How Many Calories Do You Burn Doing Aerobics?

Aerobics classes are taught at thousands of gyms across the world every single day. They’re a great way to burn calories and get an intense full-body workout at the same time while giving you the possibility of socializing with your friends and other fitness enthusiasts.

In fact, aerobics is such a good exercise for burning calories that, depending on your weight and exercise intensity, you’ll burn about 7.9 calories each minute you do aerobics, equaling about 474 calories each hour.

Calories Burned Aerobics Calculator

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Calories Burned in Group Fitness Classes (Weight: 175lbs)

	MET	15 mins.	30 mins.	45 mins.	60 mins.
Aerobics	6.6	138	275	413	550
Pilates	3	63	125	188	250
Spinning	7	146	292	438	583
Tai Chi	3	63	125	188	250
Zumba	6.5	135	271	406	542
Yoga	3	63	125	188	250
Martial Arts	10.3	215	429	644	858
CrossFit	5.6	117	233	350	467
Bootcamp	10.1	210	421	631	842
Circuit Training	7.2	150	300	450	600
Aqua Aerobics	3.2	67	133	200	267

Read on to find out everything you need to know about aerobics and how to do it for maximum benefits.

How the Calculator Works

Our calculator uses MET values to give you an accurate estimate of how many calories you can expect to burn while doing aerobics. The higher the MET value, the more calories you will burn.

What is a MET Value?

MET stands for metabolic equivalent of task, and MET values allow us to give you an estimated expenditure of energy for many different exercises.

A MET value is a ratio between the working metabolic rate and the resting metabolic rate [1], which is the rate of energy that is used relative to the duration of time spent doing activities such as aerobics.

So a MET value of 1 is the equivalent of the amount of energy you expend while at rest, and a MET value of 6 means you are expending 6 times as much energy compared to being at rest.

Almost all activities that you can think of have MET values assigned to them. Some activities with MET values are common, and some are not so common. For example, there are MET values assigned to activities like surfing, skydiving, and even painting!

Formula

The formula that our aerobics calculator uses to determine the number of calories burned per minute is (body weight in Kg x MET x 3.5) ÷ 200.

Examples

A person weighing 150 pounds will burn approximately 474 calories per hour from aerobics. This activity has a MET of 6.6, which means that it burns over six times as many calories compared to being at rest.

This is what the formula for calculating the calories burned while doing aerobics will look like for a 150-pound individual at a MET value of 6.6.

Calories burned (per minute) = (body weight in kg x MET x 3.5) ÷ 200
Calories burned (per minute) = ( 68 x 6.6 x 3.5 ) ÷ 200
Calories burned (per minute) = 7.9 calories x 60
Calories burned (per hour) = 474 calories per hour

How to do Aerobics

One of the best parts about aerobics is that they are taught at many different health centers in the United States and abroad. If you’re interested in aerobics classes, make sure that your gym offers them before you decide to become a member.

Aerobics classes are typically led by an instructor in the front of a classroom, and participants are usually spread out equally across the room facing the instructor.

Aerobics classes can be quite the challenge for a beginner. Your instructor will likely lead you through a series of repetitive movements along to the beat of music to put you in a good mood and keep you motivated.

The instructor will likely list the difficulty of the aerobics class on a sign-up form, bulletin board, or online at the gym so you know which type of aerobics you’re signing up for. Beginners should opt for less difficult classes while they work their way up to intermediate and advanced levels.

Benefits of Aerobics

Aerobics classes are offered at gyms because they provide great exercise and get your heart pumping.

While you may think that aerobics classes are geared towards an older demographic, you’d be wrong. There are plenty of young people participating in aerobics and getting the same benefits that older individuals get as well.

Strengthening your heart muscle and lungs. Aerobic exercise makes your heart and lungs have to work harder, meaning you’ll get the blood pumping and start to burn calories. You can also improve many of your health markers by doing regular aerobic exercise.
Reduces body fat. Since aerobics are so effective at burning calories, you’ll be able to shed the body fat from doing this as well. As long as you make sure that you’re in a caloric deficit, you should expect to see reduced body fat from aerobics.
Increases strength. Aerobics tone and strengthen your muscles from the various movements that your instructor leads you through. You should see your strength improve in other exercises in the gym as well.
Reduced risk of disease. Doing regular aerobic exercise has been shown to reduce the risk for many different diseases such as heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, depression, and diabetes [1].
Low-impact exercise. Since aerobics is a low-impact exercise, that means that it doesn’t put as much stress on your bones and joints as other strength training exercises do. This means that you can do aerobics frequently and not experience many of the issues you would with a high-impact exercise.
Improved balance, stability, and coordination. Doing aerobics regularly can help to increase your balance since the movements require a great deal of coordination and stability. Doing all these things in one exercise over time will improve these skills.

Aerobics Tips

While nearly everyone should be okay to participate in aerobics safely, there are a few people and situations where you shouldn’t do aerobics. For example, don’t do aerobics if you:

Have bone or joint problems
Have a history of heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases
Have respiratory issues

If you’ve never done aerobics classes before, you should be prepared for some complex movements that might put you out of your comfort zone.

Be sure not to be too self-conscious if you think you’re not doing the exercises perfectly. Everyone had to start from somewhere, and no one is watching you that closely since the other participants are just focusing on themselves.

Always drink plenty of water when doing aerobics. You may find that you’re sweating a lot, so drinking enough water will ensure that you remain hydrated and don’t get exhausted.

Examples of Aerobics Classes

Another great thing about aerobics is that there are so many different types of classes that you can get involved with at your gym or even at home. Some types of aerobics classes that you’ll probably see include:

Low-impact aerobics. This type of aerobics focuses on exercises that have a low impact on your bones and joints. This may include floor-based exercises, walking, stretching, and various movements. This can be good for people who are just getting into exercising regularly.
High-impact aerobics. This form of aerobics features movements where you’re jumping off the ground, hopping, or even sprinting. It’s vigorous and some may consider HIIT exercises a form of high-impact aerobics. Most people shouldn’t start with high-impact aerobics.
Kick aerobics. This form of aerobics primarily uses kicking and other similar movements to burn calories and raise your heart rate. It’s non-contact, so you can be sure that you won’t have to kick anyone else during kick aerobics.
Aerobic dance. This is great for people that enjoy the dancing part of aerobics and want to get exercise dancing along to fun pop music. Each class will be different depending on the style of dance that the instructor is teaching.

More Calorie Calculators

Try out our other calorie-based calculators below.

The Bottom Line

Doing aerobics is a great way to stay in shape no matter what your age or fitness level is. The movements in aerobics classes are often vigorous and you’ll definitely start feeling your blood pumping and your heart rate rise.

Aerobics is also a great way to burn calories and lose body fat while strengthening your muscles. Incorporating dance aerobics into your routine is a fun way to burn some additional calories while dancing to the beat of the music.

Use our aerobics calculator to get an idea of how many calories you can expect to burn while doing aerobics, and be sure to check out all the other calculators that we have to offer at Fitness Volt!

References:

Jetté, M., Sidney, K., & Blümchen, G. (1990). Metabolic equivalents (METS) in exercise testing, exercise prescription, and evaluation of functional capacity. Clinical cardiology, 13(8), 555–565. https://doi.org/10.1002/clc.4960130809
Walking: A step in the right direction. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Accessed March 2, 2021.