Top Workouts For A Huge Calorie Burn

The basic arithmetic of weight loss is simple: Burn more calories than you take in, and your body burns stored fat as fuel. The bigger the calorie deficit, the faster the weight comes off. Although you should never starve yourself or work out to the point of injury to create a huge calorie deficit, you can still maximize your weight loss by doing the most efficient calorie-burning exercises.

Running

Running is one of the best calorie burners out there. As noted on the MayoClinic.com website, a 160-lb. person can burn almost 1,000 calories in a one-hour, 8-mile run. As a general rule, the heavier you are, the more calories you'll burn while exercising at the same pace; a 200-lb. person can burn more than 1,200 calories by doing the same run.

Running can be hard on your joints, and it may be too challenging for beginners. But according to Harvard Health Publications an 185-lb. walker can burn up to 400 calories an hour, depending on pace, and a 5-mph jog can burn more than 700 calories per hour.

Martial Arts

Martial arts classes might not be the first exercise that comes to mind for weight loss, but they usually involve non-stop activity, from calisthenics to technique drills to sparring. According to Harvard Health Publications, an 185-lb. person can burn more than 800 calories per hour during martial arts such as judo, karate and kickboxing; MayoClinic.com lists tae kwon do as burning more than 1,000 calories per hour if you weigh 240 lbs. Even better, martial arts classes foster a sense of community and encourage a habit of regular attendance and thus regular exercise as well.

Kettlebells

Cardiovascular exercises are some of the best calorie burners, but according to research sponsored by the American Council on Exercise, a vigorous kettlebell workout burns more than 20 calories per minute -- about the same as running at a 10-mph pace. The downside of using kettlebells to meet your weight loss goals is that if you're working out hard enough to burn 20 calories per minute, you may be too fatigued to continue with proper technique after 20 to 30 minutes. So although you'll have burned 400 to 600 calories very quickly, you might still need to incorporate another type of less-strenuous workout, such as walking, running or swimming, to meet your calorie-burn goal.

Swimming

According to Harvard Health Publications, if you weigh 185 lbs., swimming the crawl can burn more than 900 calories per hour. Swimming might not burn quite as many calories as a fast run, but it comes close -- and more importantly, swimming is accessible even if you can't handle the weight-bearing or repeated impact of running, or even walking, depending on your condition.