Some Unconsidered Sports and Forms of Exercise
They Really Can Be the Same As Going To the Gym
Fitness and exercise are super-important for all areas of human health. Indeed, millions of websites, books, and other resources are released each year on the subject. Medium itself contains countless articles in the genre(the topic of fitness alone lists over 100,000 articles). Many are like this amazing article. Unfortunately, hundreds of millions or even billions of people around the world do not get enough physical activity. In the U.S., studies have found that at least 25% of Americans admit to not getting enough physical activity. Part of the problem for this is that the whole physical fitness, exercise, and sport industry can be very intimidating(there is even a phenomenon labeled “gym-timidation”). There is the established archetype of the bodybuilder who spends hours a day at the gym shaping their bodies into real-life Michaelangelo sculptures(commendations to those who work so hard to gain amazing physical shape, but not all can have abs or arms of steel). Companies rake in billions of dollars annually by prescribing diet and fitness plans(One such company Jenny Craig has over $400 million a year in revenues). Even medical terms related to fitness like body mass index can seem offsetting.
But fitness and exercise do not have to be so demanding or discouraging. The worlds of fitness and exercise are really boundless in themselves with countless types of activities each can fit to their own lifestyle and interests. Furthermore, even the countless sports that bring optimum exercise are broad in scope and type. Sport is defined as “a game, competition, or activity needing physical effort and skill that is played or done according to rules, for enjoyment and/or as a job,” so the definition itself even sweeps broadly. Let’s take a look at some physical activities(sports in most senses of the word) that don’t have to be done at the gym and are great forms of exercise. And as forms of exercise, what health benefits might they indeed bring?
Variance, Multiplicity, and Frequency
Indeed, there are unlimited possibilities for types of exercise and physical activity available, and this is itself fruit for motivation. But how do you know if a certain activity or pursuit is indeed a valid form of exercise delivering optimum health results? Climbing a flight of stairs everyday to get the mail or typing on your keyboard all day may be physical (and even burn calories), but do not offer sufficient fitness or effect. Instead, exercise and physical activity that includes variance in type and multiplicity in scope helps to bring the best positive health effects. Some key facets to remember for optimum levels of fitness and exercise include endurance, strength, balance, and flexibility. Endurance activities raise heart and breathing rates while boosting the circulatory system. Muscle strength exercises can help improve bone and joint health. Balance and flexibility activities can boost neurological health and boost body elasticity overall.
Additionally, the duration of physical activity helps to determine if it is adequate exercise. Health specialists prescribe 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week, with two days of muscle strengthening activity. This can be broken up over the week. Perhaps a 25 minute walk everyday is one person’s regimen, while another person may devote three days a week to an hour of weightlifting and elliptical workouts at the gym. Whatever you find works best for you, making sure to include the ideal variety and duration of physical activity should yield best results. And with these fundamentals in place, the sky is the limit for types of activities that can be included in an exercise regimen.
Fishing — An Alluring Sport
Fishing is simply as it sounds — the activity of trying to catch fish. Obviously, fishers attempt to capture fish in bodies of water whether ponds, lakes, rivers, or the ocean. There are many different types of fishing based on type of creature, capture method, environment, and location. You can go ice-fishing, fly fishing, boat fishing, or netting. You can use tackle or live bait. Caught fish can be kept for food or production(as is the case for professional fishers) or can be released back to the wild.
Depending on which type of fishing you do, the activity can be a great form of exercise with many health benefits. Fishing can burn 200 calories per hour or more if fly-fishing or kayak fishing. Like any great exercise, the activity also can positively affect mental health as you are in the outdoors and required to practice patience and commitment. And when we are all stuck in the stress and acceleration of everyday life in this digitized, bot-automated age, what can be more renewing than getting back to Nature, casting a line in the water, and devoting hours of time to that complicated task of catching fish?
Mushroom Hunting — Who Knew Exercise Could Be So “Fungi?”
Imagine a warm sunny day in early spring. You are properly dressed in long pants and sweatshirt with appropriate outdoor hiking shoe — ready to trek off trail in woodlands, timbers, and thick grassy areas. You are on a hunt, ready to scale up and down hills and scrape behind the back of fallen trees and bend to dust hidden crevices for nothing other than wondrous, edible mushrooms. This sport of mushroom hunting, common over many continents including temperate North American regions, is an amazing way to walk numerous miles and burn numerous calories. Simultaneously, mushrooms are amazingly stocked with multiple nutrients including antioxidants and vitamin B.
We are going into redundancy here, but how could we not mention the mental health benefits from mushroom hunting? You not only have the satisfaction of getting back to Nature, but something about getting out in the timber away from the busy lights and bustles of everyday life can easily help you find transcendence of self. Seeking, discovering, and grasping mushrooms — just like wading through a flowing stream while fishing — can be a key way to help you tune in to the harmony of life itself.
Geocaching — Yes, You Can Use Your Phone
One of the wonderful things about geocaching is that its very purpose is the use of the latest technology to explore, scope, and trek the outdoors. Making use of GPS devices or GPS wired smart devices to seek “caches” or containers hidden anywhere outside, this technological activity does not lock players in rooms away from the outdoors. The outdoors themselves are the playing fields. Geocaching through multiple companies is an amazing pasttime promoting physical fitness, intellectual prowess, and social connection. With millions of caches — as well as millions of cachers — in 200+ countries around the world, players in the sport can certainly expect an unlimited depth of excitement. There are not only the physical caches you can scope in secret locations from rock formations to forests to bodies of water, but special types like Earth caches help you to learn about Earth’s numinous geological features or event caches help connect you to other cachers or participate in community service events.
Much like mushroom hunting, geocaching can help you trek in miles and scope different levels of terrain. You may find yourself trekking nature trails, climbing trees, or even mounting high grounds in hills and mountains. The wonderful mental clarity this activity can bring does not even need mention as the sport so easily reminds you how even the greatest of human technology can