by Gail Isley

Created on: October 18, 2008   Last Updated: October 30, 2008

Exercising with Sports

Participating in a sporting activity such as basketball, swing dancing or even swimming can not only burn a huge number of calories, but can also provide health and social benefits.
To top it off, sports are fun, include a variety of movements and motions and present the opportunity to boost self confidence. If getting motivated to exercise presents a challenge to your daily exercise routine, consider joining a sports team. Let's take a look a few possible sport choices and how you can use them to achieve your exercise goals.

Basketball- Basketball is a fast paced sport and has a number of various twists and turns. It can be played by anyone from the very healthiest person to someone that may be handicapped. Basketball can be practiced indoors or outdoors, by your self or with a group of friends and is a year round sport. Burning 630 to 750 calories per hour this high-speed sport can enhance your endurance, build coordination and muscle and teach self discipline. Basketball has also been proven successful at being an exciting family physical and team building exercise.

Swing Dancing- This form of exercise and social activity is moderate in intensity. Swing dancing is incredibly fun and truly does not have the "exercise" feel to it. Researchers from the Mayo Clinic reported that dancing reduces stress, increases energy, muscle tone and coordination.
Additional researchers from the National Heart and Lung foundation stated that dancing could also lower your risk of heart disease, strengthen leg and hip bones, and decrease blood pressure. An adult weighing 150 pounds can burn and average of 360 calories per hour; a heavier person will burn more.

Swimming- Swimming is perhaps the most enjoyable and relaxing sport of them all. It allows you to just relax and let the water melt away all your worries. Swimming also provides a time for your kids to get away from the TV and video games and still have an enormous amount of fun flopping around in the water with their friends. Swimming is an overall good workout that is easy on your joints. It will further develop your muscular strength and increase your cardiovascular fitness. This year round sport burns and incredible amount of calories. An average person weighing around 150 can easily burn between 600 to 900 calories per hour depending on their level of activity. Although it takes more focus and coordination to swim laps in a pool, jumping around and playing in the water actually burns more calories.
So whether you are running down the court with the net insight or jumping into the pool making a splash; sports is an easy and fun way of maintaining or creating an extraordinary fitness level. Sport playing also adds a variety of exercises to a monotonous gym workout and can be a more self satisfying activity. As an extra bonus, being part of a sporting team usually will cost you less than paying a monthly gym fee.

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