How Many Calories Are Burned Doing A Richard Simmons Workout For 30 Minutes?

Richard Simmons might be the father of modern aerobics. Although group fitness classes existed before Simmons hit the scene, it was his popularization of home workouts and aggressive media presence that helped "group fitness" grow into the nearly ubiquitous offering it has become. Doing a typical 30-minute Simmons workout won't guarantee weight loss success, but it will burn calories.

Richard Simmons Workout Basics

Nearly everybody knows Simmons as a fitness celebrity, but fewer people know that he once struggled with obesity himself. When he introduced his fitness methods and diet advice to the world in 1980, he based them on what had worked for him during his own efforts. A typical Simmons workout consists of equal portions of low-impact and high-impact aerobics designed to burn calories and promote weight loss.

Calorie Basics

A calorie is a unit for measuring energy, just like a meter is a unit for measuring distance. Your body takes in energy when you eat, and expends it through activity. Exercise programs like a Simmons workout increases the energy you expend, and can contribute to weight loss. It takes 3,500 calories worth of burned or stored energy to lose or gain 1 lb. of fat.

Estimated Burn

HealthStatus reports the approximate calorie burn for various activities. Although it doesn't list brand-name programs, it does provide figures for both low-impact and high-impact aerobics workouts. According to HealthStatus, a 150-lb. woman will burn about 225 calories in a 30 minute workout consisting of equal parts of both exercises. Because heavier people carry more weight, they will burn more in the same workout. Lighter people will burn less for the same reason.

Variables

The calories listed in a calorie calculator are not exact.Your actual caloric burn for a session with Richard Simmons will vary according to such diverse factors as your personal metabolism, what time you work out, how much and how recently you ate, the air temperature and even your mood. You should always consider calorie data a best estimate, not a set-in-stone number.

Metabolism

According to Dr. Walter Willett, Harvard School of Public Health, a body's metabolism increases as it gets more active. This means the more exercise you get, the more calories you'll burn in all activities. In other words, the more Simmons workouts you do, the more calories you'll burn during your next session.