While losing weight, it is especially important to watch your food, but don’t forget to exercise as well. And rest assured, you don’t necessarily have to go to the gym. 11 sports in which you burn a lot of calories.
Sports are normally done for fun. Nothing is more satisfying than playing soccer, tennis, boxing or running. But fun is not the only motivation; exercising also helps you work on your condition and exercise promotes weight loss. Logical, you will think, after all, you are active and so you burn a lot of calories. True, but this is not true for every sport.
Sports that burn a lot of calories
You probably know that popular sports such as soccer, volleyball and judo can help you lose a lot of weight. This is not true of sports such as darts and billiards, even though practitioners consider them real sports. To help you on your way to burning off excess calories, we have selected the most effective sports for you. Chances are you will lose more weight that way than with a single diet.
1. Taekwondo
Taekwondo is a martial art of Korean origin and the national sport of South Korea. If you’ve ever watched it, you know exactly why this sport is in the top spot: you burn as many as 900 calories with an hour of training. Martial arts are a good idea anyway if you want to lose weight.
2. Swimming
Any dietitian will recommend swimming. Aside from the fact that it’s just tremendously relaxing, you’ll also lose weight. With one hour of intensive swimming, you will easily lose about 880 calories.
3. Cross-country (or roller) skiing
It may not be the sport you immediately think of when you want to lose weight, but effective it is. Cross-country skiing is one of the most demanding endurance sports. With an hour on the long slats, you can easily lose 850calories. Okay, so then it has to snow. Although you can alsoroller ski these days.
4. Kickboxing
Like Taekwondo, kickboxing is also good for your body. In addition to better fitness, it also increases your muscle strength. Rico Verhoeven grew up with it, and let’s face it, he’s not really overweight. The latter is not so strange, since you lose 770 calories in an hour of kickboxing.
5. Soccer
The beer and bitterballen after the game will not make you lose weight, but during a game of soccer you burn quite a few calories. To be exact, 772 calories in 90 minutes. Unless you’re that lazy striker or the goalkeeper, of course.
6. Basketball
You don’t have to be a new Michael Jordan to have fun im basketball. Just having fun in the streets is enough, and with the many squares in the Netherlands, that will do. As a reward, you’ll be about 700 calories poorer after an hour of play. We said it before: losing weight is not just work.
7. Running
If team sports aren’t really your thing, that leaves solo sports. Then, if you still want to enjoy exercise and lose weight, consider running. You’ll build endurance for other sports and, as an encore, you’ll lose just under 700 calories after an hour.
8. Skating
Besides soccer, skating is one of the most popular sports in the Netherlands. Now you don’t have to immediately start training for the next Elfstedentocht, but you are actively working on your body by skating. Not only do you lose 600 calories in an hour of skating, you also gain stronger leg muscles.
9. Cycling (at pace)
It is not immediately the most effective sport if you want to lose weight, but if you cycle a bit at pace it is more than just relaxation. In addition to burning about 500 calories an hour, you also work on your fitness and it’s good for your heart.
10. Volleyball
back to a team sport. You exercise many muscles muscle in your body while playing volleyball and you also lose about 350 calories per hour.
11. Tennis
Have you ever noticed how few “heavy” cases you see among professional tennis players? You’re in constant motion during tennis, doing lots of short sprints and using lots of muscles. The result: at the end of an hour of tennis, not only have you lost a lot of body fluids, you’re also about 400 calories lighter. Tennis is one of those sports you can play until late in life.
* The calories burned are based on figures fromPledgeSports.