Top 10 Health Benefits of Tennis

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Singles, doubles or against a backboard on your own, tennis is a great activity that can keep you in shape whether you’re age 5 or 95. It keeps your cardiovascular and muscular system in top shape even as you age. Plus, you can’t beat a strategic mental game that lets you enjoy the fresh air of the outdoors.

Here are the Top 10 from Health Fitness Revolution and author of the book ReSYNC Your Life Samir Becic:

Full body workout:  Unlike some sports, playing tennis is a brilliant workout for the entire body. You use your lower body for all that running, stopping and starting, jumping and crouching. And  The action of hitting the tennis ball, whether it’s single or double-handed, means that your trunk does a lot of work as well, in particular your shoulders and upper back.

Playing tennis can provide full body workouts and improve your aerobic health.

Improved aerobic and anaerobic health: Tennis increases your oxygen intake while playing, increasing your heart rate and helping your blood deliver oxygen and nutrients to all your muscles. It also aids in the development of numerous capillaries and capillary beds within the muscles so that your muscles can have a greater blood supply and flow. This helps in your muscles perform at a higher level and fatigue at a slower rate. It also helps in maintaining anaerobic health, which allows the muscles to use oxygen in a better way more efficiently and provide quick bursts of energy spurts for explosive power and quick, reactive movements.

Burns calories and fat: Running, swinging, reaching, pivoting — tennis can be a real workout with the right opponent. It’s a whole-body sport, and you can burn a lot of calories because you’re constantly on the move. In fact, for many people, playing tennis can actually burn more calories than other popular types of physical activity, including leisurely cycling, weight lifting, golfing, dancing or playing volleyball. As a result, playing tennis regularly has been shown to help reduce body fat. Singles tennis can burn between 400-600 calories an hour. That’s not bad for a recreational sport that’s both fun and can be played by just about anyone.

Playing tennis can help strengthen bones and help you have a healthy heart

Improves bone health: Playing tennis isn’t good for your muscles alone; it has a positive impact on your bones as well. Exercising regularly can increase your peak bone mass and can slow the rate of bone mass loss over time. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), bone mass peaks around age 30 and begins to decline after that. You can maximize your bone mass prior to that age through exercise, and continuing to exercise after 30 can slow the rate of bone loss. The NIH names tennis as one of the weight-bearing activities well suited to building strong bones.

Heart healthy: Tennis great Tennis legend, Bjorn Borg, accurately characterized a tennis match as “a thousand little sprints.” The quick anaerobic movements the sport demands burns fat, increases your heart rate and promotes higher energy levels. A typical tennis match can last anywhere from one to two hours and at intervals that are optimal for improving cardiovascular health, which is essential for lowering your risk of heart disease, heart attack and stroke.

7 COMMENTS

  1. True, Tennis is the healthiest activity which not only provide physical benefits but mental, emotional and social benefits too. We learn how to plan , execute strategies and sportsmanship.

  2. I tried tennis in high school and it certainly turned out to not be my thing. Then I discovered lifting in college, and I love it. My #1 piece of advice to newbs is to figure out your starting point (with form, amount of weight to use, etc.) and take it slow. Actually, the quote ‘Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can’ has become one of my favorites because of this.

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