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How Calories Burned Doing Jumping Jacks Are Calculated
Calories burned doing jumping jacks is the energy your body uses while you jump your feet out and back and swing your arms overhead, counted in kilocalories (kcal). In the UK the same move is called a star jump. The estimate comes from your body weight, how long you jump and how hard you work, using a MET value, which shows how hard an activity is compared with sitting still.
What the Estimate Measures
It shows the total energy used while you are jumping, with the energy your body would burn at rest anyway left in (a gross value). Rests between sets are not counted, and it is an adult average, not a reading of your own fitness.
The Formula
Calories (kcal) = MET x body weight (kg) x time (hours)
Time (minutes) = number of jumping jacks / your jumping jacks per minute
Body weight (kg) = body weight (lb) x 0.45359237
One MET is about 1 kcal per kg of body weight per hour, and the values come from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities, the standard reference list for adults aged 19 to 59¹.
How This Calculator Computes Your Result
Enter your weight in pounds or kilograms, your age group and an effort level. Then enter either the minutes you spent jumping, or the number of jumping jacks plus your own pace. To find your pace, do jumping jacks for 30 seconds, count them and double the number.
You get total calories, calories per minute and calories per 10 minutes, plus a table of all three effort levels at your weight. Totals under 50 kcal show to the single calorie; bigger totals show in steps of 5 kcal.
The compendium gives energy per minute, not per jack¹. So a count is turned into minutes using your pace, and the result depends on that pace. At 70 kg and vigorous effort, 100 jacks at 60 per minute take about 1.7 minutes and burn about 15 kcal; at 100 per minute they take 1 minute and burn about 9 kcal.
Adults 60 and over see the adult result with a note, as the compendium has no older adult value for jumping jacks. Under 18s see no result, since youth values differ (see the Youth Compendium).
What Your Result Means
Effort level makes the biggest difference. For a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, the options work out like this².
Effort level | Compendium code | MET | 1 minute | 10 minutes | 20 minutes |
Vigorous: fast, continuous jumping jacks | 02020 | 7.5 | 9 kcal | 90 kcal | 175 kcal |
Moderate: steady, easier pace (stand-in) | 02022 | 3.8 | 4 kcal | 44 kcal | 90 kcal |
Light or moderate: slow or step-out jacks (stand-in) | 02030 | 3.5 | 4 kcal | 41 kcal | 80 kcal |
Most people do jumping jacks in short sets, so a typical result is tens of calories, not hundreds. At 90 kg (198 lb), 10 vigorous minutes come to about 115 kcal.
Where the Jumping Jacks Value Comes From
The compendium has no value for jumping jacks alone. They are named in one row only, "Calisthenics (e.g., pushups, sit ups, pull-ups, jumping jacks, burpees, battling ropes), vigorous effort", at 7.5 METs². So the default uses a mixed row for hard bodyweight exercise, not a measurement of jumping jacks by themselves. The two lower options are general calisthenics rows that do not name jumping jacks, so they are labeled as stand-ins². "Star jumps" do not appear in the compendium, so they use the same rows.
What Changes Your Burn
How hard you go. Steady jacks rate about half of vigorous ones, 3.8 against 7.5 METs².
Pace. For rope jumping, a close cousin, the compendium lists 8.3 METs below 100 skips per minute and 12.3 METs at 120 to 160³. Jumping jacks likely work the same way, but they have no pace levels, so a very fast pace may read a little low here.
Arm swing and jump height. Full overhead arm swings and higher jumps take more work. Step-out jacks with no jump fit the light option.
Rests. Only jumping time counts. Two minutes on and one off for 15 minutes is 10 minutes of jumping.
A lab study shows how hard jumping jacks can get. In 29 healthy young adults, jumping jacks done to exhaustion raised oxygen use to about 35 mL per kg per minute, roughly 10 METs, a little higher than the same people reached on a graded treadmill test⁴. That was a short, all-out peak, not a pace most people hold, but it confirms hard jumping jacks are vigorous exercise.
Jumping Jacks Compared With Jump Rope, Burpees, Walking and Running
Here is what 10 minutes of each burns at two body weights, from 2024 compendium values² ³ ⁵ ⁶.
Activity (compendium code) | MET | 70 kg (154 lb) | 90 kg (198 lb) |
Jumping jacks, vigorous calisthenics (02020) | 7.5 | 90 kcal | 115 kcal |
Jump rope, slow, under 100 skips/min (15552) | 8.3 | 95 kcal | 125 kcal |
Jump rope, moderate, 100 to 120 skips/min (15551) | 11.8 | 140 kcal | 175 kcal |
HIIT with burpees, vigorous (02214) | 11.0 | 130 kcal | 165 kcal |
Walking, 3.5 to 3.9 mph, brisk (17200) | 4.8 | 55 kcal | 70 kcal |
Jogging, general (12020) | 7.5 | 90 kcal | 115 kcal |
Running, 6 to 6.3 mph (12050) | 9.3 | 110 kcal | 140 kcal |
Minute for minute, vigorous jumping jacks match general jogging and burn about one and a half times as much as a brisk walk. Jump rope and burpee-style HIIT rate higher. Burpees also sit inside the jumping jacks row, but the HIIT row that names them is 11.0 METs². For interval circuits, the HIIT Calories Burned Calculator is a better fit.
Jumping Jacks vs Jump Rope, Burpees, Walking and Running
Calories in 10 minutes at 70 kg (154 lb). Vigorous jumping jacks match general jogging.
Show data table
| Activity | 10 minutes (kcal) |
|---|---|
| Jump rope, moderate (100 to 120 skips/min) | 140 |
| HIIT with burpees, vigorous | 130 |
| Running, 6 to 6.3 mph | 110 |
| Jump rope, slow (under 100 skips/min) | 95 |
| Jumping jacks, vigorous | 90 |
| Jogging, general | 90 |
| Walking, brisk (3.5 to 3.9 mph) | 55 |
A Note on Accuracy
Jump height, arm swing and pace all change the work, and they vary a lot between people. The value comes from a mixed calisthenics row, not a study of jumping jacks alone, and the compendium says its values are not precise for any one person¹. Treat the result as a fair adult estimate, not an exact count.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many calories do 100 jumping jacks burn?
At 70 kg (154 lb) and vigorous effort, 100 jumping jacks burn about 15 kcal at 60 jacks per minute and about 9 kcal at 100 per minute. Enter your own pace for your figure, because the result depends on how long the 100 jacks take.
How many calories do 10 minutes of jumping jacks burn?
Ten minutes of vigorous jumping jacks burn about 90 kcal at 70 kg (154 lb) and about 115 kcal at 90 kg (198 lb). At an easier, steady pace it is closer to 44 to 55 kcal.
Do jumping jacks burn more calories than running?
Vigorous jumping jacks (7.5 METs) burn about the same per minute as general jogging, but less than running at 6 mph (9.3 METs)² ⁵. Most people also run for longer than they do jumping jacks, so a run usually burns more in total.
How accurate is a jumping jacks calorie calculator?
It gives a reasonable average, but your real burn can be higher or lower, because the compendium has no value for jumping jacks alone and effort varies so much between people².
Sources
2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities, Herrmann et al., 2024
Conditioning Exercise MET Values, Compendium of Physical Activities, 2024
Sports MET Values (Rope Jumping), Compendium of Physical Activities, 2024
A Novel Jumping Jacks Test for Estimating Maximal Oxygen Consumption, Khamjing et al., 2025
Running MET Values, Compendium of Physical Activities, 2024
Walking MET Values, Compendium of Physical Activities, 2024