We’ve joked before that there’s really no convincing lie you can tell to anyone (or yourself) to justify purchasing a new personal watercraft other than you’re looking to buy a new toy. Well, according to a recent report by Health Fitness Revolution, there’s enough of a solid argument to buy a new PWC that it might be worth calling your health insurance to see if they’ll cover it.
It turns out that the benefits of jet skiing to one’s health are impressive – and we’re not just talking about standup skis here, either. Rather, even a few hours of pleasurable riding aboard your favorite runabout can provide your body the adrenaline, endorphins, and cardio that your otherwise “packed schedule” can seem to permit for time at the gym. So forget the treadmill or stair climber, get out on the water!
Here are Health Fitness Revolution‘s top 10 health benefits of jet skiing:
Improves cardiovascular system: Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced jet skier, you will be giving your cardiovascular system a good workout on the water. Improving your cardiovascular system increases blood circulation, bringing more nutrients and oxygen to your tissues and helping to remove waste from the body more quickly.
Tones abs: The art of skiing is to keep yourself steady on the slippery slope. To help balance yourself, you naturally engage your core stability muscles – the deep muscle that starts on either side of your spine and runs around your body, ending up in your pelvic region.
Balance and coordination: Crouching and sitting on a jet ski and trying to maneuver it around water is a hard task. Increasing and decreasing the speed while there are waves teaches you to learn balance.
Improves endurance: Riding a jet ski through tough waves can be a great calorie burner. Doing this for 30 minutes every day will increase your endurance, so that you’ll find that you can exercise for longer periods of time while doing a cardio workout.
Burns calories: Jet skiing surprisingly is a great sport that burns a lot of calories. An average 150-pound person can burn 238 calories in the span of just 30 minutes.
Entertaining and fun: As a fun recreational activity, jet skiing can be done while on a family outing or when enjoying the beach with friends. There is a certain level of thrill that comes with the speed. You will never get bored while out in the water with a jet ski.
Muscle strengthening: The main muscle groups being worked while Jet skiing are your leg and arm muscles while trying to maneuver the Jet Ski and keep it at a stable position. Another main muscle group being worked are the Abdominal muscles as you try the balance the Jet Ski and ride it through waves and move away from obstacles.
Concentration: Jet skiing teaches you to focus and concentrate on where and how you are riding. This can translate to learning to take a risk and focus on how to get through the task while not being distracted.
Stress relief: Just being out in the water and soaking in the sun with the sound of water splashing next to you is a great stress-reliever in itself. Because it requires you to focus on the water while driving a jet ski, it makes you forget about all other worries.
