The benefits of tennis as a great form of exercise

Health and fitness is something that’s on everyone’s mind (especially at the start of the year when New Year resolutions to lose weight/ become fitter are ripe). But regardless of whether you have a specific fitness goal or a weight-loss agenda, health is indeed wealth, and it’s important to eat well, exercise daily and keep stress levels minimal.

It’s essential to move your body as much as you can, and exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes everyday. Exercise can be in the form of walking, swimming, cycling, aerobic activity, doing weights in the gym or playing a sport. If sport is your cup of tea, then tennis is one of the best sports to take up for overall fitness and fun. This post outlines the benefits of tennis as a great form of exercise.

Increases your cardio activity and burns calories

Tennis involves a lot of running around which boosts your heart health and breathing making it a great cardio activity. As a result, a game of tennis also burns a good amount of calories (ideal if you’re looking to lose weight).

Helps in building and toning muscle

Tennis works practically every muscle in your body which helps in building up and strengthening your muscles (a nice change from lifting weights every once in a while). You use your main lower body muscles for quick side-to-side and front-to-back movements as well as your upper body muscles when swinging the racket. The swift movements also engage your core which is an added bonus.

Thus tennis serves as a total-body workout that increases cardiovascular fitness and improves muscle strength and endurance.

Improves balance and co-ordination

Racket sports such as tennis require a great amount of balance, postural stability and coordination. The act of moving swiftly from side-to-side and back-to-front requires agility, flexibility and a lateral movement which doesn’t normally happen on a day-to-day basis.

Other benefits of playing tennis:

• Tennis also helps lower blood pressure, improves metabolic function, lowers body fat and increases bone density.

• Besides the physical benefits you derive from playing tennis, the game has a lot of other benefits too. It is a two-player (at the least) game which means it involves social interaction which is good for mental health.

• Tennis is a sport that can be played by any age group (from children to the elderly) and by any skill-level, making it ideal for anyone looking to take up tennis as a form of exercise or sport.

• Being a no-contact sport, it is low-risk and injuries are minimal. For this reason, many people can play tennis longer (and even when older) than more contact-heavy sports like football or basketball.

• It can be played indoors or outdoors making it an all-season, year-round sport.

In conclusion, playing tennis gives you a whole body workout as well as a feel-good factor (with all the endorphins released), making it an ideal sport to include as part of your fitness routine.