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How to Burn 500 Calories on the Treadmill

The 500-Calorie-Burning Treadmill Workout

October 29, 2011

Weight loss on your mind? Kick it up a notch in the workout department with this 41-minute interval workout for the treadmill that will burn about 500 calories. Complete it five times in a week and you are well on your way to burning an extra 3,500 calories — the magic number of calories it takes to lose one pound in a week. This means you would need to cut out about 150 calories daily from your food intake to meet that goal. Not too difficult right?

Continue reading to see this 500-calorie-burning interval workout.

Set the treadmill incline to zero, and after warming up begin this workout.

Time	Pace (mph)	Calories Burned*	RPE**
00:00-05:00	5.0	36	1-3
05:00-8:00	6.0	27	4-7
8:00-9:00	7.0	10	8-10
9:00-12:00	6.0	27	4-7
12:00-13:00	7.5	11	8-10
13:00-16:00	6.0	27	4-7
16:00-17:00	7.0	10	8-10
17:00-20:00	6.0	27	4-7
20:00-21:00	7.5	11	8-10
21:00-24:00	6.0	27	4-7
24:00-25:00	7.0	10	8-10
25:00-28:00	6.0	27	4-7
28:00-29:00	7.5	11	8-10
29:00-32:00	6.0	27	4-7
32:00-33:00	7.0	10	8-10
33:00-36:00	6.0	27	4-7
36:00-37:00	7.5	11	8-10
37:00-40:00	6.0	27	4-7
40:00-41:00	7.0	10	8-10
41:00-44:00	6.0	27	4-7
44:00-45:00	7.5	11	8-10
45:00-48:00	6.0	27	4-7
48:00-49:00	7.0	10	8-10
49:00-52:00	6.0	27	4-7
52:00-57:00	5.0	36	1-3

*Calories burned calculations are based on a 130-pound woman
**RPE = Rate of Perceived Exertion

Congratulations! You just burned 511 calories. Don't forget to cool down and stretch afterward. If this workout is too easy or too hard, just adjust the speed to fit your level. If you prefer running outside, then use the RPE column to determine how fast you should be going. Click here for a photo-free printable version of this workout to take to the gym.

For more on running, be sure join the RunningSugar community group.

Source: Thinkstock

31 Comments

sassysparky 21 weeks 1 day

This workout is ridiculous, and suggesting that someone do it five times a week is insane. I'm a runner who logs >20 miles a week and does half marathons routinely, and I would not do this work out more than once a week. Interval training is GREAT for weight loss, but it works your heart as much as any other muscle. One should not do HIIT workouts more than once a week. Furthermore, this would be about what, a 4-5 mile run? If someone hadn't been running regularly and jumped into doing all of this speedwork, they could get something like shin splints, runner's knee, or worse.

noeXcusefitness 1 year 14 weeks

Interval training is the king of exercises for burning fat. If you are a bit shorter on time check this article out for a program that can be completed in 20-30 minutes and will continue to burn calories for up to 48 hours after you have finished, even when you are sleeping http://www.noexcusefitness.com.au/training/afterburn-exercises/

cmhads 1 year 22 weeks

I love this workout and I'll often switch the 6 to 6.5 then 7 to 7.5 for different intervals but this keeps me entertained on the treadmill. I prefer outdoor workouts but this is perfect for winter! Thanks fitsugar!

flikmaster 1 year 26 weeks

I plan on trying this tomorrow, but will probably have to modify the speed. I have a hard time running as slow as 5 and 6 mph.

lorahora 1 year 28 weeks

8mph isn't so impossible, it's only for 60 seconds. If you put your mind past the difficulty, you will be able to do it. And if you feel like it is much too fast, then scale everything back. The reason you burn more calories is due to the intervals. Letting your body have an active recovery for 3 min after sprinting for 1 and then repeating causes it to work harder. I'm using it to help train for a 10k. I actually did the intervals up to 52:00 today and then had a 5 min cooldown after. I burned 671 calories. I weigh 155.

Asche 1 year 28 weeks

8 mph?! That's 12 km/h, which is insanely fast for most people!

msdrafter84 1 year 28 weeks

Treadmill readout indicates that at a 2 incline for 60 minutes burns about 800 calories. That is what I usually do. Pretty boring, so I am going to try this interval workout, but varying this version by integrating incline and dampening the high mph at certain segments.

treebie 1 year 28 weeks

this is ridiculous...about 2% can run that fast for that long. find a reasonable workout and post it.

cheyn1 1 year 51 weeks

This looks amazing. 500 calories or not it looks like it would keep me entertained.

biancalynnaire 2 years 11 weeks

I tried this out about an hour ago and loved it, I do interval workouts quite often but this one is great. Definitely made the treadmill a lot less boring, I even tacked on an extra 20 minutes to the 4.0 mph warm down.

2 years 19 weeks

I tried it this morning and scaled each interval back by 1mph and burned 396 calories. I'm 48 and 150lbs. I then did a set of about 5 weight baring exercies and ended my workout at 600 calorires burned in 65 minutes. It was challenging but the scale back helped me make it through.

2 years 46 weeks

i have tried everything,and nothing that i have tried so far has worked.

2 years 46 weeks

im going to try this... but at a 10% incline or so. i took the facts from another website that says to run at an incline, and combined it with these interval workouts. i will see if it works!

2 years 46 weeks

I can burn 500 calories in 30 mins on the treadmill (well, I'm not saying it's accurate, just that's what the display says). I'm a 118-120lb woman and usually run at 6.3-8.0 (8.0 for 30sec-60sec intrvals) with a min 0.5 incline, but will bump it up to 2.5/3.0 for hill intervals. I hope to try this soon to see what I burn.

adaniels611 3 years 3 weeks

Im going to try it when I get off work today.

3 years 12 weeks

Yeah, this calorie burn seems way too high to me. I weigh 150 and I find it difficult to burn 500 calories in less than an hour.

cfp 3 years 12 weeks

..I just used Fit's Calorie Counter and it says in 3 mins at 6.0 (a 10 minute mile) a 130lb woman burns 30 calories.

cfp 3 years 12 weeks

That's because there is no way that running on 6.0 for only 3 minutes burns 47 calories. I run on the treadmill all the time on anywhere from 6.5-7.0 and barely burn that many calories in a 40 minute run. I think there is something off with this tally. Maybe 37 calories (maybe). So it's more like a 400 calorie workout.

ojodeazul 3 years 14 weeks

I am 123 and did it yesterday with doing the first and last give minutes at 5.0mph and only burned 378...

staceyny35 3 years 15 weeks

I am 145 lbs. I did this workout yesterday and burned 445 caloires. What do I need to increase to make this workout a 500 calorie burning workout? Thanks.

carrothead 3 years 15 weeks

this looks intense! i might try it soon :]

teegaall 3 years 15 weeks

I've tried running at 8 or 9 mph on the treadmill before. I felt great and was keeping up for about 25 seconds then I had to slow down.

vtsang 3 years 15 weeks

I tried, but I can't get higher than 6.5 mph, my right side started hurting too much. But I'll keep trying. But it seems like 8mph really would be really fast.

CamieRodan 3 years 15 weeks

I tried this workout at the gym this morning. I usually get bored running on the treadmill for over 20 minutes, but this was actually a lot of fun and very doable!

3 years 15 weeks

agreed, 8mph is way too fast for me!

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31 Comments

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