π₯ Burpee Calorie Calculator
Find out exactly what your burpee workout burns, by time or by rep count.
Estimated Calories Burned
For informational purposes only, not medical advice. Consult a healthcare professional.
How to Use This Burpee Calorie Calculator
Burpees are one of the highest-burn bodyweight exercises because they combine a squat, a plank, a push-up, and a jump. Enter your weight, choose whether you count by minutes or by reps, pick your intensity, and the calculator estimates total burn plus the per-rep and per-minute rates.
Enter your body weight. Heavier bodies burn more doing the same work, since every rep moves more mass.
Choose minutes or reps. If you count reps, the calculator converts at 20 burpees per minute, a brisk but sustainable pace.
Pick moderate or vigorous intensity. Chest-to-floor burpees with a real jump are vigorous; step-back burpees without the jump are moderate.
Read your total, then the per-100-burpees figure, which is the handiest number for programming workouts.
The Formula: METs Times Weight Times Time
Exercise scientists rate activities in METs, multiples of resting metabolism. The Compendium of Physical Activities rates vigorous calisthenics like burpees at 8 MET, and all-out burpee intervals push toward 10. The standard formula converts METs, body weight, and duration into calories: a 70 kg person doing 10 minutes at 8 MET burns 8 x 3.5 x 70 / 200 x 10 = 98 calories. Per-rep burn comes from dividing by reps: at 20 burpees per minute, that is 200 reps, so about 0.49 calories each. These are estimates, not lab measurements, but the MET method is the accepted standard for this kind of calculator.
Worked Example
Enter 160 lb, 10 minutes, vigorous (10 MET). First convert weight: 160 / 2.20462 = 72.57 kg. Calories = 10 x 3.5 x 72.57 / 200 x 10 = 127.0. Per minute: 12.7. Reps at 20 per minute: 200, so per rep = 127 / 200 = 0.635 calories. Per 100 burpees: 63.5, rounded to 64. Compare with the moderate setting: 8 MET gives 101.6 calories for the same session. Run both through the calculator and watch intensity move the total by 25 percent.
Burpees for Fat Loss
Burpees earn their reputation honestly: 10 to 13 calories per minute rivals running, with no equipment and no space needed. But fat loss still comes mostly from diet. An hour of burpees is impossible for most people, while the 300 calories in a muffin takes two minutes to eat. Use burpees as the conditioning half of a plan where food does the heavy lifting. Two or three weekly sessions of 5 to 15 minutes, built up gradually, beat one heroic session that leaves you too sore to move for a week. Beginners should start with step-back burpees, no push-up, no jump, and add the explosive parts over weeks.
Form, Safety, and Smarter Programming
Good burpees protect the back and wrists: hips down in the plank, chest to floor with control, jump and land soft with bent knees. Bad burpees sag the lower back and slam the wrists, which is how people get hurt. Keep sessions short and crisp rather than long and sloppy; when form breaks, the set is over. Pair burpees with strength work rather than using them as the whole program, since they build conditioning and muscular endurance but not maximal strength. If you have wrist, shoulder, or knee issues, swap in squat thrusts or mountain climbers and get the same engine work with less joint stress.
Second worked example: 200 lb, 15 minutes, moderate
Enter 200 lb, 15 minutes, moderate (8 MET). Convert: 200 / 2.20462 = 90.72 kg. Calories = 8 x 3.5 x 90.72 / 200 x 15 = 28 x 90.72 = 2540.2; / 200 = 12.70; x 15 = 190.5 calories. Per minute: 12.7. Reps at 20 per minute = 300, so per rep = 190.5 / 300 = 0.635 calories, and per 100 burpees = 63.5. Switch to vigorous (10 MET) and the same session gives 238.1 calories. Enter both in the calculator and confirm the 25 percent intensity gap matches the first example.
Notice how body weight moves the total: the 160 lb person in the first example burned 101.6 calories at moderate intensity for 10 minutes, while this 200 lb person burns 127.0 for the same 10 minutes. Same exercise, same pace, 25 percent more burn, because every rep moves 25 percent more mass. This is why generic per-rep claims like "one burpee burns one calorie" mislead: the real figure ranges from about 0.4 for a light person at moderate pace to 0.8 or more for a heavy person going all out.
Burpees vs other cardio, per 10 minutes
For a 160 lb person, 10 minutes of vigorous burpees burns about 127 calories. Ten minutes of running at 6 mph burns about 125. Ten minutes of moderate cycling burns about 100. Ten minutes of swimming laps burns about 100 to 110. Burpees win the per-minute contest, but the contest is rigged: almost nobody sustains vigorous burpees for 30 minutes, while plenty of people run or cycle that long. Total session burn usually favors whatever exercise you will actually do for 30 to 45 minutes. The honest comparison is 10 hard minutes of burpees against 30 moderate minutes of jogging: the jog wins on total calories, about 300 to 127, and on joint friendliness.
Where burpees genuinely beat the alternatives is minimum effective dose. No commute, no equipment, no weather: ten minutes in a hotel room before a shower.
