Squats are a foundational exercise, engaging the largest muscle groups in the body. This compound movement uses the muscles of the legs, hips, and core simultaneously, making it highly effective for building strength and improving overall function. A common question is whether this popular exercise offers a substantial return on calorie expenditure. The answer requires understanding both the energy burned during the session and the long-term metabolic changes it creates.
Understanding the Immediate Calorie Expenditure
The number of calories burned during any squat session is highly personalized, depending on body weight, exercise duration, and intensity level. Calorie expenditure during exercise is often estimated using the concept of a Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET) value. A moderate-intensity, bodyweight squat session might be assigned a MET value of around 3.5, while a high-intensity session could reach 8.0, indicating a much greater energy cost per minute.
For a person weighing approximately 150 pounds, a continuous 10-minute session of moderate-intensity bodyweight squats is estimated to burn around 57 calories. This calculation highlights that the immediate energy cost of unweighted squats is modest compared to continuous aerobic activities like running. The energy demand is dictated by the amount of muscle tissue being worked, and the speed and resistance of the movement.
Maximizing Calorie Burn Through Execution Variables
While bodyweight squats offer a baseline calorie burn, manipulating the exercise’s execution can significantly increase the energy demand. Adding external resistance, such as holding a kettlebell, dumbbells, or loading a barbell, forces the muscles to work harder against a heavier load. This increased effort translates directly to a higher energy expenditure during the workout and engages more stabilizing muscles throughout the body.
Increasing the exercise tempo or speed is an effective strategy for boosting the immediate calorie burn. Moving quickly through the repetitions, especially in the form of plyometric variations like jump squats, elevates the heart rate and pushes the body into a higher-intensity effort zone. This higher-intensity effort is represented by a greater MET value, sometimes doubling the calorie burn compared to a slower, controlled squat. Maximizing the range of motion, such as performing deep squats, recruits a greater proportion of the large gluteal and thigh muscles. Incorporating these high-effort variables significantly increases the total energy used during the session.
Squats in Context: Comparing Metabolic Effectiveness
The question of whether squats burn a lot of calories depends on the timeframe considered, as their metabolic effectiveness extends far beyond the workout itself. While steady-state cardio may produce a higher immediate caloric burn during the exercise period, squats offer a pronounced long-term metabolic advantage. This benefit stems from the fact that squats are a compound resistance exercise that recruits massive amounts of muscle tissue in the lower body.
The intense nature of resistance training, especially when performed with a heavy load or high intensity, triggers a powerful physiological process known as Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC). Often called the “afterburn” effect, EPOC is the elevated rate of oxygen and calorie consumption the body maintains as it works to return to its pre-exercise state. This process can last for hours after the workout is finished. Studies show that this EPOC response is often greater following high-intensity resistance training than following steady-state aerobic exercise, even when the total calories burned during the session are matched.
The most significant long-term benefit comes from the increase in Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR). Muscle tissue is metabolically active, requiring more energy to maintain itself than fat tissue, even at rest. By stimulating muscle growth and preservation, squats effectively raise the RMR, causing the body to burn more calories around the clock. This sustained, elevated metabolic rate contributes substantially to overall energy expenditure, making squats an efficient tool for changing body composition and promoting sustainable fat loss.