How Many Calories Does an Hour of Medium Intensity Tennis Burn?

The number of calories burned playing tennis for an hour will vary, depending on several factors. The amount of time you play, your weight and your intensity when playing all affect how many calories you will burn.

Read more: The 5 Best High-Intensity Exercises for Weight Loss

To understand what medium-intensity tennis is, you first need to understand how exercise intensity is defined.

According to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, exercise experts measure a person's resting calorie burn as a unit of measurement called "metabolic equivalents" or METs. A single MET is defined as the amount of energy you use when sitting quietly: approximately 1 calorie per hour for every 2.2 pounds of body weight. So if you weigh 150 pounds, you would burn approximately 68 calories when sitting or laying down.

If you do any exercise or workout, you are raising your MET during the time of exercise. According to the Harvard Chan School, medium-intensity workouts occur when your activity is strenuous enough to burn three to six times the number of calories per hour that you burn at resting rate.

For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, you can expect to burn between 204 and 408 calories an hour doing a moderate or medium-intensity workout or activity. However, these are estimates. You may burn more or less per hour, based on your fitness level. If you are very athletic, it will likely take more intense workouts to reach a medium intensity, as compared to an out-of-shape person.

Some medium-intensity workouts can include several different types of activities and exercises. Some examples include walking briskly, light biking and playing doubles in tennis.

The American Heart Association indicates that you should participate in cardio activities or exercise for at least 150 minutes a week. Tennis can help you reach this goal.

How you play tennis can greatly affect the number of calories you burn, as well as the intensity of the activity. In general, playing doubles is a medium-intensity workout. On the other hand, playing singles is an intense or vigorous workout.

Read more: The Top 10 Calorie-Burning Cardio Workouts to Try

According to a "calories burned" tennis calculator provided by the American Council on Exercise (ACE), you can expect to burn different calorie loads based on whether you play singles or doubles tennis. According to ACE, you can expect the following caloric burn playing doubles tennis for one hour, based on your own weight:

• 100 pounds

  —

  272 calories

• 125 pounds

  —

  340 calories

• 150 pounds

  —

  408 calories

• 175 pounds

  —

  476 calories

• 200 pounds

  —

  544 calories

• 225 pounds

  —

  612 calories

These are directly comparable to the calories burned playing tennis singles. Playing singles is more intense and will burn more calories per hour. The estimated calorie burn in one hour of playing singles tennis is also based on your own weight while playing:

• 100 pounds

  —

  362 calories

• 125 pounds

  —

  453 calories

• 150 pounds

  —

  544 calories

• 175 pounds

  —

  635 calories

• 200 pounds

  —

  725 calories

• 225 pounds

  —

  816 calories

Keep in mind, these are estimates of how many calories you may burn playing a full hour of either doubles or singles tennis. You may burn more or less based on your overall health and body composition. For example, you may find that playing singles is a more moderate exercise for you, if you are well conditioned and used to running or other high-intensity workouts.