Common burpee mistakes
Mistake one is counting reps that are not burpees. A real rep goes chest to floor and finishes with a jump; the half-squat, flop, stand-up version most people do after minute three burns far less. If your pace jumps from 15 to 25 per minute, your form collapsed, not your fitness improved. Mistake two is picking vigorous in the calculator for step-back burpees. No jump and no push-up is moderate, 8 MET, no matter how tired you feel. Honest inputs give useful numbers; flattering inputs give fantasy numbers.
Mistake three is the afterburn myth. Burpees do raise post-exercise burn, but the effect is small, roughly 6 to 15 percent of the session total, not the double-your-burn figures in marketing copy. Count the session calories, treat afterburn as a bonus, and keep food honest.
For informational purposes only, not medical advice. Consult a healthcare professional.
A Second Worked Example: The 7-Minute Finisher
End a workout with 7 minutes of burpees at a hard pace. A 180-pound athlete (81.6 kg) working at 10 METs: calories per minute equal METs times 3.5 times weight in kg divided by 200. That is 10 times 3.5 times 81.6 divided by 200, which is 2,856 divided by 200, or 14.3 kcal per minute. Over 7 minutes: 100 kcal, about the same as running a mile.
The pace assumption does the heavy lifting here. Ten METs means roughly 15 burpees a minute with full push-ups and jumps; at a moderate 8 METs and 10 per minute, the burn drops to 11.4 per minute and 80 total. Count your burpees in the finisher and work backwards: 70 burpees in 7 minutes is 10 per minute, the moderate zone. The calculator's intensity setting is really a pace setting in disguise.
Programming Burpees Into a Week
Burpees work best as seasoning, not the meal. Two to three sessions a week is plenty: one as a workout finisher (5 to 8 minutes), one inside a circuit (3 rounds of 10 with rest), and optionally one Tabata-style blast (8 rounds of 20 seconds on, 10 off). That weekly total of 15 to 25 minutes of burpees burns roughly 200 to 350 kcal for a 180-pound athlete, a meaningful supplement to the main training.
Place them after strength work, never before heavy lifts; pre-fatigued shoulders and a loaded barbell are a bad combination. Cap daily volume at 100 for most people; beyond that, form degrades and the push-up becomes a worm and the jump a shuffle, which burns fewer calories per rep while raising injury risk. Quality reps at 10 per minute beat sloppy reps at 15, on the calculator and in the mirror.
Track the trend, not the day. Log total burpees per week and average pace; when 50 burpees take 4:30 instead of 5:00, fitness improved regardless of what the scale says. Retest monthly with a fixed protocol, 5 minutes, max good-form reps, and the numbers tell you whether the programming is working. Burpees are a measuring stick disguised as an exercise.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many calories does 100 burpees burn?
For a 70 kg (154 lb) person at vigorous intensity, 100 burpees burn roughly 55 to 65 calories, taking about 5 minutes at 20 per minute. Heavier people burn more, lighter people less. The calculator above gives your exact figure.
How many calories does one burpee burn?
About half a calorie for an average adult at vigorous effort, roughly 0.5 to 0.7 depending on body weight and intensity. It sounds small, but it adds up fast because burpees stack reps quickly.
Are burpees good for weight loss?
They are excellent conditioning: 10 to 13 calories per minute with full-body muscle engagement. But lasting fat loss depends mostly on diet, since exercise alone rarely outruns eating. Use burpees as part of a plan, not the whole plan.
How many burpees per minute is normal?
Fifteen to 20 per minute is a solid sustainable pace for fit adults. Beginners often manage 8 to 12. Competitive CrossFit athletes exceed 25 in short bursts. Pace yourself: burpees punish early sprinting.
Do burpees build muscle too?
They build muscular endurance in the chest, shoulders, legs, and core, but not maximal strength or size the way progressive weight training does. Think of them as conditioning with a strength flavor, not a muscle-building program.
How long does it take to burn 100 calories with burpees?
About 8 to 10 minutes of vigorous burpees for a 70 kg person, or roughly 160 to 200 reps. That is a serious session. Most people are better off with 5-minute blocks and rest between them.
Are burpees bad for your knees?
They can stress knees if you land stiff-legged or let form collapse when tired. Land softly with bent knees, keep reps crisp, and stop the set when form breaks. People with knee issues can do step-back burpees or squat thrusts instead.
Do burpees burn more calories than running?
Per minute, vigorous burpees (10 to 13 cal/min) match or slightly beat moderate running (10 to 12 cal/min). But you can run for an hour and burpee hard for maybe 15 minutes, so running wins on total burn per session.
Can beginners do burpees?
Yes, with modifications. Start with step-back burpees: step back to plank instead of jumping, skip the push-up, and stand up instead of jumping. Add the explosive elements over several weeks as fitness improves.
How many burpees should I do per day?
Quality beats quantity. Two to three sessions per week of 50 to 150 total burpees, in sets with rest, beats grinding daily maxes. Daily high-volume burpees without rest invite overuse injuries and stalled progress.