Baseball is one of the most popular sports in the world and a great amusement for many sports lovers across the world. The fact that it is a popular sport probably that won’t surprise you, but you might be amazed to see the physical benefits of baseball.
When you are playing baseball, throwing and catching the ball and holding and swinging a baseball bat is the order of the day. These actions require the use of the entire upper body; therefore, a lot of physical benefits will be seen on the upper body. And, of course, running will offer you benefits on your lower body.
As we enjoy playing and watching baseball, here are physical benefits of playing baseball.
- Builds strong arms
Well, this is pretty obvious. Baseball consists of throwing and catching the ball as well as swinging and holding a baseball bat. These actions require strength from the shoulders, biceps, triceps, and chest muscles. Playing the game regularly will indeed make your arms strong.
- Improves hand-eye coordination
A baseball circumference is between 73-76mm. That’s a small size, right? That being the case, catching a baseball that’s travelling through the air quickly will require a ton of hand-eye coordination. Moreover, hand-eye coordination is also essential when making contact and hitting the ball out. Performing both actions successfully will give you a big boost in your hand-eye coordination.
- Builds strong legs
From squatting and running round the field, your legs muscles legs like glutes, muscles, and hamstrings are made to be strong. Additionally, the short spurts of running from base to base also has a great impact on the physical health of your legs.
- Reduces the chance of contracting cardiovascular diseases
Cardiovascular diseases have become common in this recent days. Living a lazy life whereby you don’t indulge yourself in exercises, then it’s more likely for you to get attacked by these diseases. By running around the field and chasing the baseball, then you’re already doing cardio exercises. Children getting involved with baseball from an early age are at a low risk of getting attacked by cardiovascular diseases.
- Improves joint flexibility
Apart from yoga, playing baseball regularly helps to improve the flexibility of your joints. When you’re playing baseball, you’ll go through different movements such as chasing down the ball with big steps, instant movement, and dive catches. These activities will require you to extend your body parts to a great extent. Therefore, your joints become more flexible.
- Overall fitness
According to a report done by Sports Fitness Advisor, a baseball player tends to have a body with a fat percentage of between 8 and 9. On top of that, one can run 60 yards in less than seven seconds. Yes, seven seconds. You too can become this fit. If you weigh around 160 pounds and start playing baseball, you can burn up to 360 calories in an hour of playing baseball.
Baseball is a great stress reliever and improves on your mental health. Try playing it and get these physical benefits today!
