Tennis can be an exciting, heart-pumping workout to engage in. It is not only socially engaging but also beneficial for weight loss. It is a great sport to boost heart health, improve balance and coordination, burn fat, and work every muscle in your body.
Tennis is fitness-friendly and can help you reach your weight loss goals if played consistently. But, depending on how much of it you play, you can rely on it as your only cardio exercise. So, how many calories are burned playing tennis?
Tennis is a cardiovascular exercise, meaning you can burn a significant amount of calories in a short time. It is a high-intensity workout that increases your heart rate, in turn, burning more calories.
Since tennis is considered vigorous activity, you can burn up to 300 calories in a 30-minute tennis session. Typically, tennis matches can range from 90 to 3 hours long. Therefore, you can burn much more than 300 calories in a single match.
Calories Burned
The calories burned can range from 660 to 1320 in a match, of course, depending on how much time you spend playing. On that note, people that play tennis for fitness barely go beyond the 90-minute mark.
That means they can burn over 500 calories but not more than 1,000.
The question of whether tennis can work as a sole activity for weight loss depends on your fitness goals. For the best results, it is recommended you mix tennis with other workouts such as strength training exercises.
Playing tennis regularly can contribute to a calorie deficit which is excellent for losing weight. However, your diet has a more significant impact on how fast or slow you lose weight. Therefore, prioritizing what you eat and how much you eat is essential.
Also, the intensity of your tennis sessions will determine how many calories you burn. You may not burn as many calories if you play for fun and do not push yourself for a heart-pumping cardio workout.
More to this, the frequency of your sessions will determine if tennis helps you lose weight or not. If you play tennis once a week, you are less likely to make progress than if you play daily or a few times a week. Collectively, you will burn more calories with a few sessions than once.
Burning calories is not the only benefit tennis has. It helps to improve balance, stability, and coordination, which come in handy in other sports and exercises. You can handle more challenging workouts and contribute to your overall weight loss goals with consistent practice.
To reap the most benefits out of your tennis workout, do not skip a warmup. It will not only add up to the total calories you will burn but also prepare your muscles for a charging workout. You are more likely to last longer playing tennis after a warmup than without one.
You can burn a significant amount of calories playing tennis. Although the intensity and frequency of your tennis sessions highly impact the calories burned, it is a great workout to include in your fitness routine.
