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Tennis, Anyone?
A Fun, Fit Sport for Life
By Melissa Granberry
Where can you get a great workout, improve your balance and coordination and gab with your friends, all while wearing a cute miniskirt? The tennis courts, of course!
On most weekdays, Ann Bastian, of Houston, Texas, works out at a local gym, lifting weights or running on the treadmill. When her friend, Rhett Ross, signed her up for a tennis class, Bastian was unsure about the amount of exercise she would receive from the lesson. "But I've found that it's a good workout," Bastian says. Add the social and competitive aspects of the game, and Bastian finds that tennis has become an important part of her weekly exercise routine.
"Tennis is different from other types of workouts," says Ross, also from Houston, Texas. "It uses all of your muscles, your legs, arms and heart." If you are concentrating on your "six-pack" for swimsuit season, tennis can provide a great workout for your abs and waist.
Tennis also is a great way to improve your balance and reflexes, two important components of a healthy body as you age. "The workout in tennis is different in that it works my reflexes better than anything else I do," says Jennifer Green, who plays tennis three to four times a week in Dallas, Texas. "Tennis forces me to maneuver in quick spurts, and this helps build some leg muscles that allow me to react quicker."
But what if you are not in "tip-top" shape? "Someone who is just starting to workout can take up tennis by playing doubles," says Dr. Susan Lewis, co-director of the Center for Sports Medicine at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco, Calif. "Once your fitness level increases, you can advance to playing singles, which provides more of an aerobic workout."