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 Playing Squash Is Calculated
Calories burned playing squash is the energy your body uses during the games you play. Your body weight, how long you play and how hard the rallies are matter most. This calculator turns those three things into an estimate using published energy values for squash.
What the Squash Calorie Estimate Measures
Squash results show the total energy you use while playing, including what your body would use at rest anyway. It cannot measure your own heart rate or oxygen use during a squash game. It is also not a target for how much to eat or burn.
The Formula
The calculator uses a MET value, which compares the energy cost of an activity with sitting still. For squash and every other activity, 1 MET is about 1 kcal per kilogram of body weight per hour¹.
Calories burned = MET x body weight (kg) x playing time (hours)
Casual or social squash: 7.3 METs. Hard or competitive squash: 12.0 METs.
Squash uses two entries from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities, codes 15652 and 15650².
How This Calculator Computes Your Result
Enter your weight in kilograms or pounds, your playing time in hours and minutes, and how hard you played. Pounds are converted to kilograms and minutes to hours, and the answer is rounded to the nearest 5 kcal. If your session mixed easy hitting with a hard match, add a second part with its own time and intensity, and the calculator adds the two together. Long breaks are left out of a two-part session, so that result is labeled active time only.
The output includes your total, your calories per hour and per 30 minutes, and a small table of both intensity levels at your weight for 30 and 60 minutes. Pick your age group too. The compendium values come from adults aged 19 to 59¹, so players 60 or older see the adult result with a note that values for older adults may be lower. Players under 18 get no squash result, because youth values differ (see the Youth Compendium).
What Your Result Means
The compendium lists two squash entries². The gap between them is large, so the intensity you pick matters more than anything else you enter.
Intensity | Code | MET | 70 kg, 30 min | 70 kg, 60 min | 90 kg, 60 min |
Casual or social play | 15652 | 7.3 | 255 kcal | 510 kcal | 655 kcal |
Hard or competitive play | 15650 | 12.0 | 420 kcal | 840 kcal | 1080 kcal |
Pick casual if you are knocking the ball around, practicing, learning or playing a friend at a relaxed pace. Pick hard if you are in a close match where most rallies leave you breathing hard. Many club games sit between the two, so your real number often lies somewhere in that range.
Is Squash the Highest Calorie Racket Sport?
Squash has a reputation as the toughest racket sport, and the compendium partly backs it up. Hard squash (12.0 METs) is the highest of the racket sport entries below, and it matches running at 8 mph² ³. Casual squash is a different story. At 7.3 METs it is only a little above general racquetball (7.0) and below singles tennis (8.0)². The big numbers come from hard play, not from simply stepping onto a squash court.
Activity, 60 minutes | Code | MET | 70 kg | 90 kg |
Squash, casual or social | 15652 | 7.3 | 510 kcal | 655 kcal |
Squash, hard or competitive | 15650 | 12.0 | 840 kcal | 1080 kcal |
Racquetball, general | 15530 | 7.0 | 490 kcal | 630 kcal |
Racquetball, competitive | 15520 | 10.0 | 700 kcal | 900 kcal |
Badminton, social | 15030 | 5.5 | 385 kcal | 495 kcal |
Badminton, competitive match play | 15025 | 9.0 | 630 kcal | 810 kcal |
Tennis, singles | 15690 | 8.0 | 560 kcal | 720 kcal |
Tennis, doubles | 15685 | 4.5 | 315 kcal | 405 kcal |
Running, 6 to 6.3 mph | 12050 | 9.3 | 650 kcal | 835 kcal |
Running, 8 mph | 12090 | 12.0 | 840 kcal | 1080 kcal |
In the compendium, the competitive racquetball value is an estimate rather than a direct measurement².
What Studies of Squash Matches Show
The most detailed measurements come from elite players. In one study, seven players ranked in the top 25 of their country, including the world number one, wore portable gas analysers during simulated matches⁴. Their oxygen use averaged 54.4 ml per kg per minute, about 86% of their maximum, and heart rate averaged 177 beats per minute, about 92% of their maximum⁴. Energy use averaged 4,933 kJ per hour, which is about 1,180 kcal⁴.
Using the standard resting value of 3.5 ml per kg per minute, that oxygen use works out to roughly 15.5 METs. That is higher than the compendium's 12.0, so the hard value does not overstate serious match play. We found no study of recreational players in normal club games, so for casual play the compendium value is the best estimate available.
What Changes Your Burn in Squash
Rally length and your opponent. In the elite study, rallies averaged 18.6 seconds and the ball was in play for about 70% of match time⁴. Long rallies against an evenly matched opponent push you toward the hard value. Short rallies, frequent errors and fetching the ball pull you toward casual.
Court time versus playing time. A 45 minute court booking often includes a warm-up, breaks between games and chat. Enter the time spent in games, including short pauses between rallies, and leave out long breaks. Add warm-up hitting as a second, casual part.
Body weight. At the same intensity, a 90 kg squash player burns about 29% more than a 70 kg one, because calories rise in step with weight.
Squash vs Other Racket Sports and Running
Calories burned in 60 minutes at two body weights. Hard squash matches running at 8 mph.
- 70 kg
- 90 kg
Show data table
| Activity, 60 minutes | 70 kg (kcal) | 90 kg (kcal) |
|---|---|---|
| Squash, casual or social | 510 | 655 |
| Squash, hard or competitive | 840 | 1,080 |
| Racquetball, general | 490 | 630 |
| Racquetball, competitive | 700 | 900 |
| Badminton, social | 385 | 495 |
| Badminton, competitive match play | 630 | 810 |
| Tennis, singles | 560 | 720 |
| Tennis, doubles | 315 | 405 |
| Running, 6 to 6.3 mph | 650 | 835 |
| Running, 8 mph | 840 | 1,080 |
A Note on Accuracy
Squash results are estimates from average adult values, not a measurement of you¹. Squash is stop-start, and the share of your time spent in long, hard rallies changes the real figure more than any setting here. Squash also puts a heavy load on the heart. A study of 60 sudden deaths linked to squash found that most were caused by heart disease, and 45 of the players had warning symptoms beforehand, most often chest pain⁵. If you have a heart condition or get symptoms like chest pain while playing, it is worth talking to a doctor before playing hard.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many calories does squash burn in an hour?
In an hour of casual squash, a 70 kg adult burns about 510 kcal, and about 840 kcal in an hour of hard, competitive play. At 90 kg, those figures rise to about 655 and 1,080 kcal.
Does squash burn more calories than running?
Hard competitive squash (12.0 METs) burns about the same as running at 8 mph, a 7.5 minute mile. Casual squash (7.3 METs) burns less than running at 6 mph (9.3 METs).
Is squash good for weight loss?
Squash burns a lot of energy per hour, especially when rallies are long and hard. Weight change still depends on your total food intake and activity across the week, so one session is only part of the picture.
How accurate is a squash calorie calculator?
It is a reasonable estimate rather than an exact count, since it relies on average values and cannot see how hard your rallies were. Elite players measured during matches burned more than even the compendium's hard value suggests⁴.
Sources
2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities, Herrmann et al., 2024
Sports codes, including squash, racquetball, badminton and tennis, Compendium of Physical Activities, 2024
Running codes, Compendium of Physical Activities, 2024
Game analysis and energy requirements of elite squash, Girard et al., 2007
Sudden death and vigorous exercise: a study of 60 deaths associated with squash, Northcote et al., 1986