You may prefer to play singles or perhaps you have a penchant for doubles: Either way, table tennis, otherwise referred to as ping pong, can prove to be a competitive and fast-paced sport.
When it is played at a fast pace, a game of table tennis will burn those calories and help you to get in shape.
What are the benefits – health benefits and other benefits – of playing table tennis? Are there any disadvantages to playing table tennis?
Let’s find out now…
Advantages of Playing Table Tennis
1 Playing table tennis helps you to improve your mental alertness, to sharpen reflexes, and to improve your general concentration.
Playing table tennis helps with hand-eye coordination and with game-playing tactical strategy.
Table tennis is ideal for younger people and for older people alike.
2 Not harsh on the joints
Regardless that you play other sports frequently or you don’t take part in any kind of sport, your body can develop a variety of problems over time.
With table tennis, you can improve your arm, leg and core strength, and yet, there’s rarely any intense pressure placed upon your joints.
3 Calorie burn
If played relatively intensely for around an hour, you can burn around 300 calories by playing table tennis.
Table tennis is an ideal way to lose weight – there’s no slogging it out on the treadmill, no jogging when it’s raining, no injuries incurred by repetitive weight lifting…
4 Reflexes improve
Table tennis helps you to improve fine and gross muscle movement.
Fast twitch muscle fibers develop because of the game’s requirement for fast bursts of exertion and recovery.
5 Playing table tennis helps prevent dementia
In Alzheimer’s Weekly, it has been reported that people that regularly played table tennis enjoyed increases in cognitive awareness and improvements in motor skills.
Preliminary clinical studies that took part in Japan demonstrated that playing table tennis increases the flow of blood to the brain. Furthermore, there are some indications that playing table tennis often could help to prevent dementia.
6 Improvements to balance
If you want to partake in fast-paced table tennis, your body needs to remain balanced and you must have an ability to alter your direction quickly.
7 Table tennis improves coordination
Hand-eye coordination is improved when you play table tennis frequently.
8 Table tennis can stimulate different part of the brain
Strategic planning occurs in the brain when you anticipate your opponent’s shots. This occurs in the brain’s prefrontal cortex.
The hippocampus is stimulated from the game’s physical activity.
9 Social
You may play table tennis at your local sports complex. Perhaps you play in a nearby community center.
Wherever you play, table tennis is a great way to socialize.
Regardless of age, playing table tennis helps with communication skills and in building relationships.
Disadvantages of Playing Table Tennis
There are very few disadvantages to playing table tennis.
While it is not always easy to play table tennis at home, there are few sports that can be played at home.
Further, you do require a table tennis table, a ball and some bats. Again, however, every sport necessitates some equipment.
The couple of disadvantages that I can think of…
1 Blisters
Perhaps you’ll develop some blisters on your batting hand and maybe on your feet.
2 Indoor game
You can rarely play table tennis outdoors because the ball is too light. Hence, an indoor setting is almost always required.
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