Paddles & pins: unexpected health benefits can accrue from low-impact activities such as table tennis and bowling — sports too often dismissed

0 Comments | Insight on the News, March 11, 2002 | by Ann Geracimos

If you never thought of table tennis as a he-man sport requiring plenty of stamina and muscle power, take a look at the impressive form of champion player Morris Jackson. Jackson, 51, ranked by the U.S. Table Tennis Association as one of the top 100 players in the country for men older than 40, is likely to be lifting weights or working out on the treadmill when not engaged in a fast-moving table-tennis game.

"I live in the gym," Jackson says, recognition that his sport of choice makes high demands on his body. He needs the extra workouts to compete with players such as his son Marcus, 10, ranked No. 1 in the United States for boys younger than 12. "He is keeping me in shape," says Jackson. "He has better technique."

In a sport dominated by Asians, it's unusual to find a black American father and son at such levels. Jackson, who played basketball as a youth but says he finds table tennis more challenging mentally, has become used to remarks comparing him and Marcus to the dynamic Williams family that dominates the tennis courts.

"Table tennis is one of few activities you can play at any age and one of few sports where children can compete against adults," Jackson explains. "So many old players are in tremendous shape and none look their age."

People initially are attracted to the game by its demand for agility and its fast pace -- in the hands of experts, the tiny plastic ball weighing no more than a piece of paper can reach speeds of 1 O0 mph across the net. According to Larry Hodges, editor of USA Table Tennis Magazine, table-tennis players at the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs have the second-lowest percentage of fat on their bodies, after long-distance runners. "At the higher levels, it is like playing regular tennis," Hodges says. "The more you play, the more you improve."

Table-tennis players get plenty of work "running" in place and executing split-second moves. They need strong stomach and back muscles because the body is bent slightly forward during play. (The second arm -- usually the left -- is kept in position close to the chest for better body balance.) Stress shouldn't interfere with a good game, Jackson says. Keeping the body relaxed at the same time one is concentrating so intensely "carries over into everyday life."

The table-tennis regimen influences the Jackson's food choices, too. Jackson has a fruit-and-protein shake with orange juice first thing in the morning and then, after the gym, he consumes a Lean Body bar high in protein. For lunch, he eats a salad or chicken and lots of vegetables plus pasta or rice. At night, he opts for a sandwich and sits down later with his family for a meal "with no restrictions" (by preference, he eats no candy and almost no beef).

Like table tennis, bowling offers unexpected benefits and a healthy lifestyle. The sport traditionally is more fun and family-oriented, a social activity involving as much sitting as standing (a standard tenpin bowling game consists of 10 frames, with each bowler handling a ball only twice per frame.) Yet denizens who frequent the lanes report much-improved muscle tone in their throwing arms -- bowling balls, which generally are made of hard rubber, can weigh between 6 and 16 pounds.

Mark Lander, an exercise physiologist who is the fitness director for Sport & Health Clubs Inc. in Washington, calls bowling "one of the top three sports enjoyed by the public at large." (World Book Encyclopedia says more Americans compete in bowling than in any other sport.) "It does have the potential to improve a person's cardiovascular system," Lander says, "but that probably is not its prime benefit because it isn't done on any sustained, continuous basis."

More importantly, bowling offers enhanced flexibility and a range of motion. "When you let the bail go, one is squat and slightly bent, so the muscular skeleton is affected," Lander says. "The ball has weight, but that affects only one side of the body. Over time, however, you can develop strength in your arm and legs, like a tennis player whose racket arm always is larger. Plus, it helps improve eye-hand coordination." Form is crucial for the ball to make its mark against pins some 60 feet away -- the normal length of a lane. "A certain level of technique and ability is involved in this," Lander says, which is something of an understatement.

Most bowlers use a four- or five-step delivery, taking a relaxed stance at the starting point and holding the ball just above the waist. Their follow-through motion should be a graceful one. Their knees must be strong enough to sustain the motion. And, because the pins fall in a different pattern after every hit, bowlers must use a different approach -- and slightly different movements -- each time.

One other advantage to the sport: Bowlers are never too old to roll. "I'm 84 and have been bowling for 50 years," says Marie Fink of Maryland, who plays regularly in the ritual game of duckpins with the Chestnut Hill Ladies League every Monday. (Duckpins are considerably shorter pins with a wider diameter; the balls are smaller and lighter in weight as well, and the bowler throws three times per turn rather than two.) She wears bowling-pin earrings as proof of her dedication to the sport and its camaraderie. The exercise is just enough to keep her in condition. "It keeps me limber," she says. "That's what the doctor told me."