I’d consider myself to be incredibly lazy when it comes to finding time and energy to work out. With classes, extracurricular activities, and studying, there seems to be no time to get out and exercise! I’ve compiled some exercises that will burn 100 calories or more in just 10 minutes. Most of these sources are basing their caloric loss on people around 150 lbs., so even if you only have a few spare minutes in your day, you can still stay active!
10 Minute Workout from Jenna Wolfe at the Today Show
This workout is great because there are 10 moves and with each move the reps decrease by 10. So you start with 100 reps and the, 90, 80, 70, and so on. The other cool thing is that if you’re looking for an easy way to build an hour workout, you can just repeat this 3 or 4 times!
Her workout was laid out like this:
- Butt kickers: 100 reps (left and right sides for 1 rep)
- Jumping jacks: 90 reps
- Upper cuts (sitting on the floor or in a squat): 80 reps
- Hip raises with both feet on the floor: 70 reps
- Renegade rows: 60 reps (hold light weights to make this more intense)
- Pikes: 50 reps
- High knees: 40 reps
- Mountain climbers: 30 reps (make sure to do these quickly)
- Crab touches: 20 reps
- Pushup jacks: 10 reps
The “Real” 100 Calorie Workout
According to Jeanie of the fitness website Jeanie and Joan, there has been a 100 calorie workout that has gone viral that is completely false! The original workout claimed that 40 jumping jacks, 30 crunches, 20 squats, and 10 push-ups could burn 100 calories. However, in reality, it burns less than 20. So, Jeanie multiplied the workout by 5 and burned 121 calories. So, if you want a simple but challenging way to burn 100 calories in 15 minutes, this is a great option.
- 200 jumping jacks
- 150 crunches
- 100 squats
- 50 push-ups
Simple Everyday Ways to Burn 100 Calories
According to an article by Erin Whitehead on Spark People, there are many ways in your everyday life that you can burn 100 calories! Now in order for something to count as exercise, you need to be exerting 60-80% of your maximum heart rate. But even if that’s not the case, you can still burn calories and have long lasting health benefits from being more active in your daily life.
- Traditional workouts
- Biking: 23 minutes
- Elliptical: 8 minutes
- Jumping rope: 9 minutes
- Pilates: 24 minutes
- Running stairs: 6 minutes
- Zumba: 11 minutes
- Everyday activities:
- Carrying an infant: 24 minutes
- Cooking: 34 minutes
- Doing dishes: 40 minutes
- Playing with children: 23 minutes
- Shopping: 38 minutes
- Sweeping: 23 minutes
- Walking the dog: 26 minutes
- Yard work:
- Mowing the lawn: 20 minutes
- Raking leaves: 23 minutes
- Shoveling snow: 15 minutes
- Washing the car: 20 minutes
- Weeding the garden: 18 minutes
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Mixed Ways to Burn 100 Calories
Amanda MacMillan, in an article for Self, discussed ways to combine different everyday exercises and activities in just 10 minutes to burn at least 100 calories. She based her calories burned on a 135-lb. woman.
- Combine stairs with burpees: MacMillan emphasizes the importance to keep heart rate up to make the exercise effective. She said that one of her favorite quick workouts is to run up the stairs full speed, do 5 burpees at the top, and then run back down and repeat as many times as you can
- Spin classes: these classes can burn approximately 139 calories in 10 minutes but if you can’t go to a class, just get on a bike at the gym and choose 3 fast songs and bike as fast as you can. You can also do this on a real bike for 14-16 minutes outside to burn 100 calories.
- Play soccer: Dribbling, shooting, and depending in soccer will burn about 107 calories in 10 minutes. And it’s great because there is a lot of lateral movement which will burn different muscles
- Jump rope: Even at a moderate pace, jumping rope burns 107 calories in 10 minutes. To make it more intense, MacMillan suggests going as quickly as possible for 40 seconds, and then rest for 20 seconds. Each time you repeat this, try to jump more in the 40 seconds.
- Speed intervals: This is great for people who want to get the benefits of running in less time (aka me). MacMillan suggests that you sprint up a hill for 15 seconds, recover for 45 seconds and repeat 10 times. The other great thing about intervals is you can add them to another cardio workout. So maybe you could try these intervals on the way up to the Pete and then finish off your workout with 20 minutes of the elliptical instead of 30!
Hopefully these tips will help you find more ways to be active in your life!