# How Many Calories Do Sit-Ups Burn?

URL: https://kibora.app/calories-burned/sit-ups/
Language: en
Page type: activity calorie reference
Last Updated: 2026-08-31
Description: Estimate calories burned doing sit-ups by body weight, rep count and effort. See estimates for 25, 50 and 100 sit-ups with clear cadence assumptions.
Structured data: Organization, WebSite, SoftwareApplication, WebPage, Article, FAQPage, BreadcrumbList

## How Many Calories Do Sit-Ups Burn?

A 70 kg person burns about 23 calories doing 100 moderate sit-ups when 20 reps per minute is used as the cadence assumption.

Rep count alone is not enough: body weight, effort and how quickly you complete the reps all affect the estimate.

## Calories burned doing sit-ups

Choose your body weight, then compare estimated calories for common sit-up counts using explicit moderate and vigorous cadence assumptions.

Body weight: 70 kg

| Effort / cadence | 25 reps | 50 reps | 100 reps |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Moderate 20 reps/min | 6 kcal | 12 kcal | 23 kcal |
| Vigorous 30 reps/min | 8 kcal | 15 kcal | 31 kcal |

## Calculate calories burned doing sit-ups

Enter your body weight and number of sit-ups, then choose the effort/cadence assumption closest to your set.

The MET values come from Compendium calisthenics categories. The 20 and 30 reps/min cadences are transparent calculator assumptions, not Compendium-defined sit-up rates.

## What changes sit-up calorie burn?

A rep count only becomes a calorie estimate after you make assumptions about time and effort.

### Cadence

100 reps completed in three minutes is a different workload from 100 reps spread across ten minutes.

### Effort

The Compendium assigns 3.8 METs to moderate calisthenics and 7.5 METs to vigorous calisthenics.

### Body weight

At the same MET and duration, a higher body weight produces a higher estimate.

### Rest between sets

Long rests reduce average expenditure across the full session compared with continuous work.

## Your workout is one part of the day.

Track food and activity together in Kibora to see your daily picture.

[Try Kibora free](https://my.kibora.app?lang=en)

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## Calculation methodology and sources

The 2024 Adult Compendium includes sit-ups within moderate and vigorous calisthenics categories. Because calorie expenditure depends on time, this page converts rep count to estimated duration using clearly disclosed cadence assumptions.

### MET values

The Compendium lists moderate calisthenics, including sit-ups, at 3.8 METs and vigorous calisthenics, including sit-ups, at 7.5 METs.

### Rep-to-time assumptions

For the count-based calculator, moderate effort assumes 20 sit-ups per minute and vigorous effort assumes 30 sit-ups per minute.

These cadence values are calculator assumptions used to turn reps into active minutes; they are not official Compendium cadence definitions.

### Calculation

Estimated duration = sit-up count ÷ assumed reps per minute.

Calories = MET × 3.5 × body weight in kilograms ÷ 200 × estimated active minutes.

[2024 Adult Compendium — conditioning exercise](https://pacompendium.com/conditioning-exercise/)

[Compendium — MET unit conversions](https://pacompendium.com/unite-conversions/)

## Related calorie-burn activities

### Running

342 calories per 30 min at 70 kg

[Running](https://kibora.app/calories-burned/running/)

### Elliptical

184 calories per 30 min at 70 kg, moderate effort

[Elliptical](https://kibora.app/calories-burned/elliptical/)

### Stationary bike

221 calories per 30 min at 70 kg around 90–100 W

[Stationary bike](https://kibora.app/calories-burned/stationary-bike/)

### Rowing machine

276 calories per 30 min at 70 kg and 100–149 W

[Rowing machine](https://kibora.app/calories-burned/rowing/)

### Walking one mile

about 90–96 calories per mile at 70 kg

[Walking one mile](https://kibora.app/calories-burned/walking-one-mile/)

## FAQ

### How many calories do 100 sit-ups burn?

There is no single number because calorie burn depends on body weight, effort and how long the reps take. With the explicit cadence assumptions on this page, a 70 kg person burns about 23 calories for 100 moderate sit-ups at 20 reps per minute and about 32 calories for 100 vigorous sit-ups at 30 reps per minute.

### Do faster sit-ups burn more calories?

Faster work can raise intensity, but it also reduces the time needed to complete a fixed number of reps. That is why count-based calorie estimates need both an effort level and a cadence assumption.

### How many sit-ups burn 100 calories?

At 70 kg and the moderate assumption used here, 100 calories would be roughly 430 sit-ups. The exact number varies with cadence and effort.

### Are sit-up calorie estimates exact?

No. The Compendium provides MET values for calisthenics that include sit-ups, but it does not assign a specific MET to each sit-up cadence. This page makes its cadence assumptions explicit.