Dear Fit,
I'm trying to lose weight, so cardio has become a part of my weekly routine. When it was cooler out, I had no problem jogging 30 minutes, about four times a week. I live where the temps are in the 80s and 90s right now with a considerable amount of humidity, and it's been brutal jogging. I've been walking instead for an hour. Am I burning the same amount of calories, or should I stick it out and keep jogging?
— Too Hot to Jog
It's amazing how heat can affect your ability and motivation to move, but I applaud you for continuing your workouts, even if you're moving slower than you were. To find out how a long walk and a short jog compare calorie-wise, continue reading.
Calculations are based on a 130-pound woman.
As you can see from the chart below, if you're walking for an hour at a pace of three miles per hour (20 minutes per mile), you'll burn 207 calories. If you pick up the pace and jog twice as fast at six miles per hour (10 minutes per mile) for 30 minutes, you'll burn 295 calories. So when compared with walking, jogging definitely burns more calories in half the time.
If burning calories is your goal, my suggestion is to do intervals. Start off walking for five minutes, then jog for five minutes. If you alternate between the two for 40 minutes, and end with five minutes of brisk walking, you'll burn 281 calories in 45 minutes. Walking will allow your body time to cool down between jogging intervals. It's a great compromise when exercising in hot weather.
| Miles per hour | Minutes per mile | Calories burned in 30 minutes |
Calories burned in 60 minutes |
|
| Walking briskly | 3.0 | 20:00 | 103 | 207 |
| Walking briskly | 4.0 | 15:00 | 118 | 236 |
| Jogging | 5.0 | 12:00 | 236 | 473 |
| Jogging | 6.0 | 10:00 | 295 | 591 |
No matter how you choose to exercise, remember to stay well hydrated in the heat. Take a water bottle with you. If you see a sprinkler on your route, and you're feeling hot, make a dash through the cooling spray.
Alexander McQueen
Enamora
Celine
I started jogging last week and my solution for the insanely hot weather here is to do it early in the morning. By the time it gets too hot to be outside, I'm usually back home already. I also wear a cap and make sure I drink plenty of water.
1Please be selective about a (lawn) sprinkler of any kind...the source of the water might be RECLAIMED water.
2I hate when it's this hot outside! Yesterday I opted for a long walk instead of my normal routine because I just couldn't take the heat.
3took a long walk last night and felt great! I will definitely try this interval thing if I do midday runs
4Be careful easing yourself into more intense workouts with heat and humidity. I lived in Miami and trained myself to be able to run outside year-round gradually.
FitSugar did a run in heat article in '07 http://www.fitsugar.com/386727
Also check the phrase "beat the heat" on runners world for their tips article.
5My suggestion is to buy a hydration belt. I recently broke down and bought one. I found that although I can run about 6 miles before I need water in cooler weather, I'm needing to drink something after running only 1 mile once it gets over 90 degrees.
6ha- 80's/90's is hot?? I ran in 102F this week! Anyways what I suggest is walk the same distance that you would run . . if you planned on doing a 3mile run do a 3mile walk . .so that at least you are going the same mileage . . based on fit's calculations you won't get to the same calories burned as running but you'll get a lot more calories burnt than doing the same time as your run bc it's so much slower.
i agree with chloe bella- hydration belts are a must!
7Intervals are a great suggestion as is using a fuel belt. I am starting to train for a fall marathon and I live in a very hot climate like cmd0610 so it can be difficult. When it gets 100+ and I cant get outside early or late when it is a little cooler, I take my runs indoors. I prefer running outside but I wouldnt be able to run half as what I could outside as I can on a treadmill.
8Cmd, I don't know where you're located, but it also seems like humidity is a huge factor for the original poster. I can jog/run in 100 degree heat in Vegas without much difficulty, but it's next to impossible for me to jog/run at the same pace and for the same amount of time in 85 degree heat in D.C.
9Lil I was about to say the same thing, except I was going to use both DC and NOLA as examples.
10Yeah, I don't know how anyone could run in New Orleans! I think the humidity in DC is bad, but I'm sure it's much worse there.
11Yes, I agree, bringing water with you is a must.
12i'm in houston . . .so very hot and very humid
13Wow, I've never met anyone who would laugh at someone for considering 85 degrees and high humidity hot! But, to each her own.
14I do incline training instead of either of those, that way I DO get the calorie burn without the impact in a similar amount of time
I have a leg length discrepency, so running is no fun for my hip
Curse you scoliosis!
15Cmd, in all fairness, you're probably acclimated to the heat if you're in Houston. I'm in St. Louis, so it's pushing 100 here and very humid, but in the winter, we have days when the temperature is below zero. A couple years ago, I trained for a spring half marathon, meaning that most of my training was down outside in the winter, when it was like 20 degrees out. It took a lot of adjustment before I could stand running in the heat again. I ran on an indoor treadmill and did bikram yoga this past winter, so now the heat doesn't bother me as much. It's all relative.
16bleh. Running is overrated. It's nice to go for a brisk walk. It gives you time to notice the surroundings in your neighborhood. You always notice something different everytime and it gives you a sense of peace.
17wow...great facts, i'll run in the mornings since its cooler and take brisk walks in afternoon
18Yea.. I live on the Gulf Coast, and there is no way I can run in this suffocating heat.. I honestly don't even want to walk to get lunch during the summers here. Its brutal, even more so this season.
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