I thought sports weren't for me, until I realised they're a game-changer for ticking off cardio

From running around in the garden to chasing friends in the playground, doing cardio came naturally in childhood. But as an adult, it can often feel like a chore.

While I love strength training, I've never found a good cardio routine that I enjoy—always finding excuses to skip runs.

That was until last year, when I decided to give tennis a proper go. I wasn’t particularly sporty at school and I hadn't experimented with many sports as an adult, but I'd dabbled with tennis a few times at school, and once when I stayed at a hotel with a tennis court.

It’s also one of the few sports I actually watch, so I always felt drawn to playing it myself.

However, doing so requires finding someone to play with you. Luckily, I have a friend who plays and we hired a court at our local park.

This became a regular after-work event—one I looked forward to. I now play twice a week.

I play once with my boyfriend, who is a much better player than me and gives me very relaxed lessons, and once with my friend. We mostly practice rallies before a low-key game.

The physical benefits of tennis

Both sessions are a fantastic workout—getting my heart rate up while I run around.

And because I really enjoy it, I'm always keen to stay on the court for as long as possible, sometimes exercising for two hours. I would never do a traditional workout class for that long.

It makes sense that the more you enjoy something, the more you'll do it, and plenty of studies have found this to be true.

Tennis also has lots of physical benefits. All the running around can help improve your cardiovascular fitness and your aerobic capacity.

It's a full-body workout that engages muscles in the legs, glutes, core, back and of course, your arms and shoulders.

Plus, it's great for your cognitive health, because it requires quick thinking and decision-making.

The social benefits of tennis

A study of more than 8,000 people found that playing tennis can increase your life expectancy by an average of 9.7 years, the most of any sport included in the study.

The study also found that the smallest increase in life expectancy was for those who did gym-based activities, such as using the elliptical or weightlifting.

According to the researchers, this might be because sports like tennis are more sociable, with social isolation being one of the strongest predictors of a shorter life expectancy.

The social aspect of tennis is a big part of why I enjoy playing so much. Even if I don't feel like moving my body on a certain day, I’ll still go to tennis because I want to see my friends—and I’m always glad I went.

And best of all, you don't have to be good at tennis to play it and reap the benefits. I found that some of my earlier tennis sessions—when I was missing more shots than I was hitting and spending a lot of time retrieving mishit balls—got my heart rate up as much as my best sessions, when I'm winning point after point!