A Personal Trainer’s Guide to Metabolic Equivalents

Personal trainers use a variety of tools to assess a client’s fitness and progress. Body weight and body composition track weight loss, for instance. Lean body mass can be tracked to assess strength training progress. Another tool to keep clients progressing toward their fitness goals is metabolic equivalents.

What Is a Metabolic Equivalent?

Metabolic equivalent tells you energy expenditure during physical activity. It is based on the amount of oxygen consumed while performing an activity. As effort or intensity increases during exercise, metabolic equivalent increases as well.

The lowest possible metabolic equivalent or MET is one. At 1 MET, the body is using roughly 3.5 ml of oxygen for every kilogram of body weight each minute. 

Sitting on the couch to watch TV would be a 1 MET physical activity. During this activity, your body is only using the amount of energy needed to function while at rest. This is also known as the resting metabolic rate. 

If an exercise is 2 metabolic equivalents, the body is using two times the amount of oxygen as when it is at rest. A 3 MET activity uses three times the oxygen and so on. More oxygen consumed means more energy is expended.

Why Metabolic Equivalents Are Important in Fitness

Fitness professionals use METs to estimate calories burned during exercise. On average, the human body burns around five calories for every liter of oxygen consumed. If you know an activity’s metabolic equivalent, you can calculate caloric expenditure. And it’s easier than testing the client’s oxygen consumption rate directly.

If a client wants to lose weight, they need a calorie deficit. In other words, they must burn more calories than they consume. METs are one way to estimate calories burned during exercise. 

METs can also help a client improve their cardiorespiratory fitness. If their fitness starts low, choosing low-MET activities is best. This keeps them from exceeding their maximum heart rate. 

Once their fitness improves, you can switch to an exercise with a higher MET rating. Or you can boost exercise intensity. This will increase the metabolic equivalent as well.

Calculating Metabolic Equivalents and Calories Burned

How do you know an exercise’s metabolic equivalents? They are in the Compendium of Physical Activities Tracking Guide. This guide includes METS for various types of exercise.

 Research indicates that the first Compendium was published in 1993. It was updated in 2000. And the most recent version was released in 2011. 

The Compendium supplies METs for different activities based on effort or intensity. For example, bicycling at light effort has a MET of 6.8. Increase effort to moderate intensity and the MET rises to an 8. Bicycling at a vigorous effort has a MET of 10.

You calculate the number of calories burned using MET and body weight. To calculate caloric expenditure, you can use this formula:

METs x 3.5 x body weight in kilograms / 200 = calories burned each minute of physical activity

Since body weight differs, so too does the number of calories a person burns. For example, you might be doing an activity that is 4 METs. If your client is a different weight, they will burn a different number of calories. Even if they are doing the same exercise. 

If their body weight is higher, they will have greater energy expenditure. Thus, their calories burned during the exercise will be higher as well. If their body weight is lower, they will burn fewer calories.

Estimated Metabolic Equivalents for Light Intensity Exercise

To calculate calories burned, you must know the MET for the physical activity being performed. Here is the MET for a few activities with light intensity.

As you may notice, MET intensity is not the same as exercise intensity. This is because MET is based on oxygen consumption. Different exercises have different oxygen uptake levels. Therefore, their MET will be different.

Estimated Metabolic Equivalents for Moderate Intensity Exercise

The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans provides exercise recommendations. It suggests that most adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week. (Getting 300 minutes or more offers greater health benefits.)

Here are estimated MET ratings for a few moderate intensity exercises.

Estimated Metabolic Equivalents for Vigorous Physical Activity

The Physical Activity Guidelines sets lower weekly amounts for vigorous activity. In this case, the recommendation is 75 to 150 minutes per week. Here are a few vigorous intensity exercises and their MET values.

If you want to know the MET for a different activity, you can check the Compendium. The University of Girona in Spain offers a copy of the 2011 Compendium online. This shows the codes for all three versions. So, you can see how the MET concept has changed over time. In the Compendium, you will also find listings for various sports activities.

More Ways to Increase Metabolic Rate

The Compendium provides METS for exercise. It also supplies METs for non-exercise activity. This is helpful because an activity doesn’t have to be an exercise to raise metabolic rate. 

Some of the other activities with MET ratings in the Compendium include:

• Cleaning gutters – 5.0 METs

• Home repair – 2.5 to 6.0 METs (depending on effort)

• Mowing lawn – 5.5 METs

• Playing the drums – 3.8 METs

• Walking the dog – 3.0 METs

• Playing darts – 2.5 METs

• Drawing or painting – 1.8 METs

Increasing one’s physical activity outside of the gym offers many benefits. The World Health Organization shares that these benefits are mental and physical. They even include a reduced risk of death.

One Size Doesn’t Fit All

There are several strategies for increasing the number of calories burned. However, it’s helpful to remember that each person is different. One person’s body might respond well to a certain exercise or intensity. Another might not have as much success. Many factors can contribute to caloric expenditure and oxygen consumption rates. So, there is no one-size-fits-all solution that will work for every client. 

Maybe you’ve increased your client’s exercise prescription. You’ve switched them from moderate effort activities to activities with vigorous intensity. If you’re not seeing the progress you’d expect, something else may be at play. One area to explore is their genetics. Their biological makeup may mean that they have a lower energy expenditure level. Their genes can also impact how they respond to various types of exercise. 

Learn more about how to help clients based on their individual make-up. ISSA offers this option with its DNA-Based Fitness Coach certification. This course teaches you how genetics impact response to exercise and food. You’ll also learn how to interpret your client’s results. This enables you to prescribe a fitness plan that delivers better results in less time.

References

AINSWORTH, B., HASKELL, W., HERRMANN, S., MECKES, N., BASSETT, D., & TUDOR-LOCKE, C. et al. (2011). 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities. Medicine &Amp; Science In Sports &Amp; Exercise, 43(8), 1575-1581. https://doi.org/10.1249/mss.0b013e31821ece12

Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Health.gov. Retrieved 10 June 2022, from https://health.gov/sites/default/files/2019-09/Physical_Activity_Guidelines_2nd_edition.pdf.

The 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities: Tracking Guide. Udg.edu. Retrieved 10 June 2022, from https://www.udg.edu/ca/portals/57/OContent_Docs/2011_Compendium_Tracking_Guide_1_.pdf.

Physical activity. World Health Organization. (2020). Retrieved 10 June 2022, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity.