How Many Calories Do You Burn Playing Basketball for 30 Minutes?

Apart from basic curiosities such as why do basketball players wear tights and, how come the shoes they wear are so heavy, one very specific question that caught my eyes recently was about related to burning calories with this activity.

Ever thought about how many calories do you burn playing basketball for 30 minutes? Well, I’m just kidding, of course, you did, that’s why we are here talking about it. 

It’s true that sometimes working out may seem too boring when limited to specific movements that basically we do at the gym. And some that’s why opt for other physically demanding activities that are just as effective at burning calories but at the same time feels super fun. If you have some interest in basketball and also want to lose some pounds, then this could be just the perfect combo for you. Keep On Reading…

Exactly How Many Calories Do You Burn Playing Basketball for 30 Minutes?

Depending on your current weight, the number of calories you would burn through playing basketball is somewhere between 250 to 360 calories.

However, keep in mind this is just a rough and general idea to understand the thing better. It’s not possible for anyone to specifically decide the number of calories they’ll be able to burn by engaging in an activity for a specified amount of time.

There are quite a few factors that come into play and have a role in the actual number of calories burned. But from the rough calculation, you are supposed to lose 2 pounds every month, which is not bad at all. 

Exactly How Many Calories Do You Burn Playing Basketball for 30 Minutes 1

Why Basketball Is One of The If Not the Best Calorie Burning Sports Out There. 

Now you could be wondering why basketball though. There are so many other activities such as swimming, running, and boxing. Why should someone consider basketball especially if they are willing to lose some calories?

Well, it’s not like you are not free to make a choice among all those other activities. However, if this question comes to your mind, for let say, motivating yourself, then you’ll love this segment.

So, basically with basketball, you are engaging yourself with a bunch of different movements that actually work on different body parts of yours. Confused? Well, think it this way.

As you play a match, whenever you dribble, your hand gets focused. When it’s time to play defending modes, you are using your upper body strength. For jumping and running, your legs are putting in all this effort. And of course, you would want to come up with a strategy on movements, which means a bonus mind workout session as well.

You see how this one game would literally focus on all the fat-prone areas of your body. And clearly, the physically demanding movements would allow you to lose fat from those spots. So, there’s actually a good potential of losing quite a bit of fat or calories and getting into your dream shape while doing something fun.

Another interesting thing about basketball that may help you lose those extra calories is the intensity this game has. With a half-court solo practice, you engage in moderate-intensity activity mode, which basically means you can carry a conversation however won’t be able to sing.

Then with full-court or five-on-five play, you challenge yourself into a vigorous activity mode. And this means you won’t be able to say a few words without taking a break to breathe in between. The more effort demanding it would be, better chances of losing calories fast. This shows how you can alter intensity while playing and make it work for yourself. 

Idea of Burned Calories Based on The Type of Basketball Play. 

We just talked about the intensity being a factor of how much calories you’ll lose. Now let’s make it even more clear so that you know where to start from depending on your needs. The six intensity types would go from less to more. This is a rough idea base on a 77 kg weighted male player.

  • Jump movements are not good enough alone for losing calories. You spend around 2.5 calories for 10 minutes of jump shots.
  • If you make 20 passes for each game, you’ll burn 3 calories in total. It’s not effective in the long run, but just get an idea as it’s a part of game.
  • Consider a player spending one and a half minute dribbling ball. In that case, the calories burned on average would be around 15. Typically, in a game, one player spending 12 to 13 minutes dribbling would get rid of 125 calories.
  • Around 130 calories can be lost with shooting baskets for each game. You can get rid of 20% of your daily calorie target by simply shooting and retrieving baskets for 22 minutes.
  • With running on the court, one can lose almost 170 calories for every game. There’s a saying that basketball players actually run 5 miles with every game. And that gives sense how just running around the court would be effective enough to lose that much calories.
  • The maximum you can burn from a full-court play of 48 minutes with zero-time outs and substitutions is around 680 calories per game. This is a close to impossible situation, even for an expert NBA player. With time outs and substitutes however you can lose 440 calories each game.

This makes it clear that losing tons of calories in basketball would depend on 4 key factors. The energy you spend on moves, time of whole play, your weight, and total number of movements you did.

Calculating The Number of Calories Burned with Basketball – Do It Yourself. 

To calculate a rough number of calories that you’ll burn with basketball, first we need to get the MET value of this sport. It’s basically short for the metabolic equivalent tasks. And for basketball, it’s 6.4.

Now all you have to do is multiply this value with your weight in kilograms. And then you multiply the result with a duration of how long you played, it should be in minutes by the way. and finally, we multiply the result by 0.0175. Here’s an example!

Let’s consider a person whose weight is around 90 kilograms. And the duration of basketball plays that person involves in is 25 minutes. So, the number of calories burned in this case would be,

90 * 6.4 * 25 * 0.0175 = 252 kcal.

This means that person would be able to burn almost 252 calories with a 25 minutes basketball game. Now go ahead and calculate for yourself to get an idea.

Outdoor Speak: Basketball stretches your muscles and elongates your bones (somehow) making you tall and nimble. What about gymnastics? Is it the same with basketball? Find out here — Does Gymnastics Stunt Your Growth.

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Wrap up

So, we talked about how many calories do you burn playing basketball for 30 minutes. We went through why this game specifically can be a great option for burning calories. And we also covered rough burned calories calculation on different types of basketball intensities as well as a method to find a value for yourself. Quite a Lot!

Hopefully, all of these would come in use for you. And it makes you motivated enough to start this wonderful, engaging, and fun game. See You on Some Next Topic!

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