Rugby is mainly seen as a male-dominated sport, and for good reason. It’s an extremely physical and forceful sport, and there’s only really been live coverage shown of the women’s game on TV in the last few years. Before then, we only associated men with the sport!
Nevertheless, it can be a highly beneficial sport for women to take up. We all know that playing sports is a brilliant way of staying active and fit, but what other health reasons can you have for playing rugby? Here are three reasons all women should consider it:
Improve your strength
Naturally, rugby is a game that’s built around being strong and fit. So, you can build and improve your strength if you take it up. Whether this is through playing the game itself or training for it, strength gains are sure to be made. This can serve you well through life as strong muscles can protect you from injuries. Now, I know what you’re thinking: surely rugby will cause more injuries than it prevents? Somewhat true, but you can play touch rugby to avoid the big rugby tackles, gaining the strength benefits without putting your body at risk. As you get older, you will reap the rewards of being strong!
Enhance your heart health
Cardiovascular health is a fancy way of talking about how healthy your heart is. The game of rugby is excellent for developing this and making your heart a lot healthier. This is because it involves a lot of running around, stopping for a period, then running again. In essence, it’s as though you’re doing a long HIIT workout. You’re training your heart to work harder, and it will thank you for this in the long run. Having a healthy heart and good cardiovascular fitness can be essential to avoiding common health conditions – like heart disease and high blood pressure.
Shed some stubborn pounds
Likewise, as a sport that involves lots of movement and physical activity, rugby is amazing for people that want to lose fat. This is because all of your muscles are used almost all of the time – particularly the big ones in your lower body. This puts more demand on the energy systems inside your body to fuel these muscles, hence you burn a lot of calories playing rugby. When you combine this with a balanced diet, you can burn so many calories and lose so much body fat. Of course, you absolutely need to have a good diet for this to be effective, or else you won’t lose any weight. But, rugby makes it easier for you to stick to your diet as it opens the door for you to eat more calories and still lose weight because you are burning so many.
As you can see, it’s a sport that a lot of women can benefit from – yet it is often overlooked. I think perhaps the physical and forceful nature put a lot of us off, but there are ways for you to avoid this and still reap the benefits of rugby. As mentioned, touch rugby is a brilliant alternative.
