Estimate calories and kilojoules burned surfing or bodyboarding, based on your body weight, session duration, and which part of a surf session best describes your time in the water — mostly sitting and waiting for waves, actively paddling, or competitive surfing. A real session is usually a mix of all three, so pick whichever tier best matches how your time was actually spent.
Surfing calorie burn is estimated with calories = MET × body weight (kg) × duration (hours), using three tiers from the Water Activities table of the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities: general surfing, mostly sitting or waiting for waves (MET 3.0), active paddling (MET 6.8), and competitive surfing (MET 5.0). A 75 kg surfer over a 60-minute session (1.0 hour) burns around 225 kcal (about 941 kJ) doing general surfing, around 510 kcal (about 2,134 kJ) doing active paddling, and around 375 kcal (about 1,569 kJ) doing competitive surfing. These three tiers represent different phases of a session rather than three alternative surfing speeds — see below for why that matters.
| Session Type | MET | Calories | Kilojoules |
|---|
The calculation combines a MET (Metabolic Equivalent of Task) value for the type of surfing you did, your body weight, and how long the session lasted. This calculator uses three MET values taken directly from the Water Activities table of the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities: general surfing, body or board, mostly sitting or waiting for a wave (code 18220, MET 3.0), surfboard paddling (code 18221, MET 6.8), and competitive body or board surfing (code 18222, MET 5.0).
| Session Type | MET | Calories (75 kg, 60 min) | Kilojoules |
|---|---|---|---|
| General surfing (mostly sitting/waiting) | 3.0 | 225 kcal | 941 kJ |
| Active paddling | 6.8 | 510 kcal | 2,134 kJ |
| Competitive surfing | 5.0 | 375 kcal | 1,569 kJ |
It's worth being upfront about what these three MET tiers actually represent. Unlike a walking or running calculator, where each tier is a genuinely different speed you could choose to hold for an entire session, surfing's three tiers describe different activity states within a single session, and a real session almost always moves between all three. You paddle out through the break, then spend a good chunk of time sitting on the board waiting for a decent set to roll in, then paddle hard for a few seconds and pop up to actually ride a wave, before paddling back out and starting the cycle again. General surfing (MET 3.0) reflects a session dominated by that sitting-and-waiting time, which is why its MET is so much lower than active paddling (MET 6.8) — sitting on a board burns very little energy compared with the sustained arm-over-arm effort of paddling against resistance.
Because of this, the calculator's three options are best thought of as "which state dominated your time in the water" rather than "how fast were you surfing." If your session was mostly waiting around for a wave with occasional paddling and riding, general surfing is the more honest choice, even if you felt like you were working hard during the short bursts. If you spent most of the session actively paddling — working out to a break, chasing sets, or paddling hard to catch waves in choppy conditions — active paddling will give a more representative total. Competitive surfing sits in between and reflects the higher average work rate of a judged heat, where surfers are paddling and repositioning almost continuously to be in position for scoring waves.
Surfing and bodyboarding hold a well-established place in Australian beach culture, with popular breaks stretched along the coastline from Western Australia through South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and Queensland. Surf lifesaving clubs and local surfing associations are active at many popular breaks around the country, and bodyboarding is a common, accessible entry point into wave riding alongside standup surfing — the Compendium MET codes used on this page cover "body or board" surfing, so the numbers apply to both. Wherever you're paddling out, water safety comes first: check conditions and hazards like rips before entering the water, be aware of your own swimming ability and fitness, and consider surfing with others rather than alone, especially at an unfamiliar break.
This table holds session type constant at general surfing (MET 3.0) for a full 60-minute session, so you can see how much body weight alone changes the total.
| Body Weight | MET | Calories (60 min) | Kilojoules |
|---|---|---|---|
| 55 kg | 3.0 | 165 kcal | 690 kJ |
| 65 kg | 3.0 | 195 kcal | 816 kJ |
| 75 kg | 3.0 | 225 kcal | 941 kJ |
| 85 kg | 3.0 | 255 kcal | 1,067 kJ |
| 95 kg | 3.0 | 285 kcal | 1,192 kJ |
Here body weight is fixed at 75 kg while both session length and session type change, so you can compare how much a longer session and a more active tier each add to the total.
