I'll have 2 slices of Pizza and Ice Cream........................... and 600 Burpees!

Burpee Equivalents:  Understanding Junk Food in terms of Your Favorite Exercise!

 

Occasionally people slip up with their diets and sneak in some junk calories. When they do, they have to pay the price…In Burpees!  Here is some research to quantify energy expenditure during the Burpee exercise.  Here is what was found:

	Calories (kcals)	Burpees for 130lb individual	Burpees for 180lb individual
1 large French Fries	500	524	349
1 low cal beer	195	204	136
1 Slice of Dominos Peperoni Pizza	260	272	182
1 8-ounce Bison Cheesburger	730	765	510
1 scoop of Ben Jerry’s Cookie Dough ice cream	270	283	189
1 12” Roast beef sub from Subway	970	1016	677
1 Cola soft drink	200	210	140
1 Fried Calamari Appetizer	700	733	489
1 Plain Bagel	320	335	223
1 Slice of Cheescake	1000	1048	698
1 Egg McMuffin Sandwich	300	314	210
1 Cadbury Creme Egg	59	62	41



First calculated was the amount of work being performed during the Burpee. Calculated work 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 kg)
-  Average Vertical jump during 5 minute Burpee test:  5 in. (.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:  1kcal = 426.4 kg/m
-  Thus, 0.368 kcals of mechanical work per Burpee

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

Also calculated was energy production during the Burpee exercise by measuring oxygen consumption with metabolic cart.  Several athletes performed the Burpee exercise at a constant rate for 3 minutes while wearing a portable metabolic measuring system that continuously measured oxygen consumption.  The average Burpee rate was 10 Burpee repetitions per minute and 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 repetition to be 3.5 ml O2/kg/Burpee.

To convert oxygen cost to energy expenditure:

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 .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).

2 slices of Domino’s pizza = 600 kcals or 419 burpees

Pint of Ben and Jerry’s Cookie Dough = 980 kcals or 685 burpees.

Use the chart below to figure out your Burpee equivalent of junk food calories.

Energy Expenditure During the Burpee Exercise (kcals/Burpee)
Body Weight (lbs.)	120	130	140	150	160	170	180	190	200	210
kcals per Burpee	0.95	1.03	1.11	1.19	1.27	1.35	1.43	1.51	1.59	1.67

Example – for a 140 lb person:

2 slices of Domino’s pizza = 600 kcals
600kcals/ 1.11 kcal per Burpee = 540 burpees
 
You can have your cake and eat it too, but be ready to pay in Burpees!

Yours in health,
Greg
www.lakesidefitnessclub.com