The Multiple Health Benefits of Tennis

Tennis affords an opportunity to augment your fitness routine while bouncing your fitness level upwards. Changing the activities you participate in a few times a week can help in not only improving your health but also your skill level in sports.  Tennis is a well rounded sport that does much of the same thing as sprinting and coordination exercises but is much more fun.

I’m an advocate of using multiple sports and activities to improve health. Engaging exclusively in a single sport will use the same muscles repetitively can cause an injury. When a change in the activity occurs there is also a change in the type of muscles used, the skills learned, and ultimately the fitness level. Change produces healthy stress on the body and requires an adjustment in fitness to master that stress.

Tennis is a greater overall fitness sport that provides multiple benefits to health. According to Doctor Ralph Paffenbarger those who engage in tennis at least 3 times a week reduce their risk of death from nearly any cause by half (based on 10,000 people over 20 years)(1).  Tennis not only improves your health but also generates connections between nerves in the brain and therefore also promotes mental health (2).

If you’re seeking to lose weight tennis is a great sport for doing this with as much as 272 calories being burned in a half hour (3).  This puts tennis on the same level as swimming, sprinting, jogging, mountain climbing, biking, and other heavily involved cardiovascular activities. The greatest aspect of tennis is that it also encourages interest in fitness through healthy social engagement.

Tennis Maps is one way to help you find the type of tennis court you are looking for. They break their map into public/private access, backboard, lighting, center and indoor/outdoor.  This will help you find the right tennis court near your neighborhood for easy access and playing. Each of the locations can be clicked for a satellite map and additional information. 

Tennis Maps for San Diego

Kenpo as an Augmentation For Fitness-Introducing Kimono Grab

Kenpo is a sport that focuses on self-defense and is a great activity to augment a fitness program. It provides coordination, strength, flexibility, and self-defense. You may notice that all movements start with someone attacking while providing defensive positions.  Few are designed as an attack. The very nature of the sport is self-defense and an expressive art form of human body movement.  Kenpo practice helps create coordination of movement that balances growth in muscle and strength.

In Kimono Grab there are the traditional moves and the modified moves. Most people who engage in the sport focus only on the traditional moves. The traditional method is taught in most classes and strictly follow the founder’s approaches. The modified versions have great benefit for learning how to change sequences based on the events that are occurring in the engagement. 

For example, if an opponent attacks you and you are able to initiate the first movement in the sequence but fail to make the second one you are unlikely to adjust fast enough to keep momentum. Learning other methods and movements allows for quick adjustments to missed attempts to keep the fluidity of motion into more successful sequences.

Kimono Grab is designed to protect you when someone uses their arms and their body weight to gain control. Instead of fighting the momentum stepping backwards allows the opportunity to use that momentum to your advantage. It also has a secondary benefit of putting your opponent off balance which allows a regaining of control. One-on-one sports thrive off of maintaining leading momentum. 

Traditional Kimono Grab (Opponent Grabs Both Lapels):

-Step back with left foot.

-Reach over right arm to grab left wrist.

-Use right forearm to hit upward against elbows.

-Swing over the top of arms with right forearm and hit both arms to break the hold.

-Use the right hand to chop the neck (Can be modified with left hand).
-Right elbow to temple.

-Twist to left and deliver hammerfist to groin.

-Use back kick to sternum to create distance between you and the opponent. 

Modified Kimono Grab A (Opponent Grabs Both Lapels): 

-In single motion pin opponents right wrist with your left hand as you step back with your left foot and use an extended outward block to release opponent’s left hand from the lapel.

-Right handed raking hammer punch to opponent’s right arm radial nerve (Opponents right arm is still hanging onto your left lapel).

-Back knuckle strike to right temple and recoil. The left hand should free for soft block on right hand recoil. 

The video can help in the learning technique and sequencing.

Tips for Healthy and Safe Jogging

Jogging is one of the cheapest exercises one can engage in and provides an outlet for the outdoors. It has high aerobic potential and can be conducted in most locations. As a high cardiovascular sport it will reduce fat, improve blood flow, strengthen muscles, and develop the heart. There are precautions and tips that will help in the process.

Buy the Right Shoes: Purchase authentic jogging shoes. Standard tennis shoes are not designed for repetitive impact and can lead to injury and body stress. With standard jogging routines you may need to replace these shoes every 6-12 months depending on the level of activity.

Stretch: Stretching both before and after a jog will ensure that you are keeping your muscles pliable. It will help reduce potential injury from either over jogging or tripping over an object. Elongating muscles from stretching is beneficial for most sports.

Start Slow: It isn’t wise to start running at break neck speeds without first conditioning. This conditioning process occurs over a few months of consistent jogging. The general rule is that beginners should be able to communicate and talk with someone while starting their jogging routines.

Develop a Routine: As jogging takes time to create a habit and develop the body for more rigorous exercise it is important to start a routine. Generally, three days a week for a half hour is sufficient to get one started. This allows the body 48 hours to rest. Slowly pick up the distance and pace over time.

Adjust Food Intake: One must eat less calories than they take in. As you increase the amount of calories you burn you should also reduce 10% the amount of calories you consume to produce weight loss. When you obtain your proper weight eat the amount of calories you burn each day.

Kenpo as a Self-Defense and Fitness Sport

Kenpo is a street technique and self-defense sport. It has a number of benefits that include self-defense, agility, speed, and fitness. A healthy lifestyle includes being well rounded in a number of areas. This includes intellectual activities, artistic creation, spiritual engagement, sports, social engagement, civic engagement, and general fitness. This helps in fostering well rounded ability and perspective. 

We sometimes think that such things are for the very young but we cannot stop there. What we teach the youth is also important throughout our lives and helps us find a balance. We know that many people have a hard time staying committed to workout routines. There is some stress for people who have to go to the gym and find that exercise is boring. By incorporating various sporting activities you can engage in cross training.

The background of the sport is beneficial to understand. Kenpo was popularized by Ed Parker from Hawaii in the 1960-70’s. He adjusted the system from more ancient methods that date back a few hundred years.  It is believed that a Chinese monk brought the style to a Japanese monastery around the 15^th century. From there it has been adjusted and changed for Americans.  Modern practice is street oriented. 

The system seeks to create the fewest moves possible for defense. It is designed not to waste energy or motion and allow one to flee a difficult situation while immobilizing the opponent. I have engaged in the sport for some time and have learned that personality mixed with training is important. This is a sport for pure self-defense and fitness and should not be engaged by those who seek to intimidate others. 

Even though the video does show the basic moves it is first beneficial to understand the fundamental stances, blocks, and movements. Knowing the basics helps one to build the proper sequences that lead to flawless execution. If the basics are off then the rest of the sequences are likely to be misaligned creating a level of weakness in practice. Once incorporated into a poor habit it can be difficult to change.

The very first earned belt you will receive will be the yellow belt. You can get a feel for the sport in the video.