Is Bowling a Good Exercise? – Health Benefits of Bowling

Bowling, in addition to being an entertaining and competitive sport, has various health benefits. The sport has one of the most extensive and famous histories of any sport, reaching back to Greece and Rome around 4,000 years ago. You are not alone if you enjoy playing the game.

According to The Bowling Foundation, more than a quarter of all Americans bowl each year, making it the nation’s most popular spectator sport. Bowling is now a $4 billion industry in the United States, with almost 3,000 bowling establishments.

How Many Calories Do You Burn Bowling Per Game?

Bowling boosts your metabolism, which might help you lose weight. Depending on the effort put in and the body weight of the bowler, he or she can burn between 150 and 300 calories per hour.

A bowling ball weighs approximately 14 pounds. Each time you walk up to bowl (up to 22 times every game), you are raising a 14-pound weight. When you finish a game, you’ve lifted 14 pounds 22 times!

You wouldn’t think you would be doing a lot of walking back and forth while playing. Surprise! You certainly are. Your body generates cardiovascular endurance as you get up and move from your seat to the ball return machine to the lane line and back.

According to Purdue University’s Convert Activities into Steps website, an average bowler takes about 71 steps per minute when bowling and walking back and forth. Each bowling game lasts around 15 minutes. This equates to 1,065 walking steps in each game.

Which Muscles Do You Use While Bowling?

A Muscles

Bowling requires the use of all main muscular groups, such as the lower back, quads, hamstrings, gluteus, deltoid, and rotator cuff complex. The muscles of the upper limbs that influence grip and finger strength are of particular importance (biceps, forearm, wrist, fingers, and thumb). Therefore, bowling has huge health benefits.

The game necessitates a high level of speed, power, agility, and hand-eye coordination. Large ground reaction pressures operating on the body’s joints, as well as repetitive motions during practice and competition, increases the player’s chance of injury.

Is Bowling Good Exercise for Seniors?

Seniors at bowling arena

Yes, bowling is a great, light form of exercise that burns about 250 calories each hour. The bowler is working on his or her balance and power to avoid collapsing while swinging and throwing a 9-16 pound bowling ball frequently. This full-body exercise effect can assist seniors of all fitness levels, from those who like to cruise around the lane to knock over a few bowling pins to those who want to fiercely throw explosive strikes.

New seniors who have never bowled before, returning seniors, and established senior bowlers who want to deal with their aging bodies and weight loss. Whatever your purpose for hitting the bowling alley, there are things you can do to enhance your experience both while bowling and in the days after.

Good Bowling Form for Seniors

If you haven’t bowled in years, your bowling stance and movement may be out of date and no longer serve your aging body. Standing up straight, gripping your ball at waist level, and facing the pins directly is not the greatest form and you won’t get the main benefits of bowling.

To gain exercise without putting undue strain on your body, particularly for seniors, hold your ball at shoulder level, place your non-ball foot slightly in front of the other, and slant your torso and bowling arm away from the pins so that your arm can comfortably swing past your hip and leg. Tilt your pelvis forward somewhat. Step in front of the other leg as you go forwards, maintaining a straight swing path.

Balance is crucial, thus stepping in front of the other foot and balancing on the front leg (back toe can aid stability) is an excellent practice. This is useful for your first step as well as your ultimate release, where you want to end in a balanced position with your rear foot crossing behind or toe down behind. Slow down your release if you’re feeling shaky. Again, you want to get the benefits of bowling, not injure yourself.

Fitness Benefits of Bowling

Muscle Toning and Strengthening When Using a Bowling Ball

Because you’re going about with the added weight of a bowling ball in your arms, one of the benefits of bowling is lower-body muscle activity. Furthermore, the extending and bending that occurs when swinging your arm to throw the bowling ball provides adequate training for the tendons, ligaments, muscles, and joints in your arms.

Improve Your Social Life

According to The Bowling Foundation, about 2 million bowlers mingle and bowl together in leagues throughout America each week. Bowling leagues and groups allow you to meet new people and reconnect with old ones. Bringing family and friends to your bowling clubs and teams can reduce stress and sadness in the seniors and provide them with health benefits. Social interactions based on common interests can help people live longer lives, and this is one of the fun benefits of bowling.

Weight Loss

Bowling helps you lose weight by increasing your metabolism. Despite the fact that the game is limited to a small space, your frequent movement while playing aids in the burning of excess fat, plus you do a lot of walking.  An adult weighing  200-pounds can burn up to 275 calories per hour while bowling.

Reduce Risk of Diseases

According to WebMD, one of the greatest risk factors for heart disease is an unhealthy lifestyle. Bowling provides health benefits, like other forms of exercise, lowers your risk of having a stroke, heart attack, and diabetes, enhances bone mass, improves circulation, lowers cholesterol levels and blood pressure, and optimizes your body’s utilization of oxygen.

Healthy Heart

The relationships with family and friends that are formed while participating in a bowling game aids in the health benefits of your heart muscles. Additionally, the adrenaline released during a game raises your heart rate. Bowling, as a result, increases heart health.

Stress Relief

Do you want a stress-relieving game? Bowling allows us to release daily tension by engaging in physical activity. Interacting with other players during the game also serves as a way to relax.

Hand-eye Coordination

Throwing the bowling ball and striking the pins necessitates a high level of hand-eye coordination. This level of attention increases mental alertness, concentration, and tactical strategy. Hand-eye coordination is required for bowling since it allows you to maintain accuracy.

Bowling is thus the ideal game for young people to develop their motor skills, mental alertness, and hand-eye coordination.

Promotes Muscular Growth of Your Body

Any bowling game is a type of anaerobic activity that stimulates muscle building. When you get close to the foul line during the game, you work on your leg muscles. Holding the bowling ball in your hand helps to improve arm muscles.

Balance

Each time you throw a bowling ball, you improve your balance. Your body would have to readjust to counteract the weight of the bowling ball as long as you maintain appropriate form. Balance, like your footwork as you toss, is an important aspect of your bowling technique. This is another talent that might help you thrive in other sports as well.

Is Bowling an Aerobic Activity?

A woman

While participation in bowling can provide some physical benefits, it is usually always an anaerobic sport. Bowling does not normally raise your heart rate for long enough to be classified as an aerobic activity. It requires standing stationary, bending your back, and flexing your arms, but not enough strenuous activity to be deemed aerobic. I think that it is just the right amount of activity to provide you with various health benefits.

Does Bowling Even Qualify as Exercise?

It qualifies as an exercise for some people, even if it is on the lower end of the range. There is scientific evidence that it takes a particular number of calories to raise a bowling ball and then set up your swings to knock down pins.

This activity does not burn many calories, but it is preferable to sitting on the sofa and looking at the television for long hours. At the very least, while you bowl, you are doing something.

The truth is that this exercise can be very beneficial for those who want to get out and do something active but lack the energy or endurance to engage in more intense physical activities such as running, gymnastics, or other sorts of strenuous exercise.

If you are one of these people, bowling may be a fantastic way for you to preserve your mobility without pushing it. One of several reasons why it performs so well in this manner is that you can take a seat in between turns.

This is particularly useful for anyone who has difficulty standing for lengthy periods or who suffers from back or lower extremity pain.

Fitness and Bowling

Bowling is a terrific way to socialize while still getting a decent calorie burn anywhere. On the outside, bowling may not appear to be a workout, but in the end, you would be working on muscles and tendons that would not receive a decent workout if you did not bowl.

This game has various health benefits, instead of sitting at home all day, you should meet up with your friends at the bowling alley. So get out there, enjoy yourself, and lose some calories!