Feel the Burn Snowshoeing: How Many Calories Can You Burn?

One of the Best Workouts You Can Do Once Snow Falls

Image Caption: Snowshoeing can be an enjoyable outdoor workout during the winter months (Image from Getty)

Pumping some iron. Breaking a sweat. Working out. There are as many terms for exercising as there are forms of exercise. But believe it or not, one of the best ways to feel the burn this winter isn’t in a Zumba class or on a stationary bike. It’s out in the cold snowshoeing.

Snowshoeing has been around for thousands of years. It originated as a necessity for traversing frigid climates packed with feet upon feet of snow. Later, as society developed, snowshoeing became less a required form of travel and more one of leisure and exercise.

In fact, today snowshoeing is a governed sport with its own league – the World Snowshoe Federation.

How Many Calories Can You Burn Snowshoeing?

So, now that you’re convinced to give snowshoeing a go, how many calories can you expect to actually burn? More than you would running or walking that’s for sure, specifically 45 percent more on average. The added weight from the snowshoes, your increased metabolic rate from working out in the cold, and the resistance of traversing through snow all lead to this increased caloric burn.

When it comes to counting calories snowshoeing, as is the case with all forms of exercise, you have to consider your height, weight, and the duration and intensity of the workout. As an average, a 150-pound person can expect to burn approximately 379 calories in an hour of snowshoeing at a moderate effort and 716 calories at a vigorous while a 180-pound person should expect to burn approximately 500 calories in an hour at a moderate effect and 800 at a vigorous.

The Terrain Matters

a snowy hill that someone could snowshoe up

The terrain matters a lot when snowshoeing. (Image from Unsplash)

Snowshoeing, however, includes several factors in addition to those from a standard workout that will affect the overall number of calories burned including the terrain (flat vs hilly) the snow (packed vs powder) your equipment (not using poles vs using poles), and the expenditure (walking vs running).

As you choose the latter of each option, the number of calories you should expect to burn on your exercise will increase. So, if you are looking to burn the most calories while snowshoeing, choose a hilly terrain with powdered snow to run while using poles. If you do this, you can expect to burn as much as 1,000 calories in an hour!

If you want a more accurate estimation for your snowshoe workout, there are a number of exercise calorie calculators available online that let you fill in your information and get an estimation for calories burned. There are also plenty of exercise watches on the market that can give you a more precise estimation as to how many calories you burned on your snowshoe workout.

You have many forms of exercise to choose from but none quite like snowshoeing. And, as it’s only an option for a limited time (while there’s still snow on the ground and a chill in the air) give it a try. You’ll not only get in some valuable exercise time; you’ll also discover a fun way to work out and feel the burn doing an exercise that’s been around since almost the beginning of time.

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