Fitness Testing for Bowling
You can practice for hours and hours, go to the gym, eat better and study the game, but how do you know that it has made any difference? Of course you should be able to see results in your bowling average, but do you really know where and how much you have improved?
Quite simply, if you want to know how good you are, or how much you have improved, you can just look at your bowling scores? You can track you scores over time to see if you are improving. However, with such analysis you may find out if you have improved, but you may not know how you have improved. You may have improved in some aspects of the sport, and not in others, and you will not know which areas you need to continue working on.
The following factors are important physiological and physical attributes of a successful bowler: exceptional hand/eye coordination and balance, good flexibility (upper and lower body), good strength (upper and lower body), good aerobic fitness and low body fat. When trying to maximize performance, it is important to determine your ability in each of these individual physiological aspects of performance. Fitness testing attempts to measure the individual components of performance. See more on the fitness components for bowling.
For each of these relevant components of fitness, there are probably hundreds of possible fitness tests that can be used. They can range from elaborate and expensive laboratory tests to simple and inexpensive tests conducted out 'in the field'. Each test also has many advantages and disadvantages that can ultimately determine which is the most appropriate test to perform. If you are designing your own fitness testing regime, you will require information about the relative merits and requirements of each test, before you can make an informed choice of the most appropriate test or tests to use.
tenpin bowling can be physically taxingFor example, aerobic fitness (or cardiovascular endurance), is the ability to exercise continuously for extended periods without tiring. While bowling is not highly aerobic in its action, a good level of aerobic fitness is important to stay healthy, to recover well, and prevent fatigue during long periods of play and over tournaments lasting several days.
The tests available to monitor your fitness range from complex laboratory tests to simple tests you can do at home. I have listed a selection of tests to give you an idea of what you can do. See Fitness Testing List
Related Pages
- Tenpin Fitness Testing List
- About the fitness components for bowling.
- Poll about the fitness components for tenpin
- Fitness testing in sports
Any comments, suggestions, or corrections? Please let us know.
Current Events