Jogging in Place for 40 Minutes

The American College of Sports Medicine’s guidelines for physical fitness include 20 to 60 minutes of cardiorespiratory exercise three to five days per week. Jogging in place for 40 minutes daily three to five times weekly fits this recommendation. Jogging in place can be done on a treadmill, on a floor inside your home and on an outdoor surface.

Jogging is slow running that also requires less effort than faster running. Running at 5 mph, or about 3-1/3 miles in 40 minutes, is considered running, while slower running is considered jogging. Joggers also should a lower exercise heart rate than runners. They should be exercising lightly, which the ACSM defines as exercising so your heart rate is 35 to 54 percent of your maximum heart rate -- 220 heartbeats per minute minus your age. Dianne Hales, the author of the college textbook “An Invitation to Health,” writes that joggers can talk to each other, while runners are too breathless.

Jogging in place for 40 minutes burns 363 calories in 150-pound people and 484 calories in 200-pound people, according to the “Discovery Health” newsletter. One pound equals 3,500 calories. A 150-pound person who jogs in place 40 minutes daily four times weekly will lose 5,808 calories, or about 1-2/3 pounds, monthly while jogging. A 200-pound person with the same exercise routine will lose 7,744 calories, or about 2-1/4 pounds, monthly while jogging.

Jogging while moving burns slightly more calories than jogging in place, because it requires jogging on surface irregularities that force joggers to expend more calories to maintain their balance. If you want to burn more calories, a measurement of energy, while jogging in place on a treadmill, increase the machine’s incline. Jogging on irregular but level surfaces expends the same number of calories as jogging in place on a treadmill with a 1 percent incline, according to Mark Fenton, the author of “The Complete Guide to Walking for Health, Weight Loss, and Fitness.” Jogging in place on irregular surfaces increases your weight loss but also increases your risk of injury.

Sedentary people who want to jog in place should walk first. Hales writes that you should increase the intensity and duration of your workouts when you’re not fatigued or sore the next day. Her steps toward jogging include walking 15 to 20 minutes daily three times weekly, walking faster 25 minutes daily three times weekly, and alternating walking and jogging. The final step is jogging 25 minutes daily at least three times weekly. Exercise expert Kenneth Cooper urges prospective joggers to walk for three weeks, combine walking and jogging for two weeks, and begin jogging about 30 minutes daily four times weekly in the sixth week. Hales and Cooper both urge joggers to stretch for at least five minutes before they jog.