Benefits Of Lacrosse
Lacrosse has been played in America since as early as the 17th Century. It’s one of the best-loved sports, and there’s a good reason why. It mixes the physicality of football and hockey with the tactical depth of soccer and basketball. Some people think it’s the perfect sport, but we’ll leave that one up to you. What we do know is that there are some awesome reasons to play sport. In this article, we’ve selected 10 benefits of playing lacrosse.
1. Counts As High-Intensity Interval Training
If you’re into fitness, you’ll know about high-intensity interval training (HIIT). It’s one of the most popular ways to get into shape these days, and pretty much every personal trainer recommends it. The good news is that lacrosse counts as HIIT. Because of the way the sport is played, you have to move around in short intense bursts and then slow down again. In basic terms, the reason that it’s so effective is that it raises your metabolic rate for around 24 hours after the exercise, which means you’ll burn fat easier.
2. Improves Your Teamwork Skills
Whatever you do in life, at some point you’ll probably have to operate in a team. Some people find this easier than others, but it never hurts to work on your skills. And lacrosse is one of the best sports to do it. There are four different types of lacrosse and each operates with a different number of players. But one thing is always the same – every different player has a job to do. You have to do your job correctly and make it easier for your teammates to do theirs.
3. It’s A Full Body Workout
You might have overheard gym-junkies telling each other ‘not to skip leg day’. That’s because they try to exercise different muscle groups on different days so they don’t get tired out. But if you’re not trying to look like Arnie, it’s better to do a full-body workout a couple of times a week. Lacrosse is one of the best full-body workouts there is. It works the legs because you’re running around. It works the arms and shoulders because you’re carrying a lacrosse stick. And it works your core because you’re moving your whole body.
4. Burns Calories
Any type of exercise burns calories. In fact, just living your day to day life will burn calories. But sitting around won’t burn enough to stop you from getting fat. Of course, everyone burns calories at different rates, but you could burn a few hundred calories in just half an hour playing the sport. That means, if you mix playing lacrosse with a healthy diet, you could start shedding the fat away and become shredded in no time – without ever having to set foot in a gym.
5. Boosts Your Cardiovascular Endurance
Another awesome benefit is that lacrosse boosts your cardiovascular endurance. That basically means that every time you play lacrosse, you’re going to feel fitter and be able to play for longer. At least, that is, if you play regularly. This is true of any exercise that involves raising your heart rate and maintaining it. If you want to really increase your cardiovascular endurance, you should mix it up by doing some swimming, jogging, or cycling.
6. Improves Your Strategic Thinking
Strategic thinking is another one of those key skills that will come in handy in all aspects of your life, especially at work. But when do we learn it? It’s certainly not a class taught in many schools. That’s why team sports are one of the best places to learn about strategic thinking. Lacrosse is a great example because you have to work out how to get the ball into the opponent’s net without them taking it off you. Players can create runs to distract their opponents and make space for their teammates to score. Plus, you can use the other team’s weakness to your advantage. By playing a sport like lacrosse, you’ll be improving your strategic thinking without even realizing it.
7. Work On Your Discipline
Discipline is important in life. Whether that’s the discipline needed to get up in the morning or the discipline not to break the law, without discipline it’d be difficult to live a normal life. And one of the first places we learn about discipline is playing competitive sports. It comes into all aspects of sports. For example, you need to listen to your coach, play by the rules, respect the referee, and give 100% at all times. These skills and character traits will then make their way into your day-to-day life.
8. Make Friends
This is an often-overlooked benefit of playing team sports. Sure, you get to build your character and improve your fitness, but meeting like-minded people is one of the main reasons that people enjoy sports. The camaraderie of winning and losing together is a great way of making long-lasting friendships. It’s no coincidence that lots of sports stars are best friends with their teammates.
9. Great For Mental Health
Mental health is talked about a lot more than it used to be. And because of that, we know a lot more about how to improve it. Whether you struggle with mental health issues or not, exercise and teams’ sports are fantastic for making you feel better. The exercise part of lacrosse releases endorphins in your brain, which are basically like feel-good stimulants for your brain. And, the team effort part makes you feel like you’re part of a community, which is also really important.
10. Improves Balance & Coordination
We learn most of our balance and coordination when we’re really young, but you can actually continue to improve it. The main part of lacrosse that helps work on your coordination is catching and throwing the ball. This is the main part of the sport and requires a lot of hand-eye coordination. You also need to make sure you avoid getting hit with the ball. But no matter how good you get at dodging the ball, you’ll still need to wear your lacrosse helmet.
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