Many teens want to go out for team sports in their school but do not realize how demanding sports can actually be. Many young people look at all the excitement that participating in a sport can bring and are surprised to find out how closely sports and fitness are linked together. There is actually three main aspects to fitness, they are strength, stamina and flexible. When you combine these three aspects with a sport it greatly increases your ability to perform that sport. Let's start with strength fitness. This does not mean that you need to begin a regiment of weight lifting. What it means is that you need to exercise to build and strengthen the muscles needed for the sport you are involved in. For example, if you want to be a football player then you want to strengthen your leg muscles. A basketball player would want to strengthen both their legs and arms. Stamina is very important because without it you will not have the endurance needed to perform at your best through the duration of the game. Even if you do make it through the first couple of games of the season, making it all the way to the last game while still performing at your best is very unlikely. Aerobic exercises are great for helping in this area as it will help to strengthen both your lungs and heart. If aerobics are not an option for you, then you could consider things like riding a bicycle or swimming as they also help to build stamina. Flexibility is extremely important when sports and fitness are linked together. This is because if your body is not flexible then you may be setting yourself up for a major injury. This is something you defiantly need to avoid. You should start with stretching exercises on a regular basic to increase the flexibility in your muscles. Begin slowly and build up, the more flexible your muscles are the easier it will be to perform many of the moves that are required in sports. So before you decide to join an activity in your school, take into consideration just how closely sports and fitness are linked together and be prepared to get in shape. Being fit will increase your performance in any sport you participate in. |
