Your first name doesn’t need to be Serena, Roger, Maria or Novak to reap the rewards of playing tennis. Anyone can pick up a racquet, whack a few balls and get in great shape in the process.
“This demanding sport helps you build core strength to hit the ball, agility and speed to cover the court and endurance to do it all point after point,” says Declan Condron, HealthiNation’s resident exercise physiologist and co-founder of PumpOne. Sending a screaming neon ball over the net won’t just get you fit, it may improve your bone health, too.
“Weight-bearing exercises, like tennis, force you to work against gravity, which in turn promotes strong bones and reduces the risk of developing osteoporosis,” Condron says.
To give your game – and your health – a home-court advantage, add Condron’s three conditioning exercises to your workout plan once or twice a week. Need a little inspiration? Perform these moves in your living room while watching the U.S. Open Tennis Championships on TV (click here for the complete schedule). The prestigious two-week event kicked off on Monday, August 27th, and will run through September 9th.
