Push-Ups Calorie Calculator
Calculate the calories you burn doing push-ups given your body weight, intensity, and duration.
Calories Burned Doing Push-Ups:
Total Calories
Calories per Hour
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How Many Calories do Push-Ups Burn?
Whether you’re doing push-ups for the Army Combat Fitness Test, the USMC Physical Fitness Test, or as part of your daily exercise, the amount of calories you burn when doing push-ups varies based on the length and intensity of your workout, along with your body weight.
To calculate calories burned during any physical activity, you need to start with finding the metabolic equivalent of a task (MET) value of the activity. This is the energy expended expressed as a standardized number.
Every type of physical activity has a corresponding MET value. The MET value is a ratio of the metabolic rate during that specific exercise compared to the metabolic rate at rest. Essentially, this is the amount of oxygen consumed while exercising compared to sitting at rest.
The resting metabolic rate is equivalent to 3.5 mL of oxygen per kg of body weight per minute.[1] As you exercise, you consume more oxygen, which increases the MET value of the given exercise.
The MET values for push-ups are a range of 3.8 to 8.0, depending on the intensity. The Compendium of Physical Activities has a comprehensive list of MET values for various forms of activity.[2]
Calories Burned Formula for Push-Ups
Using the MET value of 3.8 to 8.0; you can use the following formula to calculate the calories burned doing push-ups.
calories burned = time [min] × (MET × 3.5) × weight [kg] / 200
Thus, the calories burned doing push-ups is equal to the time in minutes times the MET value times 3.5, times your body weight in kilograms divided by 200.
Use a MET value of 3.8 in this formula for a moderate-intensity workout and 8.0 for a vigorous workout.
Calories Burned Doing Push-Ups
The following table shows how many calories an average 175-pound person might burn doing various push-up workouts.
| Time | Calories Burned | |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate Intensity | Vigorous Intensity | |
| 5 minutes | 26 calories | 56 calories |
| 10 minutes | 53 calories | 111 calories |
| 15 minutes | 79 calories | 167 calories |
| 20 minutes | 106 calories | 222 calories |
Curious how many calories you burn doing other forms of exercise? Try our calories burned jump roping, calories burned running, or calories burned biking calculators.
References
- Jetté, M., Sidney, K., & Blümchen, G., Metabolic equivalents (METS) in exercise testing, exercise prescription, and evaluation of functional capacity, Clinical Cardiology, 1990, 13(8), 555–565. https://doi.org/10.1002/clc.4960130809
- Ainsworth BE, Haskell WL, Herrmann SD, Meckes N, Bassett Jr DR, Tudor-Locke C, Greer JL, Vezina J, Whitt-Glover MC, Leon AS., The Compendium of Physical Activities Tracking Guide, Healthy Lifestyles Research Center, College of Nursing & Health Innovation, Arizona State University, https://pacompendium.com/