Badminton Calories-Burnt Calculator
The average person burns between 475 and 525 calories per hour during a social game of badminton. In a competitive match, the calorie burn increases to 500-675 calories per hour.
The exact number of calories burned varies based on weight and playing intensity. For example, a person weighing 200 pounds (90.8 kg) will burn 668 calories in an hour of competitive badminton, while a person weighing 150 pounds (68 kg) will burn 394 calories per hour in a social game.
How Many Calories Are Burned While Playing Badminton?
Formula
Calories burned per minute = (MET x body weight in kg x 3.5) ÷ 200
“MET” stands for Metabolic Equivalent of Task, a measure of the energy cost of physical activity over time. You can find the MET value for various activities in the chart above.
A task with a MET of 1 equates to the energy expended while sitting still at room temperature without actively digesting food. A task with a MET of 2 uses twice the energy of a task with a MET of 1. Similarly, a task with a MET of 10 uses ten times the energy of a task with a MET of 1.
It’s important to note that MET values “do not estimate the energy cost of physical activity in individuals in ways that account for differences in body mass, adiposity, age, sex, efficiency of movement, and the geographic and environmental conditions in which the activities are performed. Thus, individual differences in energy expenditure for the same activity can be large, and the true energy cost for an individual may or may not be close to the stated mean MET level as presented in the Compendium.” (quoted from the main page of the Compendium of Physical Activities).
Example
A person weighs 81.65 kg (180 pounds) and plays competitive badminton (a task with a MET value of 7) for 1 hour (60 minutes total).
Calories burned from badminton (per minute) = (7 x 81.65 x 3.5) ÷ 200 = 10.00
Calories burned from badminton (for 60 minutes) = 10.00 x 60 = 600
How Can I Burn More Calories Playing Badminton?
To burn more calories while playing badminton, increase both the intensity of your play and the total time spent on the court. More activity leads to higher calories burned playing badminton. Badminton also has many other benefits other than burning calories, muscle gain being another example
Sources and External Resources
- Ainsworth BE, Haskell WL, Herrmann SD, Meckes N, Bassett Jr DR, Tudor-Locke C, Greer JL, Vezina J, Whitt-Glover MC, Leon AS. The Compendium of Physical Activities Tracking Guide. Healthy Lifestyles Research Center, College of Nursing & Health Innovation, Arizona State University. Retrieved May 11, 2015, from the World Wide Web: Compendium of Physical Activities
- Arizona State University Healthy Lifestyles Research Center – Compendium of Physical Activities – Sports – Provides MET values for sporting activities, including badminton.
- Learn about “MET” and the Compendium of Physical Activities from Arizona State University, University of South Carolina, and Wikipedia. There is a summary of general physical activities defined by intensity from the CDC and the Harvard School of Public Health.
- Recommendations on physical activity for health from the Harvard School of Public Health and the WHO.