Table tennis is an exciting and enjoyable recreational way to lose weight. Recreational spaces across office spaces and hostels have table tennis equipment for breaks. Easily accessible and super fun, with table tennis, take a break from mind-numbing work to exercise your joints and muscles, lose weight, and enjoy yourself thoroughly.
Calories Burned in 20 minutes, 30 mins and 1 hour of playing ping pong
You would be relieved to know that it is quite simple to calculate how many calories you might burn with a certain duration of playing table tennis. Multiple online websites and applications allow you to enter the required parameters, like your weight, to calculate how many calories you may burn in a specific amount of time.
How exactly does this calculation take place? It uses the MET value (Metabolic Equivalent of Task) of tennis or ping pong. The metabolic rate is essentially the amount of energy or calories burned by your body per unit time. MET is the ratio of your working metabolic rate to your resting metabolic rate. It is a simple indication of how intense your workout is. An activity with a MET value of 4 means that it has you exerting yourself four times more than when you are sitting or resting.
According to the 2011 MET, the MET value of Table Tennis (Ping Pong) is 4.0. This puts it in the category of a moderate-intensity workout in the Compendium of Physical Activities.
However, a study [1]published in the International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism in 2017 revealed that Table tennis practices averaged 7.1 ± 3.2 METs in competition players, and it should be classified into vigorous-intensity physical activities like some other vigorous racket sports.
the current Compendium of Physical Activities underestimates the calories burned of table tennis practice for competition;
This means that a 165-pound person can burn 5.4-14.3 calories per minute in competition. This equals 163 – 429 calories in 30 minutes of playing table tennis.
Of course, the met value of 4.0 is still useful in leisure activities. We can calculate your calorie burn using the simple following formula:
According to ACSM, Calories burn playing Table tennis per minute = 3.5 × METs × Weight(kg) ÷ 200
If you weigh 175 pounds and play table tennis (non-competitive) for 20 minutes, you can calculate your calorie burn using the simple following formula:
3.5 × 4.0 × 175/2.2 ÷ 200 =5.5 calories per minute
Therefore, 20 minutes of ping pong will burn up to 110 kcal for a person weighing 175 pounds.
For the same person, a 30-minute session of Table Tennis will burn up to 165 kcal, while an hour-long session can burn up to 330 kcal!
Table tennis, ping pong
What muscles does playing table tennis work?
Table tennis is a whole-body workout, beyond hand and footwork. The footwork is crucial; it exercises your quads, hips and calves. Additionally, table tennis exercises your obliques, abdominals, shoulders, biceps and triceps.
Benefits of playing ping pong
Regular recreational table tennis participants displayed higher HDL-cholesterol and lower LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides compared to sedentary participants. [2]
Excessive weight can result in multiple health issues, for example, increased risk to cardiac conditions and joint aches and pains. Indoor and moderate-intensity sports might be slightly slower in showing you weight loss results, but in a way, that constitutes a unique strength. Unlike a high-intensity sport like soccer or basketball, table tennis has significantly lesser chances of giving you an injury, inducing fatigue or worsening joint aches. This makes it especially great for those looking to lose weight but daunted by the thought of high-intensity workouts and possible injury or fatigue from the fans.
Does playing table tennis burn fat and help to lose weight?
Weight loss is, of course, a major concern when looking to begin any fitness activity.
As a beginner, you will burn up to 200-350 calories in a 60-minute session! Use the calorie burn formula provided above to calculate exactly how much weight you might lose according to your initial weight and duration of the exercise. Advanced level players often add intricate and interesting footwork to their routine. Doing this might help you burn up to 500 calories an hour!
Table tennis makes a wonderful choice for adding on to your regular workout routine. Do this to shed some additional weight while adding speed and variety to your fixed regime. Table-tennis can definitely also help you improve your agility, hand-eye coordination, motor control and response time. Thus, table tennis can overall be a great exercise for children! It is a great exercise to keep them busy while also developing finer skills that will help them for years to come.
The most attractive and convenient aspect to table tennis has to be that it is a fun leisure game, while simultaneously being a full-body workout. Going to the gym or walking on your treadmill might be exhausting, and even boring. Instead, choose table tennis to rewind in a lively and productive game! With a specialisation in this game, you can develop your athletic skills while also socialising and meeting new people!
Calories burned playing table tennis vs. other similar sports
For a person weighing 65 kgs (143 lbs),
a 60-minute session of table tennis can burn up to 273 calories. Compare this with other similar kinds of racket sports to glean an idea of what is best suited to your specific needs. It is after all, important to remember that every single person has different and unique requirements when it comes to fitness practices.
Calories burned in a casual, social Badminton match could be up to 152 kcal per hour. In a moderate intensity level, badminton burns roughly 200 calories per hour, while this may go up to 435 calories in competitive badminton.
A casual 60-minute session of racquetball burns roughly 435 calories while for the same person, an hour of competitive racquetball would burn up to 652 calories. Coming to Squash, considered at an intense play level, a 60-minute session would burn up to 797 calories.
While table tennis might be comparatively less of a calorie burner compared to most other racket sports, this becomes a point of strength for this sport. It is less intense compared to most other racket sports as it does not put too much pressure on your back or joints.
If you have a history of surgery or a recent injury that makes intense fitness activities risky for you, but still want to lose weight, opt for table tennis. Ideal for people with already exhausting daily routines, table tennis still helps you burn a considerable amount of calories while being the perfect activity to help you relax and after a long day!
1. Energy Requirement Assessment in Japanese Table Tennis Players Using the Doubly Labeled Water Method.Pubmed
2.Body composition and lipid profile of regular recreational table tennis participants: a cross-sectional study of older adult men Aynollah Naderi, Alessandro M. Zagatto, Fatemeh Akbari & Ainollah Sakinepoor .CDC
