If you’re looking to switch-up your usual fitness regime and get away from the gym, badminton can be a fantastic alternative. It provides a heart-racing workout, some great health benefits and can be played socially, as well as competitively.
At Everyone Active, we have sports halls at centres across the country, most of which are kitted out to offer badminton at certain times of the day. To get started, all you’ll need is some trainers and your usual workout gear. You can either hire a badminton racket and shuttlecocks in centre or bring your own.
Benefits of Badminton
Badminton offers a whole host of benefits ranging from increasing life expectancy and mobility to promoting heart health and exercise for all ages and abilities.
Find out more about the benefits of introducing badminton as part of your weekly fitness regime right here:
1. Badminton is a Total Body Workout
While you’re lunging, diving, running and getting your heart pumping, playing a game of badminton can help you burn around 450 calories an hour. The varied movements provide a powerful cardio workout by engaging the entire body, including the hamstrings, quads, calves and your core.
2. Socialising
For adults, we recommend taking 30 minutes of exercise, five times a week. Due to increased home and work life responsibilities, some of us may be guilty of not doing as much physical activity as we should. Badminton is a fun and flexible sport that can be enjoyed around your busy schedule. Our courts are available to hire during the day, in the evenings and on weekends. You can even use your workout as an opportunity to socialise and catch-up with friends and family.
3. Badminton Improves Your Mental Wellbeing
Taking part in any form of regular physical activity helps to release our natural feel good happy hormones, endorphins. In turn, this can help reduce depression, anxiety and stress and improve our overall mood and sleep. Talking to other players and rallying in singles or doubles means that badminton is a social sport. This can be particularly beneficial in combating loneliness among older players.
4. Heart Health
A healthy heart is essential to ensure your body functions correctly and properly. Badminton decreases the levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol, which can block your blood vessels and improves the levels of good cholesterol. This leads to a reduced risk of hypertension (high blood pressure), heart attack and stroke.
5. Badminton Helps Reduce Health Risks
Badminton can reduce the risks of developing type two diabetes as an adult. It reduces the production of sugar in the liver, which in turn reduces the body’s fasting blood sugar.
Whereas for children and young adults, chasing the shuttlecock and moving around the court at a fast pace can aid in developing bone mass and density. This lessens the likelihood of osteoporosis in the future.
6. Increased Life Expectancy
A Danish study carried out on 9,000 people, found that playing a racket-based sport such as badminton can increase your life expectancy by approximately six years. Football can increase life expectancy by more than four years, while cycling, swimming and jogging can each boost life expectancy by over three years.
7. Improved Mobility
As we age, our mobility gradually begins to become more limited. We can prevent this by ensuring we lubricate our joints by keeping up with our fitness regime and remaining active. It also helps to minimise the risk of arthritis and other joint issues.
8. Badminton is a Flexible Exercise
Everyone can enjoy badminton, regardless of your fitness or health. You can choose a more or less intense workout by altering the pace you’re playing at. This is to suit your individual needs and the needs and abilities of the other players.
9. Child Friendly
With kids getting more and more tech savvy, using smart phones, tablets and the TV as forms of entertainment. It can sometimes be difficult to motivate your children to get out and about and take part in physical activity outside of school. By bringing them to a badminton session they’ll be able to learn about the importance of health and fitness and learn new skills. Plus you’ll be able to have a superb time as a whole family.