When I first started playing badminton during my younger days, I always wondered if badminton is cardio. Every time I played it, my heart couldn’t stop pumping. So, I did some research on the internet and found the answer.
Badminton is a fast paced game where it requires you to move around the court with quick and explosive movements. This makes badminton fantastic cardio sport, playing just a few minutes will get your heart rate raising. Furthermore, it also burns about 480 calories every hour played. Just like HIIT training, badminton will constantly keep you moving which keeps your heart rate up.
Pace of The Game
Like I’ve mentioned, badminton is a fast-paced game, it will get your heart pumping hard and sweat pouring out. This is exactly what makes badminton cardio. You need to move quickly around the court to cover it and move back to the center once you returned the shot.
To keep up with the pace of the game, you’ll need to have a strong heart to be able to last throughout the match. It can very quickly feel much harder than cardio, where you can choose the pace you are running at. In badminton, you do not get to choose the pace you play in unless you have extremely uncompetitive opponents. If your opponents are even slightly competitive, they will hit the shuttle all around the court to make you run as much as possible so they can win the point.
Distance Covered In A Game
In a typical badminton match for highly skilled badminton players, they run as much as 4 miles during a match which is spread across an hour or so. If you are not highly skilled, then you will run less, maybe 2 miles or so. Let’s see how long it will take for you to run 2 and 4 miles with various speeds on the treadmill.
| Miles Per Hour (mph) | Time for 2 Miles | Time for 4 Miles |
|---|---|---|
| 2.5 | 48 minutes | 1 hour 36 minutes |
| 3.0 | 40 minutes | 1 hour 20 minutes |
| 3.5 | 34 minutes 20 seconds | 1 hour 28 minutes |
| 4.0 | 30 minutes | 1 hour |
| 4.5 | 13 minutes 20 seconds | 26 minutes 40 seconds |
| 5.0 | 12 minutes | 24 minutes |
| 5.5 | 10 minutes 54 seconds | 21 minutes 48 seconds |
| 6.0 | 10 minutes | 20 minutes |
For most people, anything 5 mph or more will be considered jogging or running. If you are going on that speed, you would complete the 4 miles that highly skilled players covered on the court within 24 minutes. For most people, they will burn on average, about 600 calories per hour if you kept running.
Badminton vs Cardio (Running)
As you can see from the above statement, running (at 5 mph) will burn more calories (600 calories per hour) as compared to badminton (480 calories per hour). If you are trying to burn as many calories as possible and keep your weight down sustainably, you cannot just take this metric into account. Yes, running at 5 mph does burn more calories than playing badminton but you need to consider how enjoyable it is.
Fun
For most people, playing badminton is way more fun compared to running. Badminton is more than just a sport, it is also about community and friendships, which you normally wouldn’t get from running. Moreover, badminton is a game and it’s supposed to be fun! It is much harder to gamify running unless you are always running with your friends and see who’s faster but this is not the case for most people.
Other than that, badminton is satisfying when you get to hit the shuttle exactly how you want to at the end of your movement. Not to mention the feeling and adrenaline you get when winning a point. If you are doing something you enjoy, you will have a much easier time being consistent. Therefore, you’ll be able to stay healthy and keep your weight down for a sustainable amount of time.
Goal
The goal of badminton and cardio (running) is also very different. With badminton, your whole goal is to win the point or the match, this will keep you motivated to keep moving and returning shots to win the point. Without even noticing, you are doing a lot of cardio. On the other hand, with cardio (running), you are just running with the end goal of burning your targeted calories or hitting your target distance. I don’t know about you, but the goal of cardio (running) does not sound all that interesting.
Are Most Sports Cardio Too?
Most sports that require moving with your legs around even a little bit is considered cardio. It just depends on how intense the movements are. Here are the most intense common cardio sports we see people play every day:
- Basketball
- Soccer
- Tennis
- Volleyball
Do They All Burn The Same Amount of Calories?
Not all sports will burn as many calories as badminton, sitting at 480 calories burnt per hour on average. Sports such as tennis might burn more calories per game than badminton but not per hour. I use tennis as an example as it is also a racket game, with movements similar to badminton.
A game of tennis for the best of 5 matches can take up to 3 hours to complete the game if you play at the highest level (grand slams). This is because they rest between every set, which adds up quickly. Moreover, the time they take to serve is also quite substantial as compared to badminton. In fact, tennis rules allow you up to 20 seconds to serve when both parties are ready while badminton only allows for 5 to 7 seconds.
Therefore, the intensity of the game is a huge factor in how much calories is burnt per hour.
Conclusion
To conclude, badminton is cardio and it’s pretty intensive. The pace of the game will make your heart pump at a high rate in no time. The difference between badminton and cardio of just running is that badminton is way more fun and burns almost as many calories as running. If you do something that you enjoy, you are more likely to stick with it long term.
Lastly, most sports that require you to move around with your legs are considered cardio but not all of them burn the same amount of calories. Intensity plays a big role in that.
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