| Duration | General (MET 3.0) | Paddling (MET 6.8) | Competitive (MET 5.0) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 minutes | 113 kcal / 471 kJ | 255 kcal / 1,067 kJ | 188 kcal / 785 kJ |
| 45 minutes | 169 kcal / 706 kJ | 383 kcal / 1,600 kJ | 281 kcal / 1,177 kJ |
| 60 minutes | 225 kcal / 941 kJ | 510 kcal / 2,134 kJ | 375 kcal / 1,569 kJ |
Australian nutrition panels list energy in kilojoules, not calories, so it's worth converting your session into the same unit your food packaging uses. Multiply your calorie figure by 4.184 to get kilojoules. A 75 kg surfer's 60-minute general surfing session burns about 225 kcal, roughly 941 kJ, while the same session spent mostly paddling comes in far higher at about 510 kcal, roughly 2,134 kJ — a useful pair of figures to weigh up against the energy value printed on a post-surf snack or sports drink.
How many calories does surfing burn?
It depends on how your time in the water was actually spent. A 75 kg surfer over a 60-minute session burns around 225 kcal (about 941 kJ) doing general surfing that's mostly sitting and waiting for waves (MET 3.0), around 510 kcal (about 2,134 kJ) doing active paddling (MET 6.8), and around 375 kcal (about 1,569 kJ) in competitive surfing (MET 5.0). Enter your own weight and session length in the calculator above for a personalised figure.
Does paddling burn more calories than actually riding waves?
Yes, by a wide margin. Active paddling carries a MET of 6.8, more than double the general surfing MET of 3.0, because paddling is sustained, resisted arm-over-arm effort, while sitting on the board waiting for a set — which makes up a large share of most recreational sessions — burns very little energy. Actually popping up and riding a wave is brief, so it's the paddling in between waves, not the riding itself, that does most of the metabolic work in a typical session.
Why are the general and competitive surfing MET values marked as estimated, while active paddling isn't?
The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities flags general surfing (MET 3.0, code 18220) and competitive surfing (MET 5.0, code 18222) as estimated figures rather than values confirmed by dedicated published research on surfing. The active paddling value (MET 6.8, code 18221) does not carry that same flag, meaning it's backed by dedicated literature. We're disclosing this distinction precisely rather than treating all three MET values as equally certain — the paddling figure is the most evidence-backed number on this page, while the general and competitive figures are reasonable planning estimates.
Are the three tiers really three different surfing speeds?
No — they're better understood as different phases or states within a single surf session rather than alternative speeds. A real session typically mixes sitting and waiting, paddling out and chasing sets, and riding waves, all within the same hour. General surfing reflects a session dominated by sitting and waiting, active paddling reflects a session dominated by sustained paddling effort, and competitive surfing reflects the higher, more continuous work rate of a judged heat. Pick whichever tier best matches how your session's time was actually spent, not how fast you felt like you were moving.
Is surfing a good workout?
Surfing can be a solid form of exercise, particularly for upper-body and core endurance through paddling, along with the balance and leg strength involved in popping up and riding. How much of a workout any given session provides depends heavily on how much active paddling versus sitting and waiting you actually did, which is exactly why this calculator separates those phases into different tiers rather than giving one blanket number for "surfing."
How do I convert calories burned surfing into kilojoules?
Multiply the calorie figure by 4.184, the standard conversion between kilocalories and kilojoules used on Australian food labels. A 75 kg surfer's 60-minute general surfing session burns about 225 kcal, which converts to roughly 941 kJ — useful if you want to compare your session against the energy value printed on a recovery snack or sports drink label.
Does body weight change how many calories surfing burns?
Yes. Because calories equal MET multiplied by body weight in kilograms multiplied by duration in hours, body weight is a direct multiplier in the formula. For a 60-minute general surfing session, an 85 kg surfer burns roughly 255 kcal compared with about 165 kcal for a 55 kg surfer covering the identical session at the identical intensity.
Is bodyboarding counted the same as surfing on this page?
Yes. The Compendium of Physical Activities codes used here are labelled "surfing, body or board," which groups bodyboarding together with standup surfboard surfing under the same MET values. The energy demand of sitting, paddling and riding is similar enough between the two that the Compendium doesn't split them into separate codes.
What are the limitations of this calorie estimate?
This calculator multiplies a MET value by your body weight and session duration, which gives a reasonable planning estimate rather than a personalised measurement. It can't account for wave conditions, water temperature, your paddling technique or fitness level, how much of your session was genuinely spent in each phase, or two of the three MET values being Compendium estimates rather than literature-confirmed figures. Treat the result as a sensible planning figure for time spent in the water, not an exact physiological measurement.