Water Workout Calorie Burn Guide

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As the weather warms up, it’s hard not to want to spend all of our time outdoors. Whether we are relaxing in the sun, or going for a jog, this weather calls to us! But what to do when you love the sun, but it’s too hot and miserable? Water Exercise of course! Let me introduce you to some great water workouts and the amount of calories burned, while staying cool in the pool!

Simple Swimming

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Our first exercise is very simple! One of the best ways to get a full body workout in the pool, is by simply swimming. Not only does this work out arms and legs, but it gives a killer ab workout as well. You can swim from one end of the pool to the other, the perimeter or your pool, or if you have a water exercise belt, you can swim in place. This helps burn major calories, and keeps pressure off your body for those of you coming back from or battling injuries.

Treading Water

calories-burned-treading-waterTreading water is another great full body exercise. Not only can it provide great practice if you are ever stuck out deep at sea, but It can strengthen your core which can help build muscle in all other areas of your body. Try not to overexert the legs, but balance your feet, legs and arms in a rhythm. Bonus points for burst intervals where you tread as fast as you can ’til time is up! Triple bonus points if you wear our AquaJogger Water Fitness Belt while doing this water exercise!

Water Walking

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I’m sure you already know how to walk; but water walking may be something new! In waist to chest deep water, walk with an exaggerated gait, swinging your arms and stepping high. Lean slightly forward and lead with your chin as you jog (or walk) back and forth across the pool, or in a large circle pattern. For added buoyancy, straddle a pool noodle or use a pool exercise belt, which allows you to do Water Jogging in deeper water, without touching the floor.

Pool Lunges

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Our third exercise is one that should be done when you are in a section of the pool where the water is waist deep. Similar to normal lunges, alternate lunging your right and left foot forward, bending at the knee, keeping the opposite thigh parallel to the floor. Water lunges take this same exercise, but put it under water. This allows the body to strengthen your thighs without putting excess strain on the knee. As a runner, this is one of my favorite workouts in the pool!

Pool Squats

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Squats can be one of the most dreaded exercises! We all know that they help build strong glutes, but can be tough on the knees. However, when you do Pool Squats in shallow water, the stress on the knees becomes very minimal. Just like a normal squat, begin in the standing position. From there, bend at the hips and knees, until your thighs are parallel to the floor, or just enough to feel the burn. Once you have mastered the normal squat, you can challenge yourself by adding handheld weights.


The weather is getting hotter, be sure to take advantage of your pool this summer, and burn some calories!

If you are just starting back to exercise, take it slow and steady, and work up to longer sessions, and for safety’s sake (and just for fun), get a pool workout partner!

32 thoughts on “Water Workout Calorie Burn Guide

  1. Debbie Mcclosky-moss

    Hi! I weigh 172 pounds. I jog in our pool with knees up to chest quite fast for one hour. I counted about 700 steps so to speak in 5 minutes. At the same time, I am doing my arms up and back in the water against current. How many calories doing both at the same time am I burning approximately????

    • Hi Debbie, that sounds quite active, if you are working up a sweat and building heat rate and respiration, and ‘feeling the burn’, you could be 700-800 calories per hour doing this… 🙂 Keep it up!

  2. Jeanne Florentine

    I use an aqua water belt and carry dumbbells, water jogging for 45 min. I weigh 175 lbs. can you tell me how many calories I burn?

    • Hi Jeanne, that’s a great workout! The amount of calories depends on how much your heart rate is elevated, or how much sweat equity. Like anything, water jogging can be done slowly, and you could even do it while having a conversation with someone. Or, you can water jog very vigorously, with high heart rate, sweat, sore muscles, etc. I suspect you are somewhere in between, so I would give you a range of 350-550 calories, for 45 minutes. You can optimize it by monitoring heart rate, and like on an exercise bike, give the amount of effort required to reach a target heart rate (for me is 160 bpm, but is different for everyone). Work hard until your target heart rate is reached, continuing for 2, 3, 5 minutes, whatever is comfortable, then a slower pace, to reduce heart rate by 25%, for an equal amount of time – this is sometimes called interval training.

