The Health Benefits of Bowling

Why spend hours on a treadmill running or walking and getting nowhere? You may build up leg muscles and burn some calories. However, you are not doing anything for your body doing an activity that will bore any sensible person to tears. Did you know that you can do more for your body by simply bowling a few games? With over 100 million bowlers in the world, this is the most popular sport. Not only is it a fun type of recreation, it is also an excellent form of physical fitness. While you may not get a strike in each frame, you still gain healthy benefits just by hitting the legs.

First of all, when you bowl, you are exercising your muscles. This sport is an anaerobic form of exercise. If you are not sure what this is, take a look at people who walk for exercise. Some people carry hand weights while they walk. They are burning calories and building muscle at the same time. You are doing the same thing at the bowling alley. You are building your leg muscles as you approach the foul line. At the same time you are building your arm muscles by holding the bowling ball.

Not only are you building your muscles, you are also stretching them and making them more flexible. When you swing your arm to roll the ball down the lane, you are exercising your tendons, joints and ligaments. If you are a bowler working to improve your score, you also are stretching your leg muscles as you slide with one foot and brake with the other.

Bowling is also a fat burning form of exercise. Every time you walk down the approach lane, you are burning calories. Take the person at the gym. He runs on the treadmill for twenty minutes. Then he lifts weights, doing something like three sets of eighteen repetitions at a variety of machines. He has to alter his workouts, where he has to work on his upper body one day and the lower the next. By the time you bowl three games, you will have a complete body workout. The person at the gym will still be struggling with his repetitions.

One final health benefit is this sport helps builds friendships and relationships. The bowling alley is a great way to meet new people and socialize. When you have a social life, your heart muscles perform better.
Remember that bowling is a physical activity. You still can be injured if you are not careful. Make sure you warm up and cool down before and after you bowl. There is no better way to live a healthy life.