Estimate how many calories arm circles burn from your body weight and number of reps, or from minutes and effort level, or find reps for a calorie target.

Pace and MET cross-check
Typical pace is about 60 per minute; used to convert between reps and minutes.

MET values from the Compendium of Physical Activities. Arm circles are usually light.

Related Calculators

Arm Circles Calories Burned Formula

The calculator uses this repetition formula:

Calories Burned = Arm Circles × (0.000308 × Body Weight in lb + 0.01)

For minutes of arm circles, it uses calories = MET × body weight (kg) × minutes ÷ 60, with light calisthenics (2.8 MET) as the default effort.

Variables:

  • Arm Circles = the number of full circles completed.
  • Body Weight = your weight in pounds.
  • Pace = arm circles per minute (60 by default), used to convert between reps and minutes.
  • MET = the effort level used for the minutes method.

How to Calculate Calories Burned Doing Arm Circles

  1. Enter your body weight in pounds.
  2. Enter the number of arm circles completed.
  3. Or choose minutes of arm circles, or a calorie target, from the Calculate menu.
  4. Click Calculate to see calories burned.
  5. Click Reset to clear the calculator.

Arm Circles Calories Burned Chart

Here are sample calorie burns from the repetition formula:

Body Weight100 Arm Circles500 Arm Circles1,000 Arm Circles
120 lb4.7 kcal23.5 kcal47.0 kcal
150 lb5.6 kcal28.1 kcal56.3 kcal
180 lb6.6 kcal32.8 kcal65.5 kcal
220 lb7.8 kcal38.9 kcal77.9 kcal

What Are Arm Circles?

Arm circles are a shoulder and upper-body movement where you rotate your arms in repeated circles. They are often used in warm-ups, conditioning workouts, and shoulder endurance work because they train the deltoids, upper back, and supporting arm muscles with continuous motion.

Example Calculation

A person who weighs 150 pounds and completes 500 arm circles burns:

Calories Burned = 500 × (0.000308 × 150 + 0.01) = 28.1 kcal

That works out to a little over 28 calories for the set.