Many years ago, when we didn’t bother with calorie counts, ate every thing, and didn’t crash diet, we used to play sports for fun. There was no concept of clocking in endless, boring gym hours into a bottomless pit called weight control. We played. For fun. For most of us today, sports like tennis, badminton, squash, football, cricket – yes even cricket, are a part of distant school memories. Hockey too. Here’s looking at why we should not only stop boring everyone to tears with endless recounts of ‘that super goal in high school,’ but also how much we stand to gain by going back to the sports we enjoyed as kids.
Whether it’s quick weight loss, mental and physical agility, muscle tone, cardiovascular, or just plain and simple entertainment – sports always scores over gym and aerobic routines. Here’s a quick look at how many calories you burn per sporting activity:
(A quick reminder – The heavier you are, the more calories you’ll burn. So a person weighing 90kilos will burn almost twice the calories with the same activity, in the same time, as someone weighing 50 kilos.)
Whether it’s quick weight loss, mental and physical agility, muscle tone, cardiovascular, or just plain and simple entertainment – sports always scores over gym and aerobic routines. Here’s a quick look at how many calories you burn per sporting activity:
(A quick reminder – The heavier you are, the more calories you’ll burn. So a person weighing 90kilos will burn almost twice the calories with the same activity, in the same time, as someone weighing 50 kilos.)
Sport
|
54 – 59 Kgs
|
60 – 64 Kgs
|
65 – 74 Kgs
|
75 – 84 Kgs
|
85 – 94 Kgs
|
Badminton
|
305
|
380
|
435
|
490
|
550
|
Basketball
|
370
|
490
|
570
|
670
|
760
|
Bowling
|
110
|
170
|
220
|
250
|
290
|
Boxing
|
420
|
550
|
650
|
750
|
860
|
Cricket
|
270
|
310
|
350
|
400
|
460
|
Football
|
420
|
550
|
650
|
760
|
860
|
Frisbee
|
120
|
200
|
240
|
290
|
330
|
Golf
|
120
|
210
|
252
|
294
|
336
|
Hiking
|
360
|
360
|
430
|
500
|
580
|
Kayaking
|
367
|
580
|
660
|
760
|
850
|
Martial Art
|
580
|
670
|
770
|
605
|
672
|
Squash
|
660
|
768
|
850
|
940
|
1020
|
Tennis
|
440
|
510
|
585
|
660
|
730
|
Volleyball
|
230
|
269
|
310
|
265
|
390
|
I can sense the excuses building up – I don’t have access to a tennis court, there’s no time to play a full round of golf, I work round the clock, I live in Delhi – where the hell do I go to kayak, etc etc. Let’s play some simple odds here. There are 14 sports listed above. Unless you live in the tribal part of the Andamans, you absolutely have to have access to at least one of these sporting activities. Cut your time in front of the TV or at coffee shops, and you get a few extra hours as well. Can’t get the sport you played in school? Learn a new one. Make the odds work for you. Play a sport, lose that gut, and enjoy your weekend.
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