What Are the Top 5 Aerobic Exercises?

Ranking the top five aerobic exercises is like ranking the top five foods or the top five pieces of clothing. Choosing your aerobic activity is to some extent a matter of personal likes and dislikes. Not all aerobic exercises are the same. By combining your personal favorites considering the calorie burn during a specific activity, you can make great choices about aerobics. Experts at the Mayo Clinic and the American Council on Exercise have compiled lists of aerobic activities that include the number of calories you burn during the activity.

  1. Top Five Individual Aerobic Exercises

    • If you are looking to get the most calorie burn from your aerobic workouts, the top five that burn the most during exercise are running, in-line skating, jumping rope, stair treadmill and Tae Kwon Do. For a person weighing 160 pounds, running for an hour at 5 miles per hour burns 606 calories. Jumping rope, weighing 160, burns 861 calories per hour, stair treadmill burns 657 and Tae Kwon Do burns 752 calories.

    Top Five Group Aerobic Activities

    • If your aerobic preferences include group activities, there are great choices to get the top calorie burn. The top five such activities include basketball, touch or flag football, water skiing, tennis and cross-country skiing. For a person weighing 160 pounds, touch or tag football burns 584 calories per hour. Water skiing, weighing 160 pounds burns 458 calories per hour, tennis burns 584, basketball burns 584 and skiing cross-country burns 496 calories.

    Factors that Affect Exercise Effects

    • Whether you are trying to lose weight, get in better physical shape or even train for an upcoming event, there are several aspects of exercise that affect the results of your efforts. For example, factors affecting the calories you burn during exercise are your weight, the level of intensity of aerobic activity, the duration and individual specifics such as metabolic function. All these factors have an impact on the number of calories burned during aerobic activity. Other aspects of aerobics exercise that influence the results you achieve include the number of times per week you perform aerobics, your ability to perform the activity correctly and your level of general health.

    Tips

    • If you have any concerns or health conditions that may interfere with exercise, be sure to consult your doctor before beginning an exercise program.

      Always warm up before performing aerobic activities. Not warming up your body can cause undue stress and injury.