Padel burns approximately 500-900 calories per hour for an average adult. Light recreational play burns around 400-500 calories. Competitive intensity burns 700-900 calories. Calorie burn depends on body weight (heavier players burn more), intensity level, and how much you actually move during rallies versus standing. Padel is comparable to tennis and higher than many people expect because of constant direction changes.
How many calories padel actually burns
Calorie burn depends on three main factors: your body weight, the intensity of play, and how long rallies last. A 75kg adult playing recreational padel burns approximately 500-700 calories per hour. Competitive play pushes this to 700-900 calories per hour.
| Body weight | Light (recreational) | Moderate (club) | High (competitive) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60kg | 380 cal/hr | 520 cal/hr | 700 cal/hr |
| 70kg | 440 cal/hr | 610 cal/hr | 820 cal/hr |
| 80kg | 500 cal/hr | 700 cal/hr | 930 cal/hr |
| 90kg | 560 cal/hr | 790 cal/hr | 1050 cal/hr |
These numbers are estimates. Individual variation is significant - factors like cardiovascular fitness, efficiency of movement and playing style all affect real calorie expenditure. The only way to know your own number precisely is with a heart rate monitor that calculates calories based on your profile.
What affects your calorie burn
Rally length and rest ratio
Longer rallies burn more calories per minute. A match with 30-second rallies and 15-second rests between points burns significantly more than one with 10-second rallies and 30-second rests.
Movement intensity
Players who chase every ball burn more than players who concede lost causes. Defensive mindset usually burns more than attacking mindset because defense involves more sprinting and direction changes.
Singles vs doubles
Almost all padel is doubles. In doubles you cover half the court; singles would nearly double the calorie burn but is rarely played on standard courts.
Skill level
Counter-intuitively, higher skill level often burns MORE calories, not less. Better players sustain longer rallies, move more efficiently to each ball (allowing them to reach more), and play more intense points. Beginners tire from shorter, less efficient movements.
Padel vs other sports
Approximate calorie burn per hour for a 75kg adult at moderate-to-high intensity:
| Activity | Calories per hour |
|---|---|
| Running (8km/h) | 600 cal |
| Running (10km/h) | 750 cal |
| Cycling (moderate) | 500-700 cal |
| Swimming (moderate) | 550-700 cal |
| Padel (recreational) | 500-600 cal |
| Padel (competitive) | 700-900 cal |
| Tennis (singles) | 600-900 cal |
| Tennis (doubles) | 450-600 cal |
| Squash | 750-1000 cal |
| Football (soccer) | 600-900 cal |
| HIIT workout | 600-900 cal |
Padel sits in the middle of the pack - comparable to tennis, below squash, above walking. For most people it is a meaningfully effective workout, not a token one.
Padel vs tennis: the detailed comparison
Padel and tennis burn similar calories per hour, with interesting differences:
- Tennis singles burns more than padel because you cover the whole court
- Tennis doubles burns slightly less than padel, because points are often shorter
- Padel wins on rally length - longer points, less dead time
- Padel wins on direction changes - more lateral movement per point
- Tennis wins on pure sprinting distance - more long runs per rally
For people choosing between the sports purely for calorie burn, padel and tennis are roughly equivalent. Other factors (cost, availability, enjoyment, injury risk) matter more.
Maximising calorie burn from padel
If you want padel to work harder for you as fitness:
- Play longer matches - 60 minutes is a workout; 90 minutes is better
- Shorten breaks - skip the long chats between points
- Chase everything - attitude change that turns defensive effort into cardio
- Play multiple sets back-to-back - two 60-minute sessions spaced 48 hours apart outperforms one 120-minute session
- Include warm-up and cool-down - bracket each match with 10 minutes of additional movement
- Track with a heart rate monitor - measuring often reveals you are working harder than you thought, which is motivating
Padel for weight loss
Padel can contribute meaningfully to weight loss. The math: 1kg of fat is roughly 7,700 calories. At 700 calories per hour for competitive play, a 1-hour session 3 times per week burns 2,100 calories weekly (assuming no change in eating). That is roughly 1kg of fat loss every month - before accounting for the additional calories burned in recovery (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, typically 5-15% on top).
Caveats:
- You must not eat back the calories you burn. Post-match hunger is real and many people out-eat their exercise
- Weight loss requires consistent calorie deficit over weeks, not just exercise
- Adding padel without changing diet tends to produce slow, sustainable fat loss rather than dramatic changes
- Padel is better combined with sensible eating than relied upon alone
That said, padel is one of the most enjoyable ways to burn 2,000+ calories per week. Sustainable exercise that you actually do consistently beats intense exercise you abandon.