Almost all of the sports directly or indirectly concentrate on providing fitness to the players and to their bodies. Human anatomy needs some sort of an effort done on itself in order to remain in its finest form.
Ping Pong, or otherwise most commonly known as the table tennis, is another one of the famous sports around that try to give exactly the same amount of effort to the body that is expected.
How Table Games (like Ping Pong) Can Improve Fitness Routine
If it’s not work, it’s not working.
This is a concept many of us adopt when it comes to our fitness routines- and for a good reason. Building muscle requires micro-tears, and micro-tears are something you should feel when you’ve finished a workout.
Keeping your heart rate too low does nothing to improve your heart health. So, soft workouts have very little impact beyond a few burned calories and a little more time up off your butt.
Gentle workouts DO, however, burn calories and get you up off your butt; benefits that shouldn’t be discounted when you’re working on adopting an overall healthier lifestyle.
While soft exercise isn’t going to improve your cardiovascular health or bulk you up, it can add some activity to your day that has positive effects on your body and overall fitness.
According to Shawna Newman of KICK Foosball, tables games, like pool, foosball, table tennis and air hockey, can provide some light, supplemental exercise to your workout routine that has surprising benefits for your health!
Tables Games Provide You a (Fun) Reason to Get Up
Standing burns more calories than sitting.
The difference isn’t much: 0.1 calories more per minute on for women average, 0.15 for men. But even small caloric expenditures can add up. By standing for six hours a day, an average woman burns over 50 extras calories per day, which adds up to more than five pounds in a year.
So, if table games will get you up off the couch and on your feet more often than a treadmill, why not keep one on hand?
Table Games Burn More Calories Than Standing Alone
Though standing provides a boost in your daily calorie burn on its own, you don’t just stand to play table games, like pool, air hockey, and shuffleboard.
You shift. You lean. You reach.
The faster-paced the game, the more you do these motions- making games like ping pong and air hockey some of the most effective for burning calories.
Even a rousing foosball match can get your heart rate up! My fitness tracker clocks my heart rate at over 100 bpm when playing a game of foosball, more than 30 bpm above my average resting heart rate.
This adds up to a caloric expenditure of around 70 calories in 15 minutes, which equals the number of calories I typically burn over an hour.
It’s not much, but it’s still a boost, and it doesn’t feel like a workout.
Tables Games Can Provide You a Decent Upper Body Workout
Whacking a ping pong ball back and forth isn’t going to turn you into an action movie hero, but try playing ping pong for an hour or so and see if you don’t feel it.
Not only do many table games require substantial upper body effort, they often move your upper body in ways your standard workout doesn’t, providing variety to your routine. It’s hardly weight training, but it does get your muscles working.
For a real bonus, learn to play ambidextrously, and switch arms. You don’t have to be good; you just need to give your non-dominant muscles some of the workout. Getting started with fitness video games and using your non-dominant hand is a great way to improve your weaker arm’s coordination.
And speaking of coordination…
Table Games are Good for Coordination and Fine Motor Skills
Perhaps the most important impact playing tables games can have on your fitness routine, especially as you age, is an increase in your motor skills and coordination. The better your motor skills, the better your form will be when you exercise, making workouts safer and more beneficial.
Furthermore, playing table games can improve your workouts and benefit you in the sports you play through improving your coordination and fine motor skills.
If you’re an athlete, you know how essential coordination and motor skills are to your performance on the field. If you can add small improvements to your body while having a good time, all the better!
Top Health Benefits of Playing Ping Pong
This indoor table game has been around for as long as we can remember and some might not consider it to be too challenging for the body this writing about the top 10 health benefits of playing ping pong is going to prove everyone wrong.
Refreshes the Brain
One very beautiful thing about ping pong is that it provides a good exercise for the brain. Reason is simple. Table games are fast. You need to make decision on a right time and that decision needs to be right as well.
Prefrontal cortex comes into play for the strategic planning and then the shot actually gets executed with rest of the brain cooperating along the way.
Learn More: How Table Games Can Benefit Your Fitness Routine
Helps Ears
This might sound strange but it also helps keeping the ears in move as well.
Not everyone knows that all of the balance that is done by the body is because of the way ears work. Just because of the movement to and fro, the body learns how to balance even in the critical situations and that alternatively improves a person in adverse situations as well.
Changing positions while playing the shots also keeps the muscles in the move.
Connects Body Parts
Another one of the most negligible but highly applicable advantages of the game of ping pong is that it requires accuracy.
Since you have a very small ground to cover, your shot needs to be right where it should be and that actually helps the eye and the hand work in coordination. This gets better and better with time when the player moves quickly.
Prevents Brain Disease
Why do people suffer from brain disease anyway? That is because of the lack of the sufficient amount of blood reaching and touching the organ.
According to the recent research done in Japan, the researchers have found out that because of the quick sensory and motor responses the game is responsible for giving more blood flow to the brain, this alternatively gives a better chance in avoiding diseases like the Alzheimer’s or even dementia.
Offers a Social Outlet
One more time this might seem like a very small thing but its effects are enormous for the mental health.
As most of the communities have the table tennis available, it helps a lot of people to come closer to each other and learn more about themselves. It can help improve communication and build relationships, irrespective of age.
Once more, the companionship is something that a human nature can always use and the companionship that a person can get from a sport is always appreciated because it helps both of the people learn to give and get and be passionate towards learning and getting better.
Burns Calories
This is something that everyone wants to have and that is important as well. No one would prefer looking obese or out of shape and just to keep the body in shape you need to keep on burning the calories on regular basis.
A 150-pound person can burn 272 calories by playing table tennis for an hour and that is a one interesting and worth consideration statistic.
Thanks to the table tennis; you can also keep that arm in shape and the muscles can pop out to provide more beauty to it.
Additional Reading: How to Lose 2 Pounds a Week
Doesn’t Affect Joints
There are so many games that need lots and lots of effort by the body that can sooner or later effect it from the inside. For example, the joints.
There are many sports that can also bring in some accidents which can affect your health and your well-being. All of this is not a case when it comes to the table tennis.
It doesn’t really hurt but it’s in fact a better way to improve the leg, arm and core strength without overtaxing your joints.
See More: Low Impact Exercises
Sharpens Reflexes
As mentioned earlier, faster the game more the practice for the reflexes and what can possibly get faster and what ball can travel faster with that size?
Obviously, the ping pong ball coming from air to air is going to help you get quick and getting quick is going to strengthen your reflexes and good reflexes are always good in order to be flexible.
This game of rackets and a ball is distinguished by bursts of exertion and recovery, leading to fast-twitch muscle development.
Develops Mental Acuity
Surprised already with the point? Actually its related to the game trying to develops mental acuity. When it is going on the player has to take care of the spin of the ball the impact it will make and also the position and ways to beat the opponent.
This can actually help a person build scenarios in a situation of emergency and that helps everyone in being highly skilled to solve the puzzles and other games that require the brain to be active.
Enhances Mental Alertness
It’s not about putting all of your attention to one sport is going to keep the physical improvements limited to it. These enhancements can be used in the other parts of life as well and having good mental alertness is something that is useful throughout the life.
It helps you learn things, memorize things and even solve tough scenarios very easily and that is exactly what table tennis gives.
Concluding Thoughts – Health Benefits of Playing Ping Pong
Ping pong is a table game of speed, reflexes, and concentration. To play, all you need is a partner, a ping pong table, a ping pong paddle, and a ping pong ball. If you need help choosing your materials to play, this link talks about some of the best balls available, and you can read reviews of the best ping pong paddles.
Playing ping pong is a great way to maintain your health and keep your mind active!
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