  3. Rico Ramirez

    Hi…I am 329 lbs (I’ve lost 70 lbs in the last 14 months. Planning on losing another 130 lbs). I walk in shoulder high water taking exaggerated steps for 80 minutes. During these 80 minutes I move over to waist high water and run as fast as I can back and forth 4 times, which is a total of 102 yards in distance. I do this 4 times during the 80 minutes. The majority of my water walking, however, is in shoulder high water. How many calories am I burning in these 80 minutes of water walking?

    • Hi Rico, good for you! Sounds like a great workout. Are you elevating your heart rate, and breaking a bit of a sweat? Don’t overdo it, but for the most benefit, most fitness experts suggest to raise the heart rate for a few minutes, followed by a few minutes of reduced activity, for example, a 30 second sprint, followed by a 30 second walk – do this 5 times, then slow-walk for 3 minutes, then repeat. ‘Interval training’ it’s called, to elevate the heart rate and respiration, with intense short bursts of activity, followed by rest periods, then repeat. You should also feel tired after a good workout, and perhaps even a bit sore the next day. If you are not worn-out, then fewer calories are burned. It sounds like you are doing this, alternating the shallow water rapid walking with the chest high walking. You could also try to add-in a few laps of swimming or treading water, to work different muscle groups, and perhaps some weight training on off-days. Our bodies tend to acclimate to certain types of exercise, so throw it a curve ball now and then :-). Now for the amount of calories burned, if you are really ‘feeling it’, and getting the blood pumping… I would say that you may be burning close to 1000 calories during your 80 minute workout. That’s great! Keep in mind though, that I am not a doctor or even a fitness expert, I’m just a guy that swims several times per week!

  4. how many calories will i lose walking against current in river pool i weigh 250 lbs

    • Hi Mike, depends how much exertion is involved, but between 250-550 calories per hour usually. If you get your heart rate up and respiration up, and break a little sweat, you’ll burn much more than if you are leisurely walking along. Setting a target heart rate helps – with a fitbit or other device to monitor, and then holding the higher heart rate for 5 or 10 minutes at a time, followed by a short 1 min rest, then repeat – is a good practice to follow.

      • Scott McMahon

        Hi. Thank you for this information. I am walking against the current at my local pool daily for approximately 90 minutes. I recently had my hips replaced and it has been great for them. The issue is that I am on a heart medication that does not allow my heart rate to elevate, even with strenuous exercise. Will I still lose weight without elevating my heart rate?

        • Scott – great question and the answer is Yes – just not as much as someone who is really sweating it out. Water walking against the current will burn more calories than regular walking, and is safer and easier on the joints. Keep it up! 🙂

  5. Rosemary

    This is great . I started water exercise after car accident just making up stuff as I went and finding this app is going to put some uniform in my workout .thanks

  6. I weigh 282 lbs and I’m trying to lose weight. If I’m walking back and forth in the pool for 30 minutes how many calories would I burn? Just a normal walk like I would on land.

    • Hi Heather, we it depends on how vigorous the walking is, but for 30 mins of constant, steady water walking, I would say in the range of 200-400 calories.

  7. Kristina

    How many Calories does swimming with ankle weights burn.

    • Hi Kristina, it depends on your level of activity, or how hard you are working – from slow, to moderate or vigorous. And depends if you are actually swimming laps, or are water walking, but somewhere between 600-800 calories per hour.

  8. Jill Kirkland

    I have recently lost about 30 pounds and finally felt I could start exercising in the pool. As I’m out of shape, I get tired after 8-10 laps, so I swim mostly freestyle with some laps of breaststroke and backstroke, then water walk 4-6 laps to be ready to swim another 8-10 laps and water walk another 4-6 laps, and finish with more swimming and water walking. Is this a good way to swim more laps or do I defeat the purpose of cardio by slowing down ad I water walk between swim sets. I walk as fast as the water lets me walk…..

