Are you happy? Are you healthy? I am not certain what response I would get in response to these questions. However, if I asked if you want to be happy and healthy, I am confident that your response would be yes. I think that it is clear that we all want to be happy and healthy.
Okay, if everyone wants to be happy and healthy, how do we get there? I am sure that there are multiple ways to achieve these ambitions. However, I want to explore one way to improve our health and happiness.
I have always been very active and I believe that my life is better as a result. A constant in my life has been the presence of one or more sports interest that kept me active.
Tennis has become my passion and I am fortunate that I now get to play and teach this great sport. I am on the court 6 days a week and I believe that I am happier and healthier as a result. I truly enjoy the sensation of hitting a tennis ball and moving around the court.
Recently, I came across an article from Tennis Industry magazine in which they discussed the benefits of playing tennis. This article particularly resonated with me and I want to share some of the ideas presented:
- Play 3 hours of tennis a week and you’ll cut your risk of death in half from any cause, according to a Harvard study of 10,000 people during a 20-year period. What insurance company wouldn’t want that for their clientele! You can literally save your life by taking up the sport.
- Tennis burns calories. An hour of tennis can burn 580 to 870 calories, depending on your weight, says the Mayo Clinic. I think that there is general agreement that controlling your weight is vital to maintaining your health. Google says reducing calories by 300 per day and increasing daily activity to burn off an additional 200 calories should result in a weight loss of one pound per week.
- Tennis keeps your heart healthy. The Cleveland Clinic says tennis is ‘ideal sport for a healthy heart.’ And a Johns Hopkins study showed that middle-aged men who played tennis-more than any other activity-had a significant lower incidence of cardiovascular disease as they aged. I want to choose an activity that maximizes my health and tennis appears to be a good choice based on these statements.
These are strong statements and compelling reasons to play tennis. However, I don’t believe everything I read either in print or on the Internet. I want evidence that leads me to my own conclusions.
Given this, I recently purchased a Fitbit Zip which tracks steps, distance and calories burned. This device was relatively inexpensive and met my needs. My goal is to see if in fact tennis is burning calories and increasing my activity level.
I now wear my Zip whenever I am active. By default, Fitbit recommends that you take 10,000 steps per day. Fortunately, I have exceeded this amount averaging 15,000. As an example, on a recent 1 mile walk, the device indicated that I took 2,200 steps and burned 800 calories. As a comparison, in a 90 minute Cardio Tennis drill, Fitbit indicates that I typically take over 5,000 steps covering approximately 3 miles and burn 1,200 calories.
In my short experience with this device, I have found it to be motivating. I am certainly much more aware of how much I move during the day and how my activity levels vary over time. I am making progress in reaching my health goals. My weight is down and I am much more active.
I am still gathering statistics on my activity level in order to determine the benefits of various activities and, over time, I will get a clearer picture of my usage. However, I am interested in comparing these results to that of others. If you track your workouts, I ask that you share this information with the hope that we can begin to compile a more comprehensive set of data.
By the way, I chose the Fitbit because it was relatively inexpensive and readily available. So far, I am very impressed with the device and the software that accompanies it. However, I know that there are many other devices on the market and I cannot offer a comparison to the other products. If you have experience and knowledge with Fitbit or other devices, please share what you know.
My goal is to post weekly and I hope to continue the conversation started with this item. If you have comments or questions, please reply so that we can all contribute to this conversation.
I want to update something I mentioned in the original post. I said that, ‘in a 90 minute Cardio Tennis drill, Fitbit indicates that I typically take over 5,000 steps covering approximately 3 miles and burn 1,200 calories’. After some additional research, I think that I understated the number of steps taken, distance traveled and calories burned. I believe that the actual number of steps is closer to 8,500 and the distance and calories would increase proportionally. The number of steps agreed with at least two other individuals using different tracking mechanisms.
ReplyDeletePlaying tennis will bring good health and improve fitness; so, it is really beneficial to play tennis and especially for people those are facing obesity problems. Tennis is the best way to reduce weights and it will improve our concentration power. Regular playing tennis is very much essential for our health and fitness. Thanks for such a useful article.
ReplyDeleteHealth Benefits of Tennis