While summer may be a more popular time for engaging in outdoor exercise, there are many winter activities and sports that torch far more calories. If it is snowing outside and you are tired of exercising indoors, consider ice skating, cross-country or downhill skiing or snowshoeing. Since the American College of Sports Medicine recommends engaging in moderately intense cardiovascular exercise for 30 minutes daily, five days a week, varying your routine may help keep you motivated, especially during the long winter.
Ice Skating
You do not have to be a speed skater to reap this sport's calorie-burning benefits. According to the NutriStrategy website, an individual who weighs 130 pounds can burn 325 calories per hour ice skating at a speed of less than 9 miles per hour. A person who weighs 180 pounds skating at a speed of less than 9 miles per hour expends, on average, 450 calories. If you up the speed to an average pace--about 12 miles per hour--you will burn more calories; 413 calories per hour for an individual weighing 130 pounds and 572 calories for a person who weighs 180 pounds.
Cross-Country Skiing
Cross-country skiing is harder than it appears. However, once you become coordinated and master this sport, you can reap many fitness benefits. For many individuals, cross-country skiing outdoors on an uneven surface that may include some small hills is more difficult than performing the same activity on an indoor cross-country exercise machine. An individual who weighs 130 pounds burns, on average, 413 to 472 calories per hour cross-country skiing at a slow to moderate pace, according to NutriStrategy. An individual performing the same activity who weighs 180 pounds may burn, on average, 572 to 654 calories per hour. Cross-country skiing uphill expends twice as many calories per hour, or roughly 975 and 1,350 for an individual weighing 130 and 180 pounds, respectively.
Downhill Skiing and Snowshoeing
Downhill skiing, unless you are racing, does not burn as many calories as cross-country skiing. Cross-country skiing, while easier for many to fully master, requires more physical effort and considerably more upper body strength. An individual who weighs 130 pounds burns approximately 354 calories per hour skiing downhill at a moderate pace, and 472 per hour at a "racing" pace, according to NutriStrategy. Someone weighing in at 180 pounds expends approximately 490 calories per hour performing the same activity at a moderate pace, and just over 650 calories per hour at a racing pace.
Snowshoeing burns roughly the same amount of calories per hour as skiing downhill at a racing pace; 472 per hour for an individual weighing 130 pounds and just over 650 for an individual who weighs 180 pounds.
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