How Many Calories Does Aerobics Burn?

Just about every day, the news industry reports on another study proving that exercise has many benefits in addition to burning off calories. There are many activities such as walking, hiking or canoeing that you can do to shrink your waistline. Aerobics exercise not only burns calories but it strengthens the heart, reduces certain types of cancer and improves quality of sleep. Ready, set, go dancing, running or walking for exercise to benefit your health.

Fact

• Aerobics involves repeated rhythmic movement of large muscles in your body, such as your arms and legs, for a long period of time. According to Georgia State University, aerobics "...overloads the heart and lungs and causes them to work harder than at rest." If you are new to exercise, start with 15 minutes of aerobics and increase it as your fitness level improves. For regular exercisers, do at least 30 to 60 minutes of aerobics.

Types

• There are many types of aerobics to choose from to maintain or decrease weight. According to Prevention Magazine, choose an exercise program you will enjoy and will keep you moving, and stay committed. If not, you will get bored or lose motivation. Some examples of types of aerobic exercises are stair climbing, backpacking, basketball, kickboxing, belly dancing, tennis and racquetball.

Function

• The number of calories burned depends on your fitness level and weight, the aerobics activity, and the duration as well as the intensity. A 160-pound person doing aerobics for one hour can burn different numbers of calories doing a variety of aerobic exercises. For instance, doing high-impact aerobics will burn 511 calories in an hour, while jump roping burns 730 calories. You can zap 183 calories going on a leisure walk or sink 292 calories doing water aerobics.

Benefits

• According to Cooper Aerobics, exercise lowers blood pressure, increases good cholesterol and decreases bad cholesterol. Combined with a healthy diet, aerobics shrinks body fat, and reduces or maintains body weight. "In more global terms, a number of studies have shown that higher activity and/or fitness levels are associated with lower rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and certain cancers." Per the Mayo Clinic, aerobics improves the immune system. Aerobic exercise increases energy and improves your mood.

Considerations

• There are three important things to consider when developing an aerobics program. According to myOptumHealth, consider frequency, duration and intensity. First, frequency is the number of days you participate in an aerobics activity. Second, duration is the amount of time spent doing the aerobics session. Third, intensity is the difficulty level of the aerobics, which is determined by your heart rate while exercising. Your maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age.

Warning

• Although exercise is beneficial, it has some risks as well. As always, talk with your doctor before starting an exercise program. Cooper Aerobics indicates three risk factors with exercise: old age, intensity of the exercise and heart disease. The higher the intensity level, the higher the chances of orthopedic and cardiovascular injuries. The institute recommends longer but lower intensity aerobics sessions if you live a sedentary life or have a low fitness level.