07/09/2017 / By Rhonda Johansson
A new health survey revealed that boxing is the best way to shed those unwanted pounds — more so than sex or even swimming. Boxing can potentially burn around 800 calories in an hour, whereas sex burns a measly 200 calories an hour for men and a sad 138 calories for women. These findings suggests that boxing is the most effective physical activity for weight loss.
The survey listed 50 common activities and recorded how many calories each burned. Squash was noted to be the second most effective sport for weight loss, burning around 748 calories an hour. Watching TV on a sofa burned zero calories (although this rose to 20 calories an hour if the person watched TV while standing up). Researchers behind the survey stated that while any sport or activity is advantageous in weight loss, certain sports proved to be more beneficial. The amount of calories burned in these activities were seen to be dependent on how many muscle groups the sport engaged. For example, boxing was the most effective because it manipulated multiple muscle groups. Squash was also extremely effective for weight loss because the rallies were longer than other racket sports and the break between points was shorter than tennis. Moreover, squash typically involved players moving around constantly, which built muscle strength and endurance.
Following boxing and squash were:
The least effective activities for weight loss were noted to be:
So where does sex compare to all of this? Not bad, actually. Sex is a moderate to intense physical activity, burning a relatively good amount of calories an hour. Men were noted to burn more calories though. A 2013 study published in PLOS ONE revealed that men spent more energy during sex compared to women, even reporting that sex was “more strenuous” for them compared to a 30-minute treadmill session. Women, on the other hand, did not seem to experience any difference between sex and working out on a treadmill. Nevertheless, sex, despite its “lack” of calorie-burning characteristics when compared to boxing, is seen as a highly pleasurable and emotionally pleasant event. (Related: Regular Sex Improves Health and Doubles Life Expectancy.)
The managing director of the group that commissioned the survey, Lee Smith, told Mirror.co.uk that, “the figures show that any activity is better than lounging in front of the TV and, if you are going to do that, at least do it standing up and burn 20 calories an hour…. We just hope that these figures encourage more people to get active to combat our growing obesity crisis.”
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Tagged Under: boxing, burning calories, exercise, physical fitness, weight loss