Baseball Vs. Golf: Which Is More Exercise?

Different baseball players and golfers get different levels of exercise. In baseball, pitchers and catchers participate in every play while their team is in the field, while some teammates could spend most of the game standing and sitting. In golf, players who carry their clubs and spend several hours walking toward their ball after they hit it get lots of exercise, while players who use a cart between every shot can get very little.

Mostly Anaerobic Exercise

Baseball and golf are considered anaerobic exercises, which exercise experts consider vastly inferior to aerobic exercises because they aren't continuous. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, aerobic exercises like bicycling, swimming and walking have a more beneficial effect on the heart and lungs than exercises like weightlifting, bowling, baseball and golf that require intense spurts of energy but also let athletes rest between the spurts.

Roughly Equal Exercise

Health-related publications have concluded baseball and golf have about the same level of exercise. The June 14, 2000, edition of "The Journal of the American Medical Association" categorized baseball and golf as light activities that both burn 300 calories per hour in men, 240 in women. The other calories burned per hour figures were 460 (men) and 370 (women) for moderate activities, 730 and 580 for strenuous activities, and 920 and 740 for very strenuous activities.

Golf Can Be Partly Aerobic

You can get some of the benefits of aerobic exercise if you walk a lot during your round of golf. "The Well Adult" reports the average golfer burns 250 calories per hour, but you will burn more calories if you exercise more between shots. That's because you burn 300 calories per hour if you walk briskly, 140 if you stand, 120 if you drive a golf cart or other vehicle and 100 if you sit in a cart.

Golfing and Lifting

You can get far more exercise while golfing if you carry or pull your clubs rather than let your cart do the weight-lifting. According to the State of Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services, a 155-lb. golfer burns 281 calories per hour in "general." However, the same golfers will burn 352 calories if they pull their clubs and 387 calories if they carry them. Golfers who use power carts, though, burn 246 calories per hour, while miniature golfers and golfers on the driving range burn 211 calories per hour.

Baseball Activity

More active baseball players get more exercise. A 205-lb. pitcher burns 488 calories per hour, while a 205-pound infielder or outfielder burns only 382, reports the "Health Awareness Initiative" of the Federal Aviation Administration. On the other hand, fast-pitch and slow-pitch baseball and softball pitchers burn the same amount of calories. If your only baseball activity is playing catch, you will burn only 150 calories per hour, according to "Exercise: Calculate Calorie Needs," a University of Kansas report.