Tennis is a great indoor and outdoor sport.  But now that spring is here to stay, it is a great activity to play outside.  You can enjoy the beautiful weather while getting a great work out in for your day.  When playing singles or doubles, tennis is a great social activity to get involved in.  You can call a buddy or 3 to hit with, join a team, or find a place/coach to take lessons from.  This is a sport that you can continue playing as an older adult.

Tennis is a great sport for all ages. It is a fun heart pumping cardio activity that involved strength, power, and endurance from the legs, core, arms, and cardio respiratory system.   This sport involves agility and coordination (hand eye coordination) to help you time and get to the ball. 

I decided to write a post about tennis because the weather today was perfect for playing outside.  I met up with a friend today to hit around and play a game.  I was glad I did so.  I got a great work out in, had a fun time, and really enjoyed the perfect weather. 

I worked up a sweat and really worked my muscles while running around the court.  It was great to get back into the game.

I was introduced to the sport when I was about 7 years old and played until college. During high school I started off playing doubles and then moved to singles.  I always had a great time with the girls on my high school team as well as the friends I made in clinics I took.  I don’t play as often, but when I do - it’s always fun.

When playing tennis, the entire body is involved.  Your legs, your core, your shoulders, and your arms.  This sport focuses on the strength, power, and endurance of all your muscles involved.

Legs:  This is where most of your power comes from.  When setting up for a shot, you have to be squatting “sitting” before and as you hit the ball.  The lower you sit, the more power is transferred to the ball.  Also you need to use your legs to shuffle and run around the court.

-       Gastrocnemius and Soleus are the muscles that deal with your explosive 
         movements in your calves.
-       Hamstrings are involved in knee flexion.
-       Quadriceps are involved in knee extension.
-       Gluteus Maximus is involved in hip extension and adduction. (When 
         Shuffling and running)
-       Gluteus Medius is involved with hip abduction. (When shuffling) 

Core: Your back and abdominal muscles are very important in this sport for balance, support, and power as well.  The more you turn for a shot, the more power you can transfer into the ball.

-       Rectus Abdominus is involved in spinal flexion – but acts as a stabilizer 
        as the body remains straight.
-       Obliques deal with flexion and rotation.  There is a lot of rotation involved
         in the sport, so the obliques are worked a lot through out the game.
-       Erector Spinae involved in extension and rotation.

Upper Extremity: You are dealing with muscles that are involved in circumduction of the shoulder and use a lot of push movements.

-       Pecoralis Major  is the chest muscle that allows you to push your arm 
        forward through the action of your forehand and backhand.  The muscle 
        actions that is involved is shoulder extension and internal rotation.
-       Deltoids  There are 3 heads of the deltoids.  The anterior, middle, and 
        posterior deltoid.  All three are involved in this sport.  When setting up for a
        shot, the posterior deltoid helps bring the arm backwards, and when
        extending the arm it is the anterior head that is involved.  The middle
        deltoid is involved in a serve and overhead shot.
-       Triceps are involved in elbow extension.  This happens during a serve, 
        forehand, and backhand shot, because the actions require the arms to be 
        straight.
-       Pronator Teres is involved in forearm pronation, which is important on 
        your forehand and backhand. 

This past weekend my boyfriend took me ice skating.  We went to an indoor skating rink around Cherry Hill, NJ and had a great time.  There were so many people out that day, and you could tell that everyone was having fun.  As we were skating around the rink, there were a few figure skaters taking lessons in the middle of everyone.

Watching these individuals, I realized how amazing this sport is.  I can only do the basics when it comes to skating (Skating forward, with no fancy tricks.)  Watching these athletes skate backwards, spin, do leaps, and skate on one leg, had me in awe.  The amount of time it took for them to practice their moves, the amount of core and leg strength they have, and their flexibility is impressive.  There were young kids, I would say around the age of 7, showing us up as well while we skated in circles around the rink. I wasn't mad though, just astonished by the talent these people had.

Ice Skating is a really fun activity to do with close friends.  It’s something different, and a great winter activity to get you off the couch and moving.  If you’ve never been before, I would suggest trying it out.  You don’t need to be a figure skater to go out and enjoy time on the ice. 

If you are like me and are not a figure skater, don't worry, we are still putting our bodies through work while we skate around in circles. The main muscles that are working during ice skating are the core and lower extremity muscles.

With the core muscles, we have our abs and back muscles being strengthened as we keep ourselves up and balance.

With the lower extremity muscles, we are working our quads and thighs the same way as we would when walking (these muscles are used during knee flexion and extension.)  Our calf muscles (specifically the gastrocnemius) is working as we push through the glide for an explosive movement forward.

[If you are standing properly on your skates (avoiding ankle inversion and/or eversion) you are also strengthening the muscles around the ankle joint whiling maintaining balance.]