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Mills Jordan

Coach Williams

Physical Education

8 February 2018

The Exercise Benefits of Basketball

Basketball is a great sport for strengthening muscles found in your legs, arms, and core.

First, muscles such as the quadricep and hamstring are used constantly in basketball while a

player is running up and down the court. Additionally, the calf muscle is essential to a high

vertical jump, a skill very necessary for rebounding and shooting. Next, having toned arm

muscles such as the biceps and triceps is very important to be able to pass and shoot the ball

from distance. Also, in basketball strong deltoid muscles allow the offensive player to protect the

ball from defenders when dribbling or rebounding. Lastly, the core muscles such as latissimus

dorsi and abdominus rectus aid players in keeping their balance and maintaining the defensive

stance. Evidently, basketball is a great sport for someone desiring well-rounded muscle usage

because basketball utilizes most of the main muscles of the body.

Basketball is not only beneficial to those desiring strong muscles, but it also benefits

those who would like to be in good cardiovascular shape. First, basketball is composed of two

main cardiovascular exercises, sprinting and jumping. These exercises are both constant in the

sport and very intense when being performed, so the heart beats very fast to keep up and provide

enough oxygen. Next, in basketball teams change possession far more often than other sports. In

an NBA basketball game, it is common for both teams to have possession at least one hundred

times, meaning the players will run up and down the court at least 200 times throughout the
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game. Lastly, basketball is peppered with many short breaks throughout the game such as free

throws, end-of-quarter huddles, and timeouts, so the players who are in excellent cardiovascular

shape should, over time, be able to bring down their heart rate significantly during these breaks.

Anyone who desires to both play a sport and achieve high cardiovascular shape should seriously

consider playing basketball because of the high amount of intense cardiovascular exercise.