Data & method

The dataset

All MET values come from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities, the third major update of a reference dataset first published in 1993 and revised in 2000 and 2011. It assigns a metabolic equivalent to each of more than 1,100 catalogued activities.

Citation: Herrmann SD, Willis EA, Ainsworth BE, Barreira TV, Hastert M, Kracht CL, Schuna JM Jr, Cai Z, Quan M, Tudor-Locke C, Whitt-Glover MC, Jacobs DR. 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities: A third update of the energy costs of human activities. Available at pacompendium.com. Retrieved 2026-07-28.

MET values are measured scientific quantities, not creative work, and are reproduced here as data with attribution. The Compendium's own prose is not reproduced.

The equation

One MET is the rate at which a body uses energy sitting quietly — by convention 3.5 ml of oxygen per kilogram of body mass per minute. Converting oxygen use to energy gives the standard ACSM relationship this site uses everywhere:

kcal per minute = MET × 3.5 × body mass (kg) ÷ 200

So a 70 kg adult doing a MET 8.0 activity burns 8.0 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200 = 9.8 kcal per minute, or 588 kcal per hour. Nothing else is applied — no fudge factor, no age or sex adjustment, because the underlying data does not support one.

How activities were grouped

The Compendium lists each variation as a separate coded row — 59 kinds of walking, 40 of cycling. Publishing 1,100 near-identical pages would help nobody, so rows are grouped under their parent activity, and the parent page shows every variation in a table. The headline MET for a page is the median of its variations, not the mean, because a handful of extreme entries (competitive racing, for instance) would otherwise drag the typical figure upwards.

Activity codes

The published table is a two-column PDF layout. Where an activity code and its description sit unambiguously together, the code is shown. Where the layout makes the pairing uncertain, the code is left blank rather than guessed — 934 of 1,111 rows carry a verified code. The MET value and description are always taken from the same source cell, so the numbers are unaffected either way.

What these numbers cannot tell you

• They are population averages. Laboratory measurements across groups of adults. Your own energy cost for the same activity can differ by 20% or more.
• They include resting metabolism. A MET value covers total energy use during the activity, including the calories you would have burned anyway. The "extra" calories are lower than the figure shown.
• Efficiency matters. A trained cyclist and a beginner at the same speed do not burn the same energy.
• Body composition matters. The equation scales with total mass, which slightly overestimates for higher body-fat percentages.
• Most activities are not steady-state. An hour of tennis is not an hour of tennis. Real sessions include standing around.

These are honest limitations of the method, not of this particular site — any calorie figure from any source carries them. General information only — not medical, fitness or nutrition advice. Calorie figures are population estimates and vary between individuals.

Updates

The Compendium has been revised roughly once a decade. This site will be rebuilt against the next edition when it is published. Spot an error in the meantime? Tell us — corrections are made against the primary source.