Marco Bitran: Tennis For Fitness

By Shem Ouma

The flab around your waistline makes you so much conscious about your looks while dressing for a party.

You feel out of breath when you go for the stairs instead of the elevator. It's difficult for you to keep pace with your young toddler while taking him to his school; you soon start panting. You don't feel motivated running on a treadmill in the comfort of your home. Binging is your hobby and something you can never forgo. And you envy your neighbor's chiseled athletic body. You have tried everything; you feel enthusiastic at the beginning but all your gusto and motivation turn bland with time. You might be feeling a sense of ennui in doing something with a vague purpose of being fit and that too you're not sure if that would work. The end product is despair.

For all those fitness admirers who are victims of lack of motivation, 'cardio tennis' is a new hope. A one of its kind regime, it offers all the goodies of fitness in the way haute cuisine offers exquisite delicacies to a gourmet. A sport with a fun value as much high as its value in fitness, it serves as a complete package for aspiring fitness freaks. It comprises of a variety of engaging activities which are all devised for one purpose-keeping you fit and agile.

Color Blind

This is a warm up activity which urges your nervous system to respond quickly. Two color balls are thrown towards you and the deliverer says aloud a color he wants you to pick first without a bounce and then the other after it bounces once.

Invasion

This utterly enjoyable activity which is done without the help of racquets or balls gets you warmed up before you know. Invading the other team's service box, trying to tag one of them without being tagged yourself, you have to escape. It is fun and you use wit too at the same time while escaping.

Spanish Drill

This calorie burning drill will have you sprinting in a figure eight formation. Fast-paced and challenging, this drill is sure to take a toll on the pouches of fat.

Red Rover

A high-energy tennis-based cardio, it puts your forehand and net skills to test. Sprinting across the baseline to retrieve a running forehand, you have to try passing a shot or a lob to win a point for your team.

Triples

Competitive spirit at its peak can be experienced with three versus three all court play-based activity. Both the teams face each other on opposite ends in a triangular formation, rotating positions after each point ends.

This is really engaging and gets you hooked.

Noodle Whacking

A warm up activity where you tap others with a soft foam pool noodles below their knees. It calls you out for being a sport and sets your heart pumping as well

The focus is on burning more calories than you consume in a fun and engaging way. It employs innovative ways to make you lose flab and keep fit. Like the heart rate monitor being used for tracking the progress of a player and this simultaneously enables the coaches to manage the group according to different fitness level.

For the purpose of making workout more effective music tracks have been made an essential part of the game as it's been proven that people work 33 percent harder with a 15 percent increase in their endurance if they train with music.

Taking out best fun parts from the game and integrating them with cardio practices is what cardio tennis is all about. Those under-motivated fitness lovers can cling to it if they wish to sport that sexy look oozing with confidence not to forget the new socializing platform you'll be getting when playing with others.

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Marco Bitran: Advantages of Playing Tennis

By Francesca Mercedes Fanchin

When choosing a sport to play, tennis should be your top choice. Tennis can help you stay in shape, improve your mentality in life situations, as well as giving you a better chance at finding a good job. Knowing how to play has been known to improve the lives of families and children because it teaches them how to incorporate tennis into education and health. This sport has been recognized as being a "sport for a lifetime" because it can be picked up by anyone at any age as well as it not being to hard on your body.

The effects that tennis has on your body can range from getting fit to even fighting diseases and strengthening your immune system. It enhances your aerobic fitness by being able to burn fat and improving your cardio fitness and being able to withstand a high level of energy for a long period of time. As well as increasing your anaerobic fitness by increasing short and intense bursts of movement during a point followed by a short rest which allows the muscles to use oxygen efficiently. Tennis also helps you have a powerful first step in order to be able to anticipate have quick reactions in order to get to the ball and helps you have good speed and coordination. There is a more prominent strength in your bones which prevents osteoporosis. It also promotes healthier habits due to having more of an impact on nutritional values because it requires you to have more appropriate meals before and after playing to have proper recovery for the next time you play.

Tennis burns calories, keeps your body strong, and encourages an active lifestyle.

The mental aspect of tennis has you develop discipline, work ethic, control stress, and plan as well as implementing strategies. It develops athletes to have positive personality characteristics and creates a higher self-esteem and optimism which fights against: depression, anger, confusion, anxiety and tension. When playing tennis, you forget the world and nothing matters; the fact that you release tension every time you strike the ball is an invigorating feeling. When fighting off your opponent there comes a time where you are nervous or scared and this is the time in which you must shut down that negative voice and embrace your confident self. The sport also teaches you how to behave towards others and have respect your opponent no mater if you won or lost the match. These psychological reasons help you become a better person and learn how to deal with pressure and anxiety. All in all one must have fun and all of these mental setbacks will seem far away.

There are many employers who more often than not hire tennis players over any other athletic players.

Employers seek candidates with top qualities, in which tennis players posses. Tennis players are trained to solve problems quickly because during a point you must make a decision in a split second in order to win the point successfully. When faced against a difficult opponent, even a tough problem you must be able to think on their feet to find alternative solutions. Bosses wants to hire someone who is a hard worker, self-motivated, and passionate. These are the three most important characteristics that a tennis player has because this is one of the few sports that is not part of a team. One plays alone and faces all of these difficult challenges on their own. There is a need to be disciplined on court and off because at the end of the day it all comes down to how badly you want it and what you are willing to put on the line to make your dream a reality.

Tennis is an amazing sport which can bring many benefits to both your health and mental/emotional growth. It is never too late to learn how to play, what you learn with this sport will help you throughout your lifetime.