Medical Disclaimer: This calculator provides a general estimate based on established research and is for educational purposes only, not a substitute for medical advice. Individual results can vary based on health conditions, so consult a qualified healthcare professional or registered dietitian before making significant changes to your diet, exercise, or health routine. Read our full Medical Disclaimer.
How Calories Burned Doing Judo Are Calculated
Judo calories burned is the energy your body uses while you train or compete on the mat. It depends mostly on your body weight, how long you are active, and how hard the practice is. This calculator uses the published energy value for judo, plus two lighter values for easier parts of a class.
What the Judo Calorie Estimate Measures
The result is an estimate of the total energy you use during your active time on the mat. It includes the energy your body would burn at rest anyway, so it is a gross figure, not just the extra from training¹. It does not measure your own heart rate or oxygen use.
The Formula
The calculator multiplies a MET value by your weight and your time. One MET is about 1 kcal per kilogram of body weight per hour¹.
Calories burned = MET x body weight (kg) x time (hours)
The MET values come from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities, which lists judo as its own activity at 11.3 METs².
How This Calculator Computes Your Result
Enter your age group, your weight in pounds or kilograms, and either one practice type with a time (Whole session, the default), or a split of your class into three parts. The split counts only the minutes you enter, so its result is labeled active time only. The tool turns pounds into kilograms and minutes into hours. The three practice types use these Compendium values²:
Easy practice (warm-up, ukemi, slow technique): 5.3 METs, the slower pace martial arts row
Steady drilling (uchikomi and nagekomi): 10.3 METs, the moderate pace martial arts row
Hard judo (randori and shiai): 11.3 METs, the Compendium's judo row
You see total calories, calories per hour and per 30 minutes, rounded to the nearest 5 kcal, plus all three practice types at your weight, with the Compendium code used. Adults 60 and over get the adult result with a note that values for older adults may be lower, since the older adult list has no judo value. No judo result is given under 18, since youth values differ.
What Your Result Means
There are no good or bad scores. Here is what each practice type works out to at two body weights.
Practice type | MET | 70 kg, 30 min | 70 kg, 60 min | 90 kg, 30 min | 90 kg, 60 min |
Easy practice | 5.3 | 185 kcal | 370 kcal | 240 kcal | 475 kcal |
Steady drilling | 10.3 | 360 kcal | 720 kcal | 465 kcal | 925 kcal |
Hard judo | 11.3 | 395 kcal | 790 kcal | 510 kcal | 1015 kcal |
A real class is a mix. An 85 kg player who does 15 minutes of warm-up and ukemi, 30 minutes of drilling and 30 minutes of randori burns about 1030 kcal over those 75 minutes, an average of 9.7 METs. Leave out bowing in, listening to the sensei and sitting at the edge of the mat.
What Changes Your Burn in Judo
Uchikomi can be as hard as randori. In one study, 10 judo athletes did all-out uchikomi in sets of 10, 20 or 30 seconds with equal rest. Their oxygen use rose from 32.5 mL per kg per minute in the first minute to about 43 in the third, which is roughly 12 METs³. The authors found these drills gave oxygen and heart rate responses close to a simulated match³. If your drilling is timed and flat out, the Hard judo option fits better than Steady drilling.
Randori is hard, but a real match is harder. A review of judo training found randori is the form of practice closest to competition, but its demands are lower than a real shiai⁴. Light randori with a friendly partner will sit below the 11.3 MET value.
Judo is stop and start. In simulated matches of 1 to 5 minutes, about 70 percent of the energy came from the aerobic system, and that share grew as the match went on⁵. Long rests between rounds lower your session average, which is why the calculator lets you split a class into parts. Heavier players burn more for the same time, and fitter players spend more of a class near the top value.
Judo vs Wrestling, Karate, BJJ and Weight Lifting
Judo has one of the higher values among combat sports in the Compendium². Karate and Brazilian jiu jitsu have no separate rows, so they use the general martial arts row. The wrestling value is an estimate, not a measured figure, which may be why it looks low next to judo². The weight lifting value comes from the Compendium's conditioning exercise list¹.
Activity (Compendium code) | MET | 70 kg, 60 min | 90 kg, 60 min |
Judo (15433) | 11.3 | 790 kcal | 1015 kcal |
Karate or BJJ, martial arts moderate pace (15430) | 10.3 | 720 kcal | 925 kcal |
Boxing, in ring (15100) | 12.3 | 860 kcal | 1105 kcal |
Wrestling, competitive, estimated (15730) | 6.0 | 420 kcal | 540 kcal |
Weight lifting, vigorous (02050) | 6.0 | 420 kcal | 540 kcal |
These are averages, not a ranking. A hard BJJ or wrestling session can cost as much as judo.
Weight Classes and Cutting Weight
Judo is fought in weight classes, and cutting weight before weigh-ins is common. In a survey of 822 judo competitors, 86 percent had lost weight to compete, usually by up to 5 percent of body weight, and they started at an average age of 12.6 years⁶. This calculator is for estimating training energy. It is not built to plan a weight cut.
A Note on Accuracy
This is an estimate based on group averages, not on your body. The Compendium's judo value is 11.3 METs, which equals about 40 mL of oxygen per kg per minute. Elite male judo athletes typically reach a maximum of about 50 to 55 mL, and elite women about 40 to 45⁷, so a full hour at that pace is hard even for trained players. Beginners will often burn less than the top value, and a heart rate watch may not match either, because heart rate has not been shown to track judo training intensity well⁴.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many calories does an hour of judo burn?
At the Compendium's judo value, a 70 kg adult burns about 790 kcal in an hour of hard judo, and a 90 kg adult about 1015 kcal. A mixed class with warm-up and drilling usually lands lower.
Is judo good for weight loss?
Judo burns a lot of energy per hour, so it can help as part of a calorie deficit. Whether you lose weight still comes down to your total intake and activity across the whole week.
Does judo burn more calories than BJJ?
The Compendium lists judo at 11.3 METs and the general martial arts row that covers jujitsu at 10.3, so judo comes out a little higher. In real classes the gap depends more on how much hard rolling or randori you do.
How accurate is a judo calorie calculator?
Think of it as a fair estimate for judo, not an exact count. It cannot see your skill, fitness, partner or how long you rest, so your real burn may be higher or lower.
Sources
2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities, Herrmann et al., 2024
Sports codes 15425, 15430, 15433, 15100 and 15730, 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities
Physiological and performance responses to intermittent uchi-komi in judo, Franchini et al., 2013
The physiology of judo-specific training modalities, Franchini et al., 2014
Energy-system contributions to simulated judo matches, Julio et al., 2017
Prevalence, magnitude, and methods of rapid weight loss among judo competitors, Artioli et al., 2010
Physiological profiles of elite judo athletes, Franchini et al., 2011