How to Find the Right Sport to Keep You Fit

The challenge of finding enjoyable ways to exercise is one of the biggest hurdles people face when they are trying to lose weight and improve their overall health. The idea of spending three evenings a week at the gym, or pounding round the roads getting sweaty and exhausted doesn’t hold much appeal for a lot of people, who despite their initial determination to succeed soon find their enthusiasm dims and dies away.

This problem is one that takes a bit of imagination and self-knowledge to solve. The first stage is to give those activities that don’t appeal a try, which might sound illogical, but there’s a good reason why you should give them a chance.

Some people who dread the thought of running or going to the gym are pleasantly surprised to find they not only enjoy it far more than they thought they would, but that they want to do well and achieve more because they enjoy it so much.

These are people who have never run more than 50 yards to catch a bus, who from their developed love of the sport, start training for marathons! You can find plenty of inspirational stories online about people who have done exactly that, so don’t knock the traditional methods of exercising without at least having a go yourself.

Enjoyment is, of course, the critical factor in finding the motivation to undertake exercise. Wanting to be fit and healthy may sound like excellent motivators, but very often they aren’t enough on their own.

However, if you can find an activity that you like doing, it no longer feels like an onerous task that has to be performed to achieve a larger goal. Rather, you look forward to the activity, and the health benefits become a bonus rather than the sole reason for taking part.
When you’re looking for an activity to try, think about what you love doing, and see if you can match this to a sport. Golf is an excellent example of a pastime that participants do because they enjoy the challenge and the social side of being out with other golfers without thinking too much about the exercise they’re getting.

There’s no running around getting out of breath, but you will walk a fair distance to cover the average 18-hole golf course – as long as you avoid the lure of the golf carts that is. If you’re interested in taking up a sport like golf, you can always give it a try by having a swing on the driving range, or pottering around a pitch and putt course.

If you find you love it, think about taking a few lessons, and invest in some decent clubs like PXG fairway woods, because poor quality clubs have such a dramatic effect on your game you’ll struggle to improve and make the shots that inspire you to keep going.

Golf isn’t the only option of course, and there are many ways to get regular exercise without ever going near the gym. Use your imagination and think about alternative ways to keep yourself active, and you’ll soon be waving goodbye to your couch potato days.