I recently used a great resource to help me determine what kinds of exercises are most effective for burning calories.  Self magazine’s online website, Self.com, offers lots of tools to personalize your workout.  They offer calculations for customizing your fitness plan.  This is a great way to ensure that you are getting the results you want from all your efforts at improving your health and fitness levels.

The first thing I did when I went to the website was to use the calculator provided to calculate my BMI (Body Mass Index.)  This calculation measures your weight relative to your height and gives a general estimate of your total body fat.  You can use the BMI calculation to see if you are within a healthy range.  You can take the information you get and use it in conjunction with other calculations they provide on the website to compare your favorite activities and the fitness impact they will give you.

I entered my favorite fitness pursuits along with some of my more routine activities and found some surprises.  Although these calculations are customized to reflect my personal BMI, the figures I found will give you an idea of the differences between common fitness and routine activities.  I used a 30 minute workout period with moderate effort to come up with the following:

Activity Calories Burned in 30 Minutes of Moderate Effort

• Walking 95.87 
• Running 290.52     Running in Place 232.42
• Swimming 203.37
• Bicycling 232.14   Stationary Bike 203.37
• Hiking 174.31   Backpacking 203.37
• Tennis 232.42
• Golf, Cart 101.68       Carry Clubs 130.74
• Elliptical Trainer 188.84
• Circuit Training 232.42
• Aerobics 145.26 Water Aerobics 116.21
• Weight Training 87.16
• Jumping Rope 290.52
• Yoga 72.63
• Pilates 142.36
  

Common Activities Calories Burned in 30 Minutes of Moderate Effort

• Clean House 87.16
• Play w/ Children Or Pets 116.21
• Mopping Floors 101.68
• Dancing 130.74

It was fun to personalize these activities for my particular age, height, and weight.  It was easy to do and there were many more activities to choose from when calculating the calorie-burn benefits.

Another great asset to any workout you choose would be a heart rate monitor.  They are inexpensive and easy to use.  A monitor will help you further personalize your workouts and tailor them to fit your current fitness level.

It’s no fun to try hard to improve fitness and find that the method chosen just isn’t enough to see the desired results.  The more information you have about the fitness pursuits you choose, and the more personal data you can compute in relation to that activity, the better your results will be.

-Pam Brooks