Burpee Calorie Calculator

Burpees are an exercise that combines squats, plank positions, push-ups and jumps into one single movement. This makes it more energy consuming per minute than almost any other non-machine based exercise. This calculator allows you to get the result from either side of this equation. If you input the number of repetitions, it will show you how many calories are burned; if you input the length of time for your workout, it will also calculate the calories burned; if you set a calorie goal, it will figure out how many burpees and how long to do them in order to meet that goal; and if you enter a number of rounds for your workout, it will calculate the total time including rest periods.

The formula and origin of the strange numbers contained in it:

All reliable online burpee calculators use the same MET formula. It is more useful to understand what it means than just copy-paste it.

MET stands for Metabolic Equivalent and is a multiple of the basal metabolic rate. One MET is equivalent to the energy expenditure at rest, which is defined as the consumption of 3.5 milliliters of oxygen per minute and kilogram of body weight. An activity with a value of 8 METs consumes eight times that amount.

The value 3.5 in the formula comes from this definition. The value of 200 in the denominator is a result of two conversions. First, milliliters of oxygen are divided by 1,000 to convert them into liters and then multiplied by the approximate number of kilocalories that the body gets from burning oxygen (5). Dividing one thousand by five gives two hundred.

In other words, this formula first calculates the amount of oxygen required for exercise and then 'sells' that oxygen at a certain price.

A controversial topic that no one talks about: 5 percent.

The calculation of the above formula shows that a MET is equivalent to an expenditure of 1.05 kilocalories per hour and kilogram of body weight, which is not 1.00.

Many calculators use a simplified version: A formula that states calories as the product of METs, kilograms and hours. This is basically based on 1.00. Although both calculation types are reasonable, neither side explains which one to use since there's a difference of 5 percent.

On this site we use the ACSM formula which includes both the 3.5 and 200 as actual oxygen measurements confirm that formula. If you compare results from this website with others and find their results are about 5% lower, it is most likely because of this. Both calculations are correct.

What should be the MET value for burpees?

An inconvenient fact: the published MET tables do not mention burpees by name. Instead they list a high-intensity bodyweight exercise with an 8-MET rating, and many burpee calculators surreptitiously adopt that value.

In empirical studies of self-selected interval training the measured values for burpees are significantly higher and range from about 11 to 11.5 METs. A study in 2024 found that during intense, explosive movements of 30 to 45 seconds performed at maximum effort, short-term peaks were observed that exceeded these values considerably. These peak values represent sprints and not the entire training session.

This is not an arbitrary figure; a burpee performed once every six seconds that includes full push-ups and actual jumping is actually a completely different exercise than one performed once every twelve seconds using knee push-ups. It's not possible to represent both with a single number.

The automatic mode reads your pace and selects the corresponding row. This is important. Pace and intensity are not independent controls. If there were a tool that allowed you to set a pace of six per minute at 13 METs, this would mean that the same training load would be calculated twice. Both ends of this scale are based on published data. The individual intermediate steps are interpolations between the two endpoints and should therefore be considered as a reasonable interpretation of the evidence, not actual measured values.

Where did the rule of 0.5 kilocalories per burpee come from?

This claim is all over the place, stating that a burpee burns about .5 calories. Some sites present a formula of taking your body weight in pounds, dividing it by 150 and multiplying it by .5.

This is not an independent rule. Certain people were just put into the same equation, calculations were made and results rounded off.

For example, an adult who weighs 150 pounds (68 kg) doing an activity with a MET value of 8 will expend calories per minute equal to the product of 8, 3.5 and 68 divided by 200, or 9.53 kilocalories per minute. If one does 20 burpees per minute, at a pace of about one every three seconds, then each individual burpee will expend 0.476 kilocalories.

Rounding to .476 gives half a calorie. All other aspects of this rule can be derived from that. The division by 150 is just there to adjust the values for weight.

It's also clear when this rule doesn't apply. If you slow down, the calorie burn per repetition goes up because a single movement takes longer to complete. Also, with more weight, the calorie burn per repetition goes up. At 200 pounds and a frequency of 10 times per minute, you'll be burning about 1.6 kilocalories per burpee, which is over three times this rule.

Calories burned per repetition at various speeds: At 10 METs it's 10 repetitions per minute, at 11.5 it's 15 reps per minute and at 13 it's 20 reps per minute.

Total Calories Versus Net Calories

All burpee calculators you might have used will report the total calories burned but few explain this aspect.

The total energy expenditure (measured in METs) includes the basal metabolic rate. One MET is equal to the basal metabolic rate. If you multiply 10 MET by your body weight and ten minutes, then divide that result by ten, you get the energy expenditure that would be consumed even if you were lying on the ground at rest for ten minutes.

