burn Depending on Weight and Intensity?
- 7 How Many Pushups To Burn 100 Calories?
- 8 How Many Calories Do 100 Pushups Burn?
- 9 How Many Calories Would I Burn With 10 Pushups?
- 10 How Many Calories Does A Pushup Burn?
Why Should I Pay Attention To The Number Of Calories Pushups Burn?
If your goal is to burn calories with pushups to lose weight, you should estimate how many calories pushups burn to avoid disappointment. The hard truth is that pushups are primarily considered a core-strength-building exercise, not a fat-burning exercise. If burning calories is your primary goal, check the best exercise for weight loss here.
What Affects The Number Of Calories Pushups Burn?
The number of calories you can burn while performing pushups depends essentially on four variables:
- Intensity. Everything else equal (pushup variation, quality of the pushup form), the number of pushups you can do in a given time will determine your total calorie output. When assessing intensity, it’s essential to compare apple with apple and be consistent in your pushup execution. The more “identical” pushups you do in a row, the more calories you burn.
- Height and weight. The Body Mass Index (BMI) calculation reflects the body size and weight relative to the height. When it comes to metabolism, the larger the BMI, the more calories they’ll burn. This is true even at rest where your RMR (Resting Metabolism Rate).
- Sex. The gender difference in calories burned per minute comes from the proportion between muscles and fat, with males burning more calories than women on average. Pushups burn more calories when performed by men as they have less body fat and more muscle than females.
- Age. The aging process leads to a decrease in the number of calories burned in general, and of course, it includes the number of calories pushups burn. Additionally, your resting metabolic rates (the amount of energy used by muscles while sitting) steadily decrease over the years. This slowdown results from an increase in body fat and a decrease in muscle mass.
Note that the intensity of your pushups ( difficulty/time) positively impacts the number of calories indirectly burnt by doing pushups via the Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) process. Put it simply, if your pushup workout is quite intense, you will keep burning calories higher than usual for a temporary period after completing your pushup workouts.
Calculate The Number of Calories Pushups Burn: 1 Formula
Apply the following formula to know how many Calories pushups burns:
Calories per minute burned by push-ups = METs x 3.5 x Weight (kilograms) / 200
Calories (with a capital C) mean here kilocalories per minute. Happy Workout!
Push-up Calories Calculator
Use the pushup calories below to estimate the number of calories you burn when doing pushups:
How Many Calories Per Minute Do Pushups Burn Depending on Weight and Intensity?
Calories per minute burnt when doing moderately intense pushups (MET=3.8) depending on your weight
Calories per minute burnt when doing vigorously intense pushups (MET=8) depending on your weight
How Many Pushups To Burn 100 Calories?
Assuming one intense pushup (MET=8) every 3 seconds, it would take, on average, about 8 minutes for a 90kg (~198 lbs) individual to burn 100 Calories with pushups, i.e., 160 pushups. Yes, it’s disappointing and almost unreal for those who are looking to burn fat.
How Many Calories Do 100 Pushups Burn?
Assuming a moderately-intense regular pushup (MET=3.8) every 4 seconds, it would take 6.66 minutes to do 100 pushups. In this scenario, the 100 pushups burn as a whole about 40 Calories (161 kJ) for a 90kg (~198 lbs) individual.
How Many Calories Would I Burn With 10 Pushups?
A 90kg (~198 lbs) individual doing 10 moderately-intense regular pushups (MET=3.8) every 4 seconds would burn 4 Calories (16.7 kJ).
How Many Calories Does A Pushup Burn?
A 90kg (~198 lbs) individual doing 1 moderately-intense regular pushup (MET=3.8) in 4 seconds would burn 0.4 Calories (1.67 kJ).