You don’t have to stick to running and lifting weights to get in shape. Find out whether step aerobics is good for weight loss and if it is enough to see results.
An important principle is that you need to use more energy than is coming in from food to lose weight.
You can say that step aerobics is good for weight loss because it helps in this process. The exercises you do in step aerobics typically require more energy than your usual daily activities.
In fact, step aerobics can be relatively good for burning calories compared to many other workout options.
An additional benefit of step aerobics is that many people enjoy doing it. If this applies to you too, a step aerobics workout routine may feel relatively easy to stick to.
One small downside is that there are some gear or location requirements. That being said, step aerobics equipment is not that pricey.
Conditions for losing weight with step aerobics
You can say that any form of exercise, including step aerobics, can help with weight loss in one way or another.
However, that does not mean adding some extra exercise to your routine will always help you lose weight. There are still a few conditions you have to fulfill.
More specifically, to lose weight you need to make it so you use up more energy than is coming in from the foods in your diet.
At this point, you will start using the energy from other stores. Since body fat is just stored energy, you will start using this up too sooner or later.
Step aerobics helps in this weight loss process because the stepper exercises you do require more energy than standard daily activities.
The main condition to keep in mind is that this extra energy burning needs to be enough to compensate for what is coming in.
With suboptimal habits in other lifestyle areas like your diet, you can do a lot of step aerobics without fat loss results.
Calories burned step aerobics vs other workouts
While it is definitely nice that step aerobics can help you lose weight, this is not the only relevant detail.
You likely also want to spend your time in an effective way which means you could be considering other workouts too.
Below you can find how many calories step aerobics burn compared to other activities.
Keep in mind that these are rough estimations that are mostly helpful for comparing exercises. In reality, your weight loss results can vary.
While doing these activities for 30 minutes, a 185-pound (84 kg) person can burn the following amounts of calories (1, 2):
- Step Aerobics (4-Inch Step): 240 calories
- Step Aerobics (6-8-Inch Step): 328 calories
- Step Aerobics (10-12-Inch Step): 415 calories
- Water Aerobics: 168 calories
- Stretching (Hatha Yoga): 168 calories
- Walking 4 mph: 189 calories
- Swimming (general): 252 calories
- Rowing, Stationary (moderate): 294 calories
- Bicycling, Stationary (moderate): 294 calories
- Elliptical Trainer (general): 378 calories
- Jumping rope (slow): 335 calories
- Running 5 mph: 336 calories
Step aerobics step height is only one detail that influences your energy-burning. Things like exactly how fast you move and what exercises you do will influences your weight loss results too.
That being said, the rough estimations above do make it clear that you can burn nice amounts of calories with step aerobics compared to other workouts.
With the knowledge that one pound of body fat is about 3500 calories (one kg +-8000), you can estimate how much fat loss your step aerobics workouts offer.
Do keep in mind that likely not all of this calorie-burning will come from body fat.
Is step aerobics better than walking for weight loss?
Walking is another popular type of cardiovascular workout. Many people want to know how it compares to step aerobics in terms of weight loss potential.
The rough estimations above imply that step aerobics is a lot better than walking in terms of burning calories and in turn, weight loss.
At the same time, it is worth noting that there are some unique benefits to walking outside.
These include getting some extra sunlight, getting some fresh air, and potentially having a more calming effect.
This will likely not be enough to compensate for the energy usage in step aerobics but can be important too.
Is step aerobics good for losing belly fat?
Losing weight in general can be great but many people are also interested in losing fat from specific areas like their bellies.
Something to note is that it is generally not possible to target fat loss in significant amounts. This applies to step aerobics but to other workouts too.
That being said, step aerobics can still be good for losing belly fat even if you won’t always target this specific area.
You do this by losing enough weight overall. As you keep doing this, more and more of that fat from around your stomach will go away too.
The same principles apply to other areas like your thighs. So if you fulfill the conditions, step aerobics can help you lose leg fat (but not build muscle) and in turn, tone your legs.
Should you do step aerobics for weight loss?
Step aerobics can help you burn a lot of calories. In turn, you can say that it can be a good workout option for weight loss.
This is especially the case if you really enjoy doing step aerobics. In that case, staying consistent with your exercise routine becomes easier.
Something you can do to get even more weight loss results from step aerobics is to also do workouts to build muscle.
The extra muscle mass you build will help you burn more calories with everything you do. Including your step aerobics sessions.
Lastly, you may also need to keep an eye on your habits in areas like your nutrition to actually get weight loss results from doing step aerobics.
FAQ
Will step aerobics tone my legs?
With good habits in other areas, step aerobics can help you lose leg fat over time (but not necessarily always in this area). In that sense, step aerobics can help you tone your legs. However, this activity will typically not be hard enough to grow leg muscles. Additionally, your habits in these other areas need to be good enough.
