Pickleball calories calculator

An estimate, not advice. The numbers come from published averages for groups of players, not from a measurement of you. This page gives no medical, nutrition or weight-loss advice; for how much activity suits you, see CDC's adult activity overview and talk to your health care provider if you have a health condition.

The formula

A MET (metabolic equivalent) is a multiple of the energy used sitting at rest. The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities defines 1 MET as 3.5 ml of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute, about 1 kcal per kilogram per hour, and the Compendium's unit-conversion page turns METs into calories per minute: multiply METs by 3.5 and by body weight in kilograms, then divide by 200.

kg = lb ÷ 2.2046
kcal per minute = MET × 3.5 × kg ÷ 200
kcal per session = kcal per minute × minutes on court
Older Adult Compendium: kcal per minute = MET60+ × 2.7 × kg ÷ 200

The Older Adult Compendium, for people 60 and over, expresses its values as MET60+ on a resting baseline of 2.7 ml/kg/min instead of 3.5, so the calculator swaps that number into the same formula. Because 1 MET is the resting rate, every result includes the energy your body would have used sitting still for the same minutes.

Pickleball MET values: what the sources say

The 2024 Adult Compendium, which covers ages 19 to 59, has no pickleball entry: its Sports codes go from 15500, "Paddleball, casual," to 15510, "Polo, on horseback," with nothing for pickleball in between. The Older Adult Compendium does list pickleball, and three studies measured players with portable metabolic systems. The last column applies the formula above to a 170-lb (77.1-kg) player for 60 minutes.

Where the sources disagree

• Age and fitness. The two values for older players agree: 5.3 MET60+ × 2.7 ÷ 3.5 is 4.09 standard METs, almost exactly the 4.1 Smith's team measured in adults averaging 65. Carballo's younger adults, averaging 28, measured 7.8 and 7.1 METs, almost twice as high.
• What was measured. Carballo's figures come from 5-minute bouts and Navalta's from 10 minutes of simulated singles; Smith's from a whole doubles match. The studies did not measure the same kind of play.
• Calories per hour. Smith's 4.1 METs at the group's mean weight of 76.3 kg works out to about 328 kcal per 60 minutes, close to the "approximately 350 calories per 60 minutes" in the American Council on Exercise summary of the same study.
• Watches. Navalta's team found two wrist devices off by 18.87–28.08% on energy expenditure against the gas analyzer, while every device tested gave valid heart rates.

1. Smith, Buchanan & Dalleck 2018: 4.1 METs measured in a doubles match, adults averaging 65.
2. Older Adult Compendium 2024: 5.3 MET60+, plotted as its standard equivalent, 4.1 METs.
3. Adult Compendium 2024, tennis doubles (15685): 4.5 METs, for comparison; there is no pickleball entry.
4. Adult Compendium 2024, paddleball, casual (15500): 6.0 METs, for comparison.
5. Carballo et al. 2023, non-dominant hand: 7.1 METs in 5-minute bouts, adults averaging 28.
6. Carballo et al. 2023, dominant hand: 7.8 METs.

How a week compares with CDC's 150 minutes

CDC's overview for adults asks for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity a week, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, or an equivalent mix, plus muscle-strengthening activity on at least 2 days. CDC counts 1 vigorous minute as about 2 moderate minutes. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans set the bands in METs: moderate is 3.0 to less than 6.0, vigorous 6.0 or more. They give the adult range as 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity and say additional benefits come beyond the equivalent of 300.

The calculator multiplies your minutes on court by your sessions, places the MET value in a band (the MET60+ value after converting it to standard METs) and doubles vigorous minutes. CDC itself lists no pickleball example; it names doubles tennis as moderate and singles tennis as vigorous. Webber's team, measuring heart rate rather than oxygen use, found older players in the moderate zone for more than 70% of play time and estimated that about four and a half hours of play a week would meet the 150-minute target. The calculator does not cover the muscle-strengthening days.

Worked example: 170 lb, 60 minutes, three times a week

1. Weight: 170 ÷ 2.2046 = 77.1 kg.
2. Per minute at 4.1 METs: 4.1 × 3.5 × 77.1 ÷ 200 = 5.53 kcal.
3. Per session: 5.53 × 60 = about 332 kcal; three sessions, about 996 kcal a week.
4. Older Adult Compendium instead: 5.3 × 2.7 × 77.1 ÷ 200 × 60 = about 331 kcal per session.
5. Guideline: 4.1 METs is moderate, so 3 × 60 = 180 minutes count toward the 150-minute target, inside the 150–300 range. At Carballo's 7.8 METs the same hours would be vigorous: about 632 kcal per session and 360 moderate-equivalent minutes.

Limitations

• The Compendium's authors say its values do "not reflect precise individual EE values," because resting metabolism differs with age, sex, height, weight and body composition; they describe them as a starting point.
• Each study is small (11 to 53 players), and none measured a full open-play session with waiting time.
• Format matters: Webber's singles players took 3,222 steps an hour against 2,790 in doubles, and no published MET value compares singles with doubles in players of the same age.
• The weekly comparison treats every minute on court as one intensity, while Webber's heart-rate data put play in the moderate zone for more than 70% of the time, not all of it.

For how older players' sessions compare with the guidelines, see pickleball for seniors; for hot days, the heat safety page.