well... If you wanna stay healthy and maybe lose some weight endurance sports are the way to go. swimming is great, as well as bicycling (running as well, though might damage your joints when you get older). frankly anything that gets your cardiovascular system going for a long time. humans, in contrast to a lot of other mammals, have an excellent endurance. it's one of the physical conditions that made us superior hunterers a long time ago, when we would simply chase an antilope thru the desert, until it was exhausted. capitalize on that and always do some endurance sports if you are serious about your health.
I bought a used $50 reel-style push mower (like your grandpa probably had) and started using it to mow my 1.7 acre yard. At the end, I have nicely trimmed grass and a crazy effective workout.
Exactly. For example, I swim and ride a bicycle. Here's how it works.
Swimming: I go to the swimming pool when I feel like I need to do something physical. I swim for an hour, non stop. I don't count the distance and if I have energy I swoosh by fast and if I'm tired I swim along with the grandmas. But it's always an hour, and usually my speed goes up towards the end as my body warms up.
Bicycling: I take my bike when I feel like I need to do something physical. I take a heading and ride that way. I make turns to the interesting directions or come up with intermediary places I want to see. I come back when I'm tired or it's too late.
The "when I feel like" means the urge to do exercise. It only comes through doing exercise regularly enough but it's kind of a self-sustaining cycle. Your body just screams for action after a few days.
A lot of my exercise comes from everyday acts. If I visit the office, I cycle there. If I go to swimming pools, I.. well, cycle there, too. I cycle to most places within five-kilometer range. I walk dogs three times a day.
I never go to gym and I don't do exercise programs or fitness plans.
I exercise in the morning (some pushups, situps etc.) and it's gotten to the point where if I don't do it, it feels like I forgot to brush my teeth or put on a fresh pair of underwear.
It's a great place to be because it means I will always keep in shape at least a little bit.
Absolutely. And if you work for yourself from home, and thus miss out on the social interaction of an office, team sports are a great way to unwind and mingle.
My 4/5 mile runs invariably turn into walks because I just dont have the motivation to push myself into carrying on a run, however I can happily sprint for 2 hours playing football.
I know they arent equivalent exercise, but my body can tell you I do a far lot more work during football without really noticing it while playing
I get the same thing from ice skating. I was so happy when I was told that an hour's ice skating was equivalent to a four mile run. Frankly, when I'm skating, I hardly notice.
the NHS couch-to-5k podcasts are pretty good motivation for running. (Background music + an encouraging human voice that speaks up every now and then with things like "you're doing great, just 10 minutes to go, keep going... " etc)
I've considered this for the summer. I'm still deciding between swimming, climbing or thaiboxing. Do you know any other fun ones that might make you grow muscle?
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is really interesting. Started a training course two weeks ago. It's quite the full-body workout - sore muscles after every session. Core muscles, arms, legs, back. Sparring really makes primal instincts kick in, so there's never a motivation problem. Everyone's exhausted after an hour session, and it's the good kind of exhaustion. Very intense and varied experience. BJJ was explicitly designed to minimize the advantage of larger and heavier opponents, so it revolves around technique to a significant degree. Therefore, sparring with someone way bigger than you is completely different from sparring with someone much lighter; Both are incredibly entertaining. Best session I had was against a female partner, probably 15cm and 15kg lighter. She had a very keen sparring instinct and easily outmanouvered me. Felt the quick intellect behind every move. Amazing experience. Something in it that's missing from the average modern life ...
Climbing is the One True Sport for me though. Do try it! The climber's physique is quite attractive and confidence-inspiring. There is a minimum of technique that I hope people will be aware of. I don't want to make it seem complicated though, it isn't.
In the climbing process itself, the minimum technique is this: Become efficient. Get a feel for your balance on the wall, make stable triangles on the holds to free the fourth limb to go to the next handhold/foothold, and use larger joints/muscle groups rather than smaller; Most people's instinct tells them to to pull the body up with upper-arm strength, but generally one can keep the arms straight and use legs, waist, torso, or shoulder muscles to gain elevation.
And climbing is not a trivial load on the body. One can climb injury-free, but this does require a minimum technique or form. Always warm up, always perform the proper stretches (about 8 main forms of stretches, takes 10 mins or so after practice and really kickstarts the post-exercise well-being). Listen to pain: Usually, pain comes from imbalance in the muscles, or tendons or cartilage not being ready yet. Back slightly off and learn the quite simple exercise designed to put that joint and that muscle group back into balance. Climbing stresses tendons and cartilage, which by nature strengthen and heal slower than muscle.
1. Find a sport you like and enjoy
2. Have fun [often]