Sport

Improving Your Health With Tennis

cardio-tennisLosing weight and improving the cardiovascular system is a very important topic in today's society. There is a problem with gym workouts and aerobic sessions: many people find them boring and find no motivation in them. This often results in heavy abandon rates as well as poor results for the participants who dropped out at an early stage of the program. In such a situation, it appears necessary to find more engaging ways to burn fat!

Tennis is a great sport to pick up if you are hoping to solve your weight issue. Even though its learning curve might be harder than many other sports, it is quite popular amongst North Americans and boasts many positive effects on your body. Amongst them, you will find:

  • Cardiovascular stamina improvement: if you are not a total rookie, there's a great chance you'll be running all over the court in order to send back the able to your opponent. This will cause your heart rate to reach new heights and you should feel the benefits pretty quickly.
  • Burning calories: Tennis transforms running into a fun activity, which mean you'll be getting rid of a lot of calories without spending half an hour getting stared at by other pedestrians.
  • Building bone density: tennis matches' duration ranges between 30 minutes and several hours. It is said that because of the huge weight you'll be carrying around during that time, your body will develop stronger bones, reducing the risks for osteoporosis over time. You'll also be building general muscle endurance.

One reason might distract many players from actually engaging in tennis workout: not having a proper partner. If your tennis skills are pretty low, for example, you might feel uncomfortable with challenging friends or colleagues in playing a tennis game. Even if you do, the benefits might not be as interesting as a regular game since the level of play will be significantly lower.

There are, though, two alternatives that allow aspiring tennis players to improve their play while having a great workout!

Using a ball machine

The ball machine is a product that you can generally use by getting a tennis club membership. The principle is very simple: a fixed machine will be shooting tennis balls at you at different velocities in order to practice your different tennis techniques.

What's the link with a tennis ball machine and getting fit? In fact, it can simulate pretty well a tennis partner: it won't send you back your shots but with the speed and distance variations and the different locations it can shoot to, it can make you run a lot on the tennis court. You can adjust the difficulty level based on your physical condition as well as your tennis abilities, so you should give it a try.

Cardio tennis, a growing movement across the world

If you are lucky enough to live in Canada, Australia, Germany, Japan or United Kingdom, you have access to an original mix between tennis and doing aerobic workout: cardio tennis.

Led by a dynamic coach, the session generally uses energetic music in order to keep the energy high at all times. It will alternate different exercises: you'll be playing games with a partner during a portion of the lesson, but other workouts are also scheduled! It also includes a warm-up moment to avoid injuries and practice some basic tennis skills. Some purely aerobic oriented exercises such as jumping jacks and agility ladder drills will also be used by some of the teachers.

Here is a video posted on Youtube by the British LTA to explain what is cardio tennis:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxUhcCrIm94]

In conclusion, it is not important in which way you decide to practice tennis: just know that it is a great sport to make you feel healthier.

Charles Bernard is a Canadian tennis adept. He is happy to inform readers about better ways to take care of their health.

2 Comments

  1. Even if you are not an avid fan of andy murray or novac djakovic or rafael nadal, tennis is truly beneficial and no one can deny it. It’s just like two hour of jogging with intense stretching. But what’s best with tennis is the technicality that was truly driven by history. Who would mind the scoring points of 15 to 40? In my personal opinion though, tennis is brain power as well because if you have that brain instinct in where the ball is dropping it’s easy to go for the counter attack against your opponent and get the advantage.

  2. Nice, article! Came across a new term cardio tennis, learned something new today.

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