Estimate calories burned in martial arts such as judo, kickboxing, taekwondo, boxing or wrestling from your body weight and active training time.

Moderate pace covers class training in styles such as jujitsu, karate, Muay Thai and taekwondo. MET values are from the 2024 Compendium.

Exclude breaks and inactive time.

Optional settings

Martial Arts Calories Burned Formula

Use the activity’s reference MET value with body weight in kilograms and active duration in minutes to estimate gross energy, including resting energy.

C = (MET × 3.5 × BW) / (200) × M

Variables:

  • C = estimated gross energy in kcal (food Calories)
  • BW = body weight in kilograms; 1 lb = 0.45359237 kg
  • M = active duration in minutes, excluding pauses; hours are converted to minutes
  • MET = the selected activity’s metabolic-equivalent reference value

The activity values come from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities, intended for adults aged 19–59. They are population reference estimates, not an individual measurement. The model applies a fixed rate linearly to active duration; mixed activities, fatigue and pauses can make a whole-session estimate misleading.

Calories Burned by Martial Arts Activity

Select the category that actually matches your activity. The wrestling reference describes one five-minute competitive match, not all grappling or hard rolling; boxing sparring is a specific activity, not a generic competition intensity.

  • Martial arts: moderate pace, 10.3 MET (default); slower novice practice, 5.3 MET.
  • Boxing: punching bag, 5.8 MET; sparring, 7.8 MET.
  • Wrestling and judo: competitive wrestling (one five-minute match), 6 MET (Compendium-estimated); judo, 11.3 MET.
  • Kickboxing and taekwondo: kickboxing, 7.3 MET; taekwondo combat simulation, 14.3 MET.

Quick Martial Arts Calorie Guide

The table uses moderate-pace martial arts at 10.3 MET and boxing sparring at 7.8 MET, with active time excluding pauses. Gross energy is rounded to the nearest whole kcal.

Body Weight30 Min Moderate-Pace Martial Arts (10.3 MET)60 Min Moderate-Pace Martial Arts (10.3 MET)30 Min Boxing Sparring (7.8 MET)
150 lb368736279
180 lb442883334
200 lb491981371

How to Calculate Calories Burned Doing Martial Arts

  1. Enter your body weight and select pounds or kilograms.
  2. Enter active duration in minutes or hours, excluding pauses.
  3. Choose the supported activity category that matches your training.
  4. Select Calculate to see estimated total kcal and kcal per minute.

Example: For a 180 lb person doing 45 active minutes of moderate martial arts at 10.3 MET, weight is 180 × 0.45359237 = 81.6466266 kg. Estimated gross energy is 10.3 × 3.5 × 81.6466266 ÷ 200 × 45 ≈ 662.26 kcal (662 kcal rounded to a whole number), or about 14.72 kcal per minute.