Sports were part of the school curriculum, but in India they never receive due credit from teachers and parents alike.
We played sports, fell down, injured ourselves and went on to become
doctors and architects. Eventually, age creeps in as well as fat, we hit
the gym but that's not fun and motivating enough. Well you can always
get your gang back together and shoot some hoops, a goal, or hit a six.
It will help you de-stress, keep you alert, and on your feet, and also
help you shed weight. In short, you will improve your overall fitness.
Here is what you may have not known about sports and how they can help
you.
Lose it: Whether it's quick weight loss,
mental and physical agility, muscle tone, cardiovascular, or just plain
and simple entertainment - sports always scores over gym and aerobic
routines. Here's a quick look at how many calories you burn per sporting
activity:
Badminton: 305
Basketball: 370
Cricket: 270
Football: 420
Frisbee: 120
Martial Art: 580
Squash: 660
Tennis: 440
Volleyball: 230
(A quick reminder - The heavier you are, the more calories you'll burn.
So a person weighing 90kilos will burn almost twice the calories with
the same activity, in the same time, as someone weighing 50 kilos.)
Avoid sport injury: The
most common sports injuries are strains and sprains. Sprains are
injuries to ligaments, the tough bands connecting bones in a joint.
Suddenly stretching ligaments past their limits deforms or tears them.
Strains are injuries to muscle fibers or tendons, which anchor muscles
to bones. Strains are called "pulled muscles" because over-stretching or
overusing a muscle causes tears in the muscle fibers or tendons.
You too can consult a sport medical doctor: It
is a myth that sports medical doctors are only meant for professional
athletes when they suffer from severe injury on or off the field and are
looking for speedy recovery. Sports doctors are meant for people like
us as well, since their field deals with the human body's challenges,
nutrition and well-being with respect to any sporting activity, whether
light or heavy.
Water versus sport drink: During
exercise or sports activities a lot of sweating takes place to maintain
the body's core temperature. This leads to loss of body's fluid and
electrolytes and if not controlled can lead to dehydration. Also the
body's carbohydrate stores are depleted during exercise.
Plain
water can replenish the fluid lost during exercise but not the
electrolytes and the carbohydrates. It also gives a feeling of fullness
and increases urine output. Sports drinks do not hydrate better than
water, but provide carbohydrates and electrolytes which are lost during
the exercise session. They can be consumed in larger quantities as
compared to water because of their sweet taste.
It is advisable
to take sports drinks (natural or packaged) immediately before, during
and after the exercise session or the sports events, if you are involved
in high intensity training. But otherwise water is a better source of
hydration taken on a regular basis for the average gym-goer.
For Women only: Bra
basics. The importance of wearing a well fitting sports bra is quite
under-rated. While exercising you might just think that exercising right
should be high on your agenda, without giving much thought to the kind
of clothes you might be wearing. However, wearing the right sports bra
is quite important for women, because a good sports bra offers optimum
support while adding to physical ease and comfort - two ingredients that
no workout can ever be fun without.