How Many Calories Does Racquetball Burn? (Real Data)

Certain calories are burned when doing sports, depending on your sport, intensity, weight, and play length. Heck, you even burn calories when you sit, lay down, and sleep. As a racquetball hobbyist, I have always wondered how many calories I burn while practicing it, among other racquet sports. That got me to work and searching the answers, so how many calories do we burn playing racquetball?

A person weighing 175lbs (80kg) burns 585 calories/hour playing racquetball with general intensity and 835 calories with competitive intensity. Adjust the calories to your weight by deducting or increasing 7% of calories burned by a person weighing 175lbs (80kg) by every 11lbs (5kg) weight loss or increase.

That being said, racquetball is a great calorie burner and exercise! Many things affect the exact calories burned by playing racquetball or anything for that matter. Luckily there are reliable calorie calculators that can quite precisely estimate the calories burned by using proven mathematical formulas.

Anyway, I have dived deeper into the subject and data, so take a look at the chart below and see how much the calories change when you adjust your playtime. Oh, and these numbers assume that you don’t take any breaks whatsoever.

Intensity	15 minutes	30 minutes	45 minutes	1 hour
General Intensity	146	292	439	585
Competitive Intensity	209	418	626	835

As you can probably guess from this chart, playtime is the biggest variable on the burned calories.

Now, please look at the chart where I have compared different weighing people who play 1 hour of racquetball with general intensity.

Weight	Calories Burned
110lbs (50kg)	368
143lbs (65kg)	478
175lbs (80kg)	585
209lbs (95kg)	698
243lbs (110kg)	821

Weight is a huge variable as well. For example, when comparing the calories burned between a person weighing 110lbs (50kg) to a person weighing 243lbs (110kg), the difference is a whopping 453 calories.

Therefore, the person weighing 110lbs needs to play more than two hours of racquetball to reach the same calories burned as the person weighing 243lbs burns in one hour.

Formula: Calories burned per minute = (MET x bodyweight in Kg x 3.5) ÷ 200

Does Racquetball Burn Calories More Than Other Sports?

Now that I have determined how many calories racquetball burns at different times and body weight, it would be great to see how many calories it burns compared to other sports.

Lucky for you, you can see just that in the chart below! Note that the numbers are from 1 hour of play by a person weighing 175lbs (80kg)

Intensity	Racquetball	Tennis	Running	Soccer	Boxing
General Intensity	585	610	668	585	652
Competetive Intenisty	835	840	919	835	1069

Racquetball’s burned calories are quite average when it comes to sports. Boxing is considered one of the world’s most physically demanding activities, and it shows. Over 1000 calories burned when you are fighting virtuously in the ring.

Now, let’s learn what racquetball is good for weight loss.

Is Racquetball Good for Weight Loss?

Racquetball is great for weight loss. A person weighing 175lbs (80kg) burns 585-835calories/hour depending on your intensity. In addition, racquetball uses many muscle groups to sculpt your body by building muscle mass and tightening it. The main aspect of weight loss is a healthy calorie deficit.

So if you want to lose weight, you cant play 30 minutes of racquetball and then go for a pizza and have chips for an evening snack.

The only thing that makes you lose weight is a healthy calorie deficit. What I mean by healthy is that if your maintenance calories are 2000, you can’t eat 1000 calories per day or less. A healthy calorie deficit is around 500 calories, making you lose weight without feeling tired or even worse.

As a rule of thumb, the average weighing women’s maintenance calories are around 2000 calories per day, and men’s 2500. However, below you can see a chart where are more accurate numbers.

Age and height affect as well, so I have calculated the numbers with the age of 30 and height of 5’7″ (170cm). Also, the numbers are from an active person, meaning at least 30minutes of moderate activity on most days, or 20minutes of virtuous activity three times per week.

Weight	Men’s Maintenance Calories	Women’s Maintenance Calories
121lb (55kg)	2100	1950
132lb (60kg)	2200	2000
154lb (70kg)	2400	2150
176lb (80kg)	2600	2300
187lb (85kg)	2700	2350

Men and women have different maintenance calories even when they are the same age, height, weight, and have the same activity level because men have more muscles that require more calories. Also, women have a larger fat percentage than men on average.

Does Racquetball Build Muscle?

Racquetball is great for muscle building. Playing racquetball activates and works nearly every muscle in your body, making them work hard in every workout. This breaks the muscle tissue, which then repairs itself biochemically, regenerating more of itself in a stronger form.

This, of course, requires effort on the court. You won’t build muscle if you gently stroke the ball and take a couple of jogging steps. You need to strike that ball hard and move explosively if you want to give your muscles something to work.

What muscles does racquetball work the most, you ask? Racquetball works almost every muscle, but many muscle groups take the most effort, so pay attention.

• Shoulders

Racquetball requires a lot of arm movement, especially from your racquet hand. This works the pectorals, deltoids, and girdle muscles on your shoulder and chest area. Remember, the harder you strike, the more damage you do to your muscle tissues, leading to more muscle buildup.

Some people might get shoulder pain after racquetball, which can be normal or alarming, so take a look at my article about it. You will find valuable information there.

• Arms

Your arms will also get a good workout. Again, especially to your racquet hand. This works your biceps and triceps very well.

Did you know that if you want to build large arms or slightly increase the size, you should work out your triceps more as they make 2/3 of your arms size?

• Core Muscles

The core is one of the worked areas in racquetball. Every time you strike, you will get a good rotation and power from your core, increasing the power of your strike. This naturally works out the core very well.

The main areas in the core worked are abdominal, obliques, lower back, and spinal erectors. These muscles support your whole body so that racquetball can improve your overall quality of life and feeling.

• Legs

Legs are the source of your whole movement, and in racquetball, there’s a ton of that. Racquetball is a very fast-paced sport, so you need to have fast reflexes and explosive movement. Also, you need to flex in many directions, which are like reps in the gym for your legs.

The main areas on your legs that get a good workout are glutes, hamstrings, quads, and calves!

Remember that you need to work out hard and consistently to see some good muscle build on your body.