  9. Holly Sato Sato

    Is treadng water and pool jogging the same thing? I’m looking for a good cross training exercise for my marathon training while nursing back a hamstring strain. I hear pool jogging is great, but wonder how it’s different than treading water?

    • Hi Holly, great question! Treading water is a bit different technically, which involves more of an eggbeater kick and sculling of the hands. Water jogging, is performed as though one were running, with arms pumping up and down, and knees and ankles flexing in an up/down motion, with a forward gait. Water jogging can be stand in place, in deep water or can be done as laps, moving across the pool floor in chest high water.

  10. cindi warblow

    How many calories do u burn in a resistance pool doing circuit.

    • Hi Cindi, in a resistance pool? Do you mean one where you swim against a high flow current of water? and for circuit, that would depend on what your circuit is. In most cases, if you know the number of calories (roughly) burned on land, you can add 15% when performed at the same speed, in the water, to account for the resistance of the water.

  11. How many more calories do I burn water walking for an hour with 1/2 lb. ankle weights if I weigh 160 lbs.??

    • Hi Sue, great question! According to the American Council on Exercise, wearing ankle weights that weigh between 1 and 3 pounds causes an increase in your oxygen uptake and calorie burn of up to 10 percent. Thus, if you burn about 400 calories on your run, you might burn as many as 440 calories with the addition of ankle weights (source: livehealthy.chron.com) – so 1/2 lb weights may add another 6-7% of calorie burn to your water workout. Good idea!

  12. Im male, 255lbs
    Walk 1 mile (72 laps in 25 yrd pool, 3′-6″ to 4′-6″ depth) in 37 minutes.
    trying to loose weight.
    Should I increase distance and overall time or should I increase speed?

    • Hi Ken, I can only speak for myself, but I find that increasing speed and effort loses weight faster than distance and duration. Of course check with your doctor, but for me, increasing heart rate and breathing levels to a point where I am short of breath (in intervals), and exhausted after a workout seems to burn fat faster than exercising more moderately, for longer time periods. An easy way as you mention is to clock your lap speed, and work to increase speed. Try to strike a balance between ‘sprints and distance’ water walking, doing both in intervals, or alternate on different days.

  13. jean megill

    Hi I am rehabing a 4th hip replacement..and I am only allowed to sit on a noodle and kick legs under water.. and move myself around the pool with my arms.. I do it for at least two hours a day.. anyone know how many calories I am burning? Idea?

    • Davy Merino

      Hi Jean, I dont’ know exactly, but if swimming vigorously burns 800 cals/hr – I would guess that what you are doing might burn 200-400 calories per hour, depending on how vigorous you are with it – if you break a sweat and are out of breath, could be 400…

  14. How many calories do I burn walking chest high in a pool with foam dumb bells..?

    • Davy Merino

      Hi Marci, depends on your weight and how fast you are actually walking, but adding the resistance of the foam dumb bells will only increase effort, so perhaps another 100 calories per hour, than what is listed in the Water Walking calorie burn chart. Keep on water working out!

  15. Is there a formula for figuring how many calories you burn walking in the pool that you can share? I currently weigh much more than 200 pounds. Thank you.

    • Hi Paul, it seems as though that could be ‘mathematically extrapolated’ from the chart, seems as though the more you weigh, the more you burn – all else being equal in effort and energy expended. But I’m sure that eventually diminishing returns would set in. For most people doing water walking, in chest high water, you can burn around 500 calories per hour at a slow to medium rate, or over 700 calories per hour for brisk walking laps, getting the heart pumping for aerobic exercise. I swim laps and often see heavy people water walking, and have noticed a few transitions to lap swimming after many months of muscle toning and strength building. I also do a few laps of water walking in my swim workout, it’s a great way to exercise!

      • Susan Harrison

        Davy: I am mathematically challenged. I can’t figure out how to determine the calories expended. I am 162 lbs and walk back and forth for an hour.

        • Davy Merino

          Hi, should be about 560 calories per hour, depends on how fast you are water walking actually, 560 would be fairly brisk walking in low-chest height water.

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