A 70 kg person doing 10 METs for ten minutes will burn a total of 123 kcal and net 110 kcal. The difference is 12 kcal, which represents the proportion of resting metabolism, or one-tenth of the total. This illustrates the importance of an individual MET within ten METs.

Which number you use depends on what you want to know. If you're comparing the numbers with a watch or nutrition app, then total calories burned is probably best because those devices usually report the total amount. But if you're trying to see whether your training has changed your energy balance, net calories are more honest and that's also the number used for body fat conversion.

The number of repetitions, duration and calories are interrelated.

Two of the three values determine the third value. Whether you do burpees or not, how long you train and how many calories you burn are interrelated. Your own pace is the connection between the first two values.

The "Calorie Goal" mode is important because the results often don't match what people expect. To burn 500 kilocalories with burpees alone requires about 350 to 650 repetitions depending on body weight, which is well beyond most people's ability to sustain.

The effects of breaks on performance are larger than intensity.

Nobody can do burpees for twenty minutes straight. The actual training is done in rounds, such as 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds rest, one round at the beginning of each minute or as many rounds as possible with breaks when needed.

Most calculators can't correctly represent this situation. They multiply the amount of time you exercise by your rate of consumption while moving and treat the rest period as if you were still jumping, so that even breaks are included in the calculation.

A classic Tabata consists of eight rounds of 20 seconds work and 10 seconds rest for a total time of exactly four minutes. The breakdown is this: 2 minutes and 40 seconds of working your ass off and 1 minute and 20 seconds to think about why you're doing it.

This leads to two points: First, the calorie consumption during a break is not completely zero but lower, namely about 6 percent in this example. Second, the average rate of consumption during training is significantly below that during exertion. The reason for this is that the number of calories burned in a 20-minute course with sufficient breaks is not as high as it would be if you were to exercise without any breaks.

Burpee vs. Other Exercises Comparison Chart.

If weight is equal then ranking will be based on the METs alone so it's easier to compare than you might think.

Calculated per minute, an intense burpee session will beat almost any other activity. However, when looking at the whole training session you are usually losing out. This is because while you can run for 40 minutes, you cannot do burpees for 40 minutes. So to sum up, burpees win in terms of intensity but lose in terms of overall volume. The best exercise for burning calories is ultimately the one that you can stick with long term.

The 'afterburner effect' should be considered with caution.

Intense exercise keeps your metabolism elevated for a while, an effect known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC).

It actually exists and increases in intensity. This means that the EPOC produced by burpees is higher than a steady state cardio session. However this effect is often exaggerated. You will find claims of it increasing by 10 to 25 percent, sometimes even larger numbers.

This calculator treats this as an optional parameter so you can set the percentage yourself. The default is 12 percent. There should be no sneaky numbers added to the results that are verifiable. A workout of 100 kcal will discuss whether it's a 106 or 125 calorie effect. Sure, there are some effects but not for the second workout.

Example calculation:

A person who weighs 69 kg wants to burn 200 kilocalories doing burpees. At a constant pace of 12 repetitions per minute and with sufficient rest between rounds, an intensity of 7.5 METs is appropriate.

The calorie consumption of this person is the value that results from multiplying 7.5 by 3.5 and 69 and then dividing by 200, which is about 9.06 kilocalories per minute.

To burn 200 kilocalories takes a time of 22.1 minutes, calculated by dividing 200 by 9.06. At a speed of 12 repetitions per minute, a total of 265 burpees are performed.

The calorie expenditure per repetition is 0.75 kilocalories, calculated by dividing 200 by 265. Taking the basal metabolism into account, this training corresponds to approximately 173 kilocalories, which is equivalent to about 23 grams of body fat. However, this assumes that these calories are not consumed again afterwards.

How accurate is this calculation?

The MET table is an average for groups of healthy adults and may not apply to you. Your individual oxygen consumption can be significantly higher or lower than the values listed in this table, even with the same activity.

The estimate varies based on three factors, with the other two being secondary to this one: your pace. The calculator asks for it because pace affects both intensity and results. Your technique is another factor. A proper pushup or jump takes a lot more energy than a sloppy version. And finally, rest breaks. That's why there's an interval mode.

A reasonable expectation is that the difference between the numbers shown here and your actual energy expenditure will be within about a quarter. This is enough to compare different forms of training but not enough to accurately plan your diet in kilocalories.

The most useful thing to do with these values is use them as a reference for repeated measurements of yourself. Regardless of any variation in the MET values, they will even out if you estimate two workouts in the same way. So changes from one week to another are more meaningful than the absolute values of individual weeks.

This calculator is for general information purposes only and does not constitute medical or nutritional advice. Burpees are a high impact exercise that places significant stress on the body. People with heart, joint or back problems and those returning to training after a long break should seek individual advice before performing many burpees.