Top health and fitness benefits of playing tennis

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Published: June 21, 2019

Whether you’ve never picked up a tennis racket in your life, or have been a passionate player for a while, one thing is for sure. Tennis will have such a positive impact on your life, and we aren’t just recommending it as one of the top fat burning workouts. Some of the amazing benefits of playing tennis are improving your overall health, wellness, and happiness.

Whether you enjoy singles, doubles or you have to play by yourself against a backboard, tennis is a good activity that will help keep you in shape whether you’re a beginner at age 45 or are continuing your life long passion for the white sport at age 95. It is one of the best sports to keep your cardiovascular and muscular system in top shape. Add to it the incredible benefits of a strategic mental game played in the outdoors. And that’s why they call it a royal sport!

Tennis ball spinning in air after the shot
Tennis also helps in maintaining anaerobic health. This allows the muscles to absorb oxygen in a better way.

Here are the top health and fitness benefits of playing tennis:

1. You get a full body workout:

Undoubtedly one of the most important benefits of playing tennis is that it involves the entire body. Running uses your lower body, however stopping and starting, jumping and crouching use the back muscles. And the action of chasing that tennis ball in order to hit it engages your shoulders. Backhand and forehands, no matter if they are single or double-handed work your arms out to the fullest. Your shoulders and upper back get toned like crazy by training this fun sport!

2. You will improve your aerobic and anaerobic health in no time:

Tennis increases your oxygen intake thus increasing your heart rate. This works towards helping your blood deliver oxygen and nutrients to all your muscles. It also helps develop numerous capillaries and capillary beds within the muscles. Best personal trainers in Dubai will help you get a thorough muscles workout! So one of the most amazing benefits of playing tennis is that your muscles start to perform at a higher level and get tired at a slower pace.

Why one of the most amazing benefits of playing tennis include quick burning of calories and fat:

Running, suddenly stopping, changing directions, pivoting — tennis is a powerful workout with the right opponent. It’s a full-body sport, and it burns a lot of calories because you’re constantly moving. That’s why the crucial benefits of playing tennis are a quick reduction of body fat and improvement of your cardiovascular system. Singles tennis burns between 400-600 calories an hour. That’s great for a recreational sport that’s very fun while it can be played by just about anyone.

3. Improves bone health:

Playing tennis isn’t just great for your muscles; it will be good for your bones as well. Exercising regularly can improve your peak bone mass and slow the rate of its loss that comes with age. As bone mass peaks around age 30 and begins to deteriorate after that, you can maximize it before hitting 30 through exercise. If you continue to exercise after 30 you can really slow down the percentage of bone loss. One more of the incredible benefits of playing tennis is building strong bones.

Girl enjoying the amazing benefits of playing tennis
Playing tennis can actually burn more calories than other popular types of physical activity, including leisurely cycling, weight lifting, golfing, dancing or playing volleyball.

It’s amazing for your heart

Tennis legend Bjorn Borg described a tennis game as “a thousand little sprints.” He was so right! The quick anaerobic movements just melt the fat away, but leave you with high energy levels. A tennis match is from one to two hours long, both intervals optimal for improving cardiovascular health, which is crucial for crushing any risk of heart disease, heart attack or stroke. This amazing sport enhances flexibility, balance, and coordination by requiring the cooperation of the whole body.

Let’s not forget the benefits of playing tennis that help you boost your brain power!

  • The flexibility of the mind is this sport’s greatest asset. That is why it is so much fun.
  • Tennis requires the brain to be creative, as it involves quick thinking, planning many steps ahead of your opponent, tactical skills, agility and the coordination of your whole body.
  • So the more you play this amazing game, the better and more intricate the neural circuits related to all the above-mentioned activities become. And the better you become at them.
  • In addition to improving brain capacity and developing new neurons, workouts that require a lot of thinking can actually aid in bettering your memory, learning, and social skills.

The white sport works on improving your discipline and social skills:

Tennis will require you to become more disciplined. This is a fact because you will need the skills of patience, dedication, and determination in order to master this sport. People who are passionate about tennis spend a lot of time practicing and focusing on getting better at it. We dare to say that one of the best side benefits of playing tennis involves achieving a higher level of socialization skills. Since you have to interact with different players all the time, you develop a sense of belonging to the community.

Girl with tennis equipment
Higher oxygen absorption means your muscles can quickly recover the energy required for explosive power in order to perform those quick, reactive movements.

This great sport will boost your mood:

Tennis players are more optimistic, have amazing self-esteem and experience anxiety far less than people who have a sedentary lifestyle. You can play tennis as a sport or as a recreational activity with friends and family. Choose this fun exercise to create fun team building activities. Even if they are very young, exercising with your kids by playing tennis will be fun. An exciting day on a tennis court creates memories that last a lifetime. It is a good sport to maintain your health, fitness, strength, and bonds with friends and family.

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