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Push-up calories calculator
Put your body weight, minutes of push-ups and intensity in: a 180 lb person doing push-ups for 10 minutes at MET 8 burns 108.87 kcal — 653.2 kcal an hour.
★ SPORTS · CALORIES · BODYWEIGHT EXERCISE
Push-Up Calories Calculator: 108.87 kcal in 10 Minutes
On the defaults — a 180 lb person doing push-ups for 10 minutes at MET 8 — push-ups burn 108.87 kcal, or 653.2 kcal an hour. This is the push-up calories tool: convert pounds to kilograms, multiply MET by kilograms by hours for the burn, and divide by the minutes for the rate — a workout guessed from the minutes alone tells you nothing until the body weight and the effort behind it are known.
What does 108.87 kcal, 653.2 kcal an hour mean?
It means a person weighing 180 pounds — 81.65 kilograms — who does push-ups for ten minutes at a vigorous MET 8 burns 108.87 kilocalories, which is 653.2 kilocalories for a full hour at the same pace, or 10.89 kilocalories every minute. The weight sets the burn, the minutes set the total, and the intensity sets the whole rate: strict fast sets at MET 8 burn a third more than easy sets at MET 6 over the same minutes, and a heavier person burns more than a lighter person over the same set without doing a single extra push-up. The only judgement is the intensity — MET 8 is vigorous calisthenics, and the intensity that settles the burn is the one actually worked at, not the one the workout plan claims.
Output · formula · meaning
| Output | Formula | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Weight in kg | weight × 0.453592 | 81.65 kg — 180 × 0.453592. |
| Calories burned | MET × kg × minutes ÷ 60 | 108.87 kcal — 8 × 81.65 × 10 ÷ 60. |
| Calories per hour | MET × kg | 653.2 kcal — 8 × 81.65. |
Three things to check before you trust the number
First, check the weight honestly: 180 lb must be the weight actually doing the push-ups — the calculator converts the weight entered, and a weight guessed light by twenty pounds understates the burn by a ninth. Second, check the minutes against the set, not the session: 10 minutes must be minutes actually doing push-ups, not minutes in the gym — rests between sets burn far less, and minutes counted generously overstate the burn. Third, check the intensity against the effort, not the label: MET 8 suits vigorous fast sets, while slow easy sets run closer to MET 6, and an intensity borrowed from a hard day understates an easy day by a third in the other direction.
Worked example
180 lb, 10 minutes, MET 8. Weight: 180 × 0.453592 = 81.65 kg. Calories: 8 × 81.65 × 10 ÷ 60 = 108.87 kcal. Per hour: 8 × 81.65 = 653.2 kcal. In practice that means ten minutes of vigorous push-ups burns about one hundred and nine kilocalories — roughly a small apple, and the hourly figure to use when the workout runs a full hour.
Every branch, checked
At 220 lb instead of 180, the burn rises to 133.05 kcal — 798.32 kcal an hour. At 20 minutes instead of 10, the burn rises to 217.73 kcal. At MET 6 instead of 8, the burn falls to 81.65 kcal. At 150 lb instead of 180, the burn falls to 90.72 kcal — 544.32 kcal an hour.
The reverses, worked backwards
The weight behind 108.87 kcal is 180 lb: at 150 lb the burn is 90.72 kcal; at 220 lb it is 133.05 kcal. The minutes behind 108.87 kcal are 10: at 5 minutes the burn is 54.43 kcal; at 20 minutes it is 217.73 kcal — the minutes never touch the hourly rate, only the total. The intensity behind 108.87 kcal is MET 8: at MET 6 the burn is 81.65 kcal; at MET 10 it is 136.08 kcal.
What the defaults assume
The defaults assume a 180 lb person doing push-ups continuously at MET 8 for 10 minutes without rests, with the standard MET formula and no adjustment for fitness or form. They do not assume rest breaks, knee push-ups, or a weighted vest — a person who rests every minute burns less than 108.87, and a vest adds weight the calculator only counts if it is entered as body weight.
Who uses this
- A home exerciser tracking a workout: the 108.87 kcal settles what the set actually burned.
- A fitness tracker checking its estimate: the MET maths is the line to compare the watch against.
- A coach programming bodyweight work: the 653.2 kcal an hour is the line to scale sets by.
- A dieter logging exercise: the per-minute rate is the line to add to the day.
Accuracy & limitations
The arithmetic is exact for the inputs entered; the judgement is the weight, the true minutes, and the intensity. Real push-ups vary with pace, form, rests, and fitness — so treat 108.87 as the planning burn for a 180 lb person doing push-ups continuously at MET 8 for 10 minutes, and check it against a heart-rate tracker before quoting it to anyone else.
Cite this calculator
Bright Side Kit, “Push-Up Calories Calculator: 108.87 kcal in 10 Minutes”, https://brightoolbox.com/push-up-calories-calculator/, accessed 3 November 2026. Students and researchers: cite the calculator name, the page URL and the date you used it, and quote the defaults (180 lb, 10 minutes, MET 8) so the result can be checked.
Frequently asked questions
How many calories do push-ups burn in 10 minutes?
108.87 kcal on the defaults: a 180 lb person (81.65 kg) doing push-ups at MET 8 for 10 minutes burns 8 × 81.65 × 10 ÷ 60 = 108.87 kcal.
Do push-ups burn a lot of calories?
Moderately: about 653 kcal an hour at a vigorous pace, which rivals a brisk run — but most people cannot hold that pace for an hour, so the honest figure is the 10-minute one, not the hourly one.
Does body weight change the burn?
Yes, directly: a 220 lb person burns 133.05 kcal in the same 10 minutes at MET 8, while a 150 lb person burns 90.72 kcal. Heavier bodies move more mass on every repetition.
Should rest breaks count in the minutes?
No: count only minutes actually doing push-ups. Rests burn far less, and minutes counted generously overstate the burn — a 10-minute session with 5 minutes of rests is 5 minutes of push-ups.
Why convert pounds to kilograms first?
Because the MET formula works in kilograms: calories = MET × weight in kg × hours. The calculator does the conversion for you — 180 lb is 81.65 kg — so you enter pounds and get kilocalories out.
How is this different from the running calories calculator?
That page burns calories by distance and weight; this page burns them by MET, weight, and minutes. Use that page for a run, this page for the floor.