Living an active lifestyle is important. Staying fit and healthy in this day and age is absolutely necessary: it helps you reduce the risk of conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and many others. Although sports are generally considered to be leisure activities, they’re actually great at helping to improve your fitness too. After all, have you ever seen a sportsperson who’s not fit and healthy?
Certain sports can be quite pricey because of the equipment you need for them. Activities such as shooting, horseriding, and sailing all require specialist equipment like Bespoke Airsoft guns, riding gear, and boat hire etc. But there are also sports for which all you need is a ball and the will to get your body in shape. Let’s take a look how you can build strength and endurance without having to spend a fortune.
Skateboarding
According to a 2002 report, there are over 18.5 million skateboarders in the world! Sure, most of those people are under 18, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a try. Riding a skateboard is fun and it will also help you stay fit, which is the most important thing.
It doesn’t come as a surprise that riding a skateboard has numerous benefits. After all, you need to activate almost all of the muscles in your body just to stay on the board. By exercising this way you’ll improve your strength, as well as your flexibility.
Of course, there’s also a big chance that you’ll improve your pain tolerance. Bruises, bumps, scrapes, and scars are a part of skateboarding, but they’ll go away. The fun of skateboarding is much greater than the pain involved.
Basketball
You don’t have to play old school five-on-five basketball. Street basketball is the way to go. You can play against your friends or even some random people on the court; it doesn’t matter because you’ll have fun!
By playing basketball, you’ll improve your balance and concentration, as well as burn calories, which is never a bad thing. It’s not a problem if you can’t find an opponent, all you need is a hoop and a ball, and you can find a hoop in most parks and playgrounds.
You don’t need any other special equipment to play basketball, but do try to wear proper basketball shoes that provide ankle support. Since you’ll be jumping and running, your ankles will be under a lot of stress.
Soccer
If you want to have fun and build muscle at the same time, then soccer is the sport for you. No, you won’t become as buff as a bodybuilder while playing the national sport of Brazil, but your muscle strength will undoubtedly improve because you’ll be recruiting both slow-twitch and fast-twitch muscle fibres.
Since this game requires quick thinking, you’ll also increase cognitive brain functions and learn the importance of working with others. Soccer is a team game, and the lessons you’ll learn on the field can be translated into everyday life. You have no excuse, lace up your sneakers or cleats, put quality soccer goals with nets in your backyard, and play with your friends!
Cycling
If you prefer spending your time alone with your thoughts, then cycling might be the perfect sport for you. The best thing about this sport is that it only takes two to four hours of cycling a week to achieve a general improvement in your health.
Cycling is a low impact workout, which means that it causes fewer injuries than any other form of exercise, and it’s also fairly easy. It doesn’t require a high level of physical skill. After all, most people know how to ride a bike, and once you learn it, you’ll never forget it.
This workout can also be as intense as you want it to be. In other sports, you usually need to pick up the pace with your teammates and compete with your opponents. When it comes to cycling, your only “enemy” is you!
Find some time for sport between work and family activities and you won’t regret it! There’s enough time in the day for everything, so gather your friends and play! But whatever you do, don’t overexert yourself. Just have fun, and in time you’ll improve your fitness as well as your state of mind.
Diana Smith is a full time mom of two beautiful girls interested in business and marketing related topics.
In her free time she enjoys exercising and preparing healthy meals for her family.
