Running/walking - swimming - biking!

emmab0902

I have heard that it takes the same number of calories to walk 10km as to run it. If this is true, does the same logic apply to biking and swimming - that it takes x calories to cover a certain distance regardless of how fast/slow it is done?? Incidentally, what is considered slow/moderate swimming and what is vigorous in MFP database??

jenilla1

I have heard that it takes the same number of calories to walk 10km as to run it.

Where did you hear that? The calorie burn is based on heartrate and I guarantee you burn more running than walking the same distance.

LeonnieH

I regularly walk and jog the same 5k course - Jogging (for me) burns about 100 calories more over that distance compared to walking at a moderate pace. The time taken to walk the course is obviously quite a bit longer compared to jogging it. I'm not sure about swimming and biking - doesn't swimming burn a lot more calories than most other forms of exercise?

weffie11

I've read the same thing. Obviously if you run, you do it in a faster time, so you can burn more in an hour. I'll see if I can find it

Yogi_Carl

I run and on other days walk the same distance to work. Walk days obviously takes me longer (30 mins) and run days takes me 20 minutes. Each trip burns about 230 calories; run or walk.

The logical explanation is - walking, your heart is elevated for longer but at a lower rate compared to running - so it is quite reasonable to expect both activities over distance rather than time to burn a similar number of calories.

So yes - you are right (my HRM tells me so!) - also, if you believe in all of this - walking you are in the Fat Burning Zone all the time, whereas running you may not be.

FromHereOnOut

I would think swimming is the highest, because of working the entire body and the water creates resistance.
I would think that cycling would be lowest, because the bike itself is a mechanical assistance. EXCEPT up hill, because wheels+gravity create a backward pull that is added resistance.

teebeegeebee

Hi there - what an interesting question

heres something i noticed yesterday when at the gym

I was on the treadmill doing a 15minute warm up routine - which for me is a mix of running and walking - the lady next to me was all out running and she was doing a 30minute set, and she had started before me

At the end of her set she had burned 220calories according to her machine and at the end of my set I had burned 133calories
the difference between us apart from time was i had a 4% incline on my set and she had 0% on hers so its not just about time spent its also down to effort level

In my cool down i walked for 11minutes and used half the calories of my run. I did have the resistance the same for my walkdown, just no running at all.