Which Workout Burns the Most Calories? We Put Some Popular Classes to the Test
by Marissa Gold
All of us here at Glamour.com are into fitness, but sometimes we wonder just how many calories we're really burning during the various workouts we try. In order to find out, I had us all wear activity-monitoring bracelets (we all used Jawbone UP for consistency) to help us actually pinpoint the calorie burn of our favorite exercise classes. To give you an idea of how hard we worked, we rated each workout with the Jawbone's standardized system (Easy, Moderate, In the Zone, or Gut Buster). Here are the results:
Workout Tested: Core Fusion Barre
I've been taking these popular barre-based classes for a few years now and love the way they tone up each body part, one at a time. The one-hour classes don't include a lot of bouncing--they're all about small, muscle-specific moves done on the floor or at the ballet barre. I rated this one moderate intensity, as it ended up being one of the easier ones I've done. I felt like I was working out, but I definitely wasn't pushed hard enough to be out of breath or sweaty.
Total Calories Burned: 201 (Moderate Intensity) -Marissa Gold
Workout Tested: BariONE
This was my first time trying Bari Studio, a popular boutique fitness studio in New York City. The BariOne class included three 20-minute intervals: toning with weights, bouncing on a mini trampoline, and dance-based cardio combinations. I broke a sweat and felt like I got a decent amount of cardio in, but definitely wasn't working at my max the entire class--I didn't want to deplete all of my energy the first time without knowing what to expect.
Total Calories Burned: 358 (Moderate Intensity) -Marissa Gold
Workout Tested: Core Fusion Cardio
This is one of my favorite classes in the Core Fusion family. It's like a pumped-up cardio version of a Vinyasa yoga class that takes place on a mat and includes llight weights and cardio intervals. This wasn't my hardest class ever, but I definitely felt like I worked hard and broke a sweat.
Total Calories Burned: 446 (In the Zone) -Marissa Gold
Workout Tested: Zumba
My feelings about Zumba vary greatly depending on the instructor, so I always make sure to hit up this one particular instructor at my gym. She puts so much energy into the class that you can't help but push yourself to kick and shimmy harder. I feel like I got a good workout. Not as good as if I had run for the same amount of time, maybe, but it was way more fun.
Total Calories Burned: 423 (In the Zone) -Beth Shapouri
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Workout Tested: The Bar Method
This was the first time I had ever done The Bar Method--and whoa, I felt the burn for a good three days after the class! The idea is that you do small, specific movements until that muscle fatigues (they say it's the quickest way to see results, and I have a friend who swears by it). We used small weights (2-6 pounds) on the floor during one part, and another part focused on ballet-esque movements using the bar for stability. There were also bursts of push-ups and sit-ups to keep the momentum going. I focused a little too much on everything my instructor was saying and got a little distracted from pushing myself at times, but now that I've been once I feel like I'll be much more in the game for next time. Overall, it felt like more of a strength-building workout than a cardio-heavy one.
Total Calories Burned: 281 (Moderate Intensity) -Lindy Segal
Workout Tested: SoulCycle
While not a regular, I've done SoulCycle several times and I really enjoy it. You have to get used to the inspirational She-Warrior sayings and such, but I find the music and the pace my speed--and it's one of the only cardio workouts that I can sustain for an entire hour. (I've never been much of a runner, see.) It's a high-energy spin class that incorporates small weights and core moves so you work your entire body. The music is generally pretty awesome, too, and it helped me make this the in-the-zone workout my body has been needing since, oh, Thanksgiving.
Total Calories Burned: 565 (In the Zone) -Lindy Segal
Workout Tested: Core Fusion Barre
Like Marissa, I love Core Fusion because it's a total body workout that leaves your muscles quivering. I've been going from 5-6 times a week for a little over two months and love it. I was a strict cardio girl before, but now I see my bum has lifted, my arms are cut and my abs are starting to get really defined. It's worth the pain and trust me, there's some pain involved.
Total Calories Burned: 338 (Moderate Intensity) -Sophia Chabbott
Workout Tested: Zumba with Curly Shirley Catton
I've been doing Zumba for five years and am obsessed with it. The more I go, the more I know the moves by heart and can really get into them and sweat. It's a lot of hip hop and, of course, Latin-inspired salsa moves. Let's just say that anytime Pitbull comes on (often in Shirley's class) everyone in class jumps really high. I go at least twice a week, and seeing the number below, I might go even more!
Total Calories Burned: 787 (Gut Buster) -Sophia Chabbott
Workout Tested: Weights With a Personal Trainer, 55 minutes
I had to scale back my usual workout due to a shoulder strain, so my trainer focused on less intense weights this time. I performed a series of stretches and lifting exercises focusing on my back and chest (bent-over rows, seated rows, chest presses using cable machine, tricep pulldowns, goblet squats). It wasn't one of my hardest workouts, but I still got some good toning in.
Total Calories Burned: 272 (Easy) -Lindsey Unterberger
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Workout Tested: Running Intervals on the Treadmill, 30 minutes
I recently rejoined my local gym and decided to do some good old interval training on the treadmill, similar to this. I swapped in some walking at an incline of 13.5 at 4.0 speed, and sprinting at an incline of 2 at 8.0 speed.
Total Calories Burned: 492 (In the Zone) -Nikki Ogunnaike
Workout Tested: Flywheel
Flywheel's spin class is a mix of high resistance/slow pace and low resistance/fast pace cycling with about a five minute arm workout (using a weighted bar) in the middle. At almost $30 a class, they are not inexpensive, but every one I attend feels like a personal training cardio session and I push myself as hard as possible every time, so it's worth it. Bonus: it tracks your performance and progress for you on their website when you create an account.
Total Calories Burned: 793 (Gut Buster) Note: Flywheel's own equipment estimated 621-696 calories burned. -Nikki Ogunnaike
Workout Tested: PowerStrike at Equinox
PowerStrike is a mix of boxing and kickboxing basics. It's essentially an hour of air punches and kicks--no bag, no gloves, no mits. But the fast-paced combinations and nonstop arm or footwork (literally nonstop; there are no breaks in the class but I had to take one at one point just to get a towel to wipe off the sweat. Gross but true) keeps your heart rate up while going easy on the high-impact moves.
Total Calories Burned: 578 (Gut Buster) -Anne Sachs
Workout Tested: Spinning, 40 minutes
There's nothing fancy about my Equinox indoor cycling class--no racing against your classmates or anything like that. But the instructor broke up our 40-minute workout into intervals of 20-second push-to-your-max racing followed by a basic riding stride. Unlike most spin classes I've been to, the instructor walked around and called you out if she felt your max-push set wasn't really your max (not in a shaming way--more like a "I know you have more in you" way). I felt the burn after the very first set.
Total Calories Burned: 485 (In the Zone) -Anne Sachs
Workout Tested: 30/60/90™ at Equinox, 40 minutes
This hardcore high-intensity interval training class is not for the faint of cardio. Founder Kristi Molinari, who creates a new 30/60/90™ workout each month so your body kind of never gets used to the routine, mixes short bursts of killer cardio exercises (burpees, box jumps, etc.) with active recovery exercises like abs work or weights in place of actual breaks. So even when you're 'resting,' your totally working. It's TOUGH, but on the plus side, in 40 mins, you've gotten in seriously comprehensive workout.
Total Calories Burned: 587 (Gut Buster) -Anne Sachs
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