11 Benefits of Volleyball That Will Make You Jump For The Ball

Playing volleyball is a really good time and a great way to get some sun, but if that is not good enough for you, you might be interested to know that there are many advantages to be had from playing this simple game. The benefits of volleyball are virtually limitless and they all work towards a healthier lifestyle. Playing volleyball, either indoors or outdoors, can help you lose weight, build stronger muscles, increase hand eye coordination, make you a better people person, and a whole lot more. Keep reading to find out just what volleyball can do for your physical and mental health, not to mention the look of your body!

Benefit #1: Weight Loss

One of the biggest benefits that come along with playing volleyball is that it provides you with a fun alternative to lose weight, get rid of those love handles, and keep that beer belly in check. Both indoor and outdoor volleyball can help you lose weight, although at different rates.

Indoor court volleyball can help you burn up to 385 calories in a 1-hour session. Beach volleyball is better for you in terms of weight loss and it can help you burn close to 600 calories in just 45 minutes.

The reason that beach volleyball helps you burn more calories in a shorter time frame than indoor volleyball has to do with the ground. It is a lot more physically taxing to run through the shifting sand than it is to run on a flat and hard surface. The sand forces you to engage your muscles much more in order to both stay upright and move around.

Benefit #2: More Efficient Metabolism

Another thing that volleyball is great for is to increase your metabolism or your metabolic rate. Your metabolic rate refers to how well and how quickly your body can metabolize calories and turn them into energy. A higher metabolism means that more of the food you eat will be converted into usable energy in a shorter amount of time.

This means that you will have more short and long term energy, both to play volleyball with and to do various other activities too. Having a higher metabolism also means that less of the fats, carbohydrates, and proteins you eat get turned into body fat that gets stored on your legs, arms, stomach, butt, and love handles. More usable energy also translates into better athletic performance across the board.

Benefit #3: Increased Hand Eye Coordination

In our opinion, one of the best things that volleyball can do for you is to greatly increase your hand eye coordination. Volleyball makes you have to follow the ball with your eyes and then hit it with your hands at the exact right spot in order to get it to go where you need it to go, that being to the opponents side of the court. You also need to follow the ball with your eyes and then move into position in order to strike the ball after your opponent has hit it towards you.

This constant need for solid hand eye coordination will actually increase your abilities. Every muscle in your body can be trained to be bigger and stronger and that goes for your brain and the various functions it performs.

The more you play volleyball, the more you train your hand eye coordination and the better it gets. Recent studies have shown that there is a direct positive correlation between the amount of time a person has been playing volleyball and their hand eye coordination abilities. Volleyball players are proven to have better hand eye coordination than people who do not perform any physical exercise of this nature.

Benefit #4: Better Cardiovascular Health

Volleyball is a really fantastic sport and one of the reasons for that is because it helps increase your cardiovascular health. This is a very physically intense sport, especially if you are playing outdoor volleyball on the sand. Volleyball forces you to run around, go back and forth, use your leg muscles for jumping, and your arms for hitting the ball. All these things in combination will get your heart pumping and your lungs going no doubt.

There are so many benefits of cardiovascular health that we don’t even know where to begin. Having a healthy heart means having a more efficient heart that can pump more blood throughout your body without having to work very hard.

This means that your limbs are getting the blood and oxygen they need to function properly, which in turn improves your athletic performance by letting your muscles work harder and longer without getting tired. A more efficient heart also translates into lower blood pressure, thus lowering your chances of suffering from heart disease, artery conditions, strokes, and heart attacks.

Moreover, a stronger respiratory system means that you won’t get winded so easily, which can come in really handy when the elevator breaks. Plus, having stronger lungs means that they can process oxygen more efficiently, oxygen which your body and muscles need in order to function. More oxygen in your system also means that your muscles can function better.

Benefit #5: It’s A Great Way To Meet New People

One really big benefit of playing volleyball is that it makes you get out of the house and socialize with other people, thus making it a good way to meet some new people. If you have a busy work life or are a student that doesn’t get out too much, volleyball, either indoor or outdoor, gives you a great outlet for your loneliness. Nobody likes being alone all of the time and volleyball can definitely help you solve that problem.

Benefit #6: Volleyball Can Increase Your Interpersonal Skills

Your interpersonal skills refer to the way in which you interact with others. This includes starting conversations, making new friends, engaging in meaningful talks, and knowing how to respond to various situations.

Volleyball also helps you work together with other people much better thanks to the fact that it is a team sport. If you can’t properly function as a team during a game of volleyball, your team will surely lose, thus a lot of practice will help you become a better people person and a better team player.

Interpersonal skills go a long way in life because they dictate many things in our lives such as finding a mate or spouse, making friends, getting a job, and pretty much anything else that involves being put in a situation that forces you to interact with other people.

A few games of volleyball per week can literally make you better at interacting with the people around you. If you are a person who has trouble interacting with others, volleyball might just be the solution to get over that hump or that shyness.

Benefit #7: Volleyball Will Boost Your Mood & Motivation

Perhaps one of the best things about the game of volleyball is that it can help boost your mood a whole lot. One of the reasons that it can do this is because of the fact that it is intense physical exercise. Exercise causes your brain to release endorphins, serotonin, and endocannabinoids and that is a really good for your emotional and mental health.

Endorphins are a feel happy chemical produced in your brain, a chemical which makes you feel happy, feel a sense of euphoria and elation, and decrease the effects of stress. Getting enough exercise can actually go a long way in curing the effects of severe depression, anxiety, and mood swings.

These same endorphins also help to reduce the effects of chemicals in your body which cause stress. Moreover, endocannabinoids are a naturally occurring version of THC, the main drug found in marijuana. This substance also produces feelings of happiness and can also reduce the physical pain that you feel. A recent study reported that a set number of test subjects who played volleyball felt that they were much happier and more emotionally satisfied after a game of volleyball, not to mention that many of the subjects experienced 'a bright splash of feelings'.

Volleyball also helps improve your mood, especially your self-confidence, because it gives you a better body image. We all want to look fit, healthy, muscular, and toned, plus when we don’t look that way we don’t feel good about ourselves. Since volleyball helps us lose weight and build muscle, it will make you feel better about yourself, thus making you happier.

Finally, volleyball also has the ability to increase your motivation. It’s a team sport and it’s a game that you want to win at; we call that motivation. This increased motivation is shown to translate into your daily life and will help you accomplish various tasks with ease and increased vigor.

Benefit #8: Increased Muscle Strength

A really great thing that volleyball does for you is to increase your muscle strength because it is a full body workout. After all, it is a type of weight training combined with cardiovascular exercise. Constantly having to run back and forth, especially in the sand, and being forced to react quickly in terms of directional changes is very beneficial for all of the muscles in your legs.

Moreover, every time that you go to hit the ball you are doing a squat. This is because to play volleyball properly you need to put some real power into your hit every time you make contact with the ball. That power has to come from your legs, thus when you hit the ball, you are training your legs to be stronger too.

When you set, you have to use your arms, legs, core, and thighs to hit the ball and when it is coming towards you, you need to use your arms and legs to get ready for it. In all reality, volleyball is a great strength building sport that targets virtually every muscle in your body. If you want to tone your body and make your muscles stronger, volleyball is definitely a great option.

Benefit #9: It’s A Cheap Alternative

Something that we really like about the game of volleyball is that it is cheap and inexpensive. All you really need is a ball, a pair of decent shoes, and a court to play the game on. You don’t need any expensive equipment and you don’t need any gym memberships either. If you don’t exactly have an abundance of money then volleyball is a good alternative to stay healthy while also keeping your wallet out of trouble.

Benefit #10: Build Agility, Speed, and Balance

Volleyball is great for helping you build agility, speed, balance, and flexibility. This sport forces you to serve, pass, set, jump, hit the ball, run back and forth, and turn on a dime. All of those things go a long way in helping you to build agility. To put it simply, it takes a lot of speed and agility for you to hit the ball accurately every time.

Moreover, when you hit the ball, plus when you jump and land on your feet, it takes balance to keep you upright. Plus you often need to stretch yourself to the limit in order to reach the ball in time before it hits the ground. Volleyball is an intense sport that trains all of your senses and skills, and the more your train them, the better they become.

Benefit #11: Versatile

The last benefit of volleyball is that it can be played year round. Like we said before, there is indoor and outdoor volleyball for you to choose from. When it is nice outside you can play on the beach and when it’s wintertime you can play indoors. It’s a truly great sport because the weather can never get in your way!

Conclusion

If you have never tried playing volleyball before, you might just want to start. As you can see, the benefits of volleyball are numerous. It’s a great way to stay fit, keep yourself looking good, and keep your mind at ease. It’s a really fun sport that encourages socializing and team building, not to mention that it’s cheap and lets you get some sunlight at the beach too.

If you have a question or comment you would like to leave, please feel free to do so!