How Many Burpees Does It Take to Burn Off These Classic Junk Foods?

Occasionally — and especially during the holidays — even the most disciplined people slip up with nutrition and sneak in some junk calories. Most athletes don't worry too much about deviating from their meal plan, since they burn so many calories in daily training. But if you want an exact calculation of how to burn off the meal you just ate, we've got you covered with a Spartan favorite: burpees!

At Spartan HQ, we have been conducting research to quantify energy expenditure during the burpee exercise — essentially, what the burpee equivalent to junk food would be. Here's what we found.

How Many Burpees Will Burn Off These Foods?

1 slice of apple pie a la mode

Calories = 420
Burpees for a 130-pound person = 408
Burpees for a 180-pound person = 294

1/2 cup of cranberry sauce

Calories = 209
Burpees for a 130-pound person = 197
Burpees for a 180-pound person = 146

1 large serving of French fries

Calories = 500
Burpees for a 130-pound person = 524
Burpees for a 180-pound person = 349

1 IPA beer

Calories = 195
Burpees for a 130-pound person = 204
Burpees for a 180-pound person = 136

1 Slice of Domino’s pepperoni pizza

Calories = 260
Burpees for a 130-pound person = 272
Burpees for a 180-pound person = 182

1, 8-ounce Ted’s Bison Cheeseburger

Calories = 730
Burpees for a 130-pound person = 765
Burpees for a 180-pound person = 510

1 scoop of Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough ice cream

Calories = 270
Burpees for a 130-pound person = 283
Burpees for a 180-pound person = 189

1, 12-inch roast beef sub from Subway

Calories = 970
Burpees for a 130-pound person = 1,016
Burpees for a 180-pound person = 677

1 fried calamari appetizer

Calories = 700
Burpees for a 130-pound person = 733
Burpees for a 180-pound person = 489

1 plain bagel

Calories = 320
Burpees for a 130-pound person = 335
Burpees for a 180-pound person = 223

1 slice of cheesecake

Calories = 1,000
Burpees for a 130-pound person = 1,048
Burpees for a 180-pound person = 698

1 Egg McMuffin

Calories = 300
Burpees for a 130-pound person = 314
Burpees for a 180-pound person = 210

1 Cadbury Creme Egg

Calories = 59
Burpees for a 130-pound person = 62
Burpees for a 180-pound person = 41

How Science Can Calculate the Burpee Equivalent of Food

The first step is to calculate the amount of "work" being performed during a burpee, calculated as:

Work (w) = force (f) x distance (d) – f = weight of the individual in kilograms – d = distance from the floor to the maximal height of the head during the jump in meters.

Example, Male Athlete A:

Height: 71 inches (1.80 meters) – Weight: 180 lbs (81.8 kilograms) – Average vertical jump during 5-minute burpee test: 5 in. (0.12 m)
Total vertical displacement from the floor to maximal jump height: 1.92 m (height plus jump height) – work = 81.8 x 1.92 – work = 157 kg/m – Given: 1 kcal = 426.4 kg/m. Thus, 0.368 kcals of mechanical work are exerted per burpee.

External mechanical work, or the work that is being performed, does not equal the amount of work that is being produced internally. Humans aren’t 100% efficient. Efficiency during running and cycling is about 25%. Thus, for the body to perform 25 calories of external work, it must produce 100 calories of energy internally. That means that the body has to produce 1.47 calories of internal energy to produce 0.368 calories of external mechanical work per burpee repetition.

We can also calculate energy production during the burpee exercise by measuring oxygen consumption with metabolic cart. We had several athletes perform the burpees exercise at a constant rate for 3 minutes while wearing a portable metabolic measuring system that continuously measured oxygen consumption. The average rate was 10 burpees per minute, and the average oxygen consumption during the last minute of exercise was 35 milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute (ml O2/kg/min). We found the measured oxygen cost of a single burpee to be 3.5 ml O2/kg/burpee.

To convert oxygen cost to energy expenditure, we did the following:

Example (same athlete as above):

Total oxygen consumed during a single burpee is calculated as the product of body weight (kg) and O2 cost in ml/kg/min
81.8 kg X 3.5 ml O2/kg/Burpee = 286 mlO2/Burpee or 0.286 liters (l) of O2/Burpee.
One liter of oxygen is equivalent to about 5 kcals.
0.286 l O2 X 5 kcals/l = 1.43 kcals/burpee.

As you can see, there is good agreement between the 2 methods (1.47 and 1.43 kcals/burpee, respectively).

Spartan Expert and SGX Coach Dr. Jeff Godin is Spartan’s Head of Fitness Education and an Associate Professor in the Department of Exercise and Sports Science, Fitchburg State University.

The Spartan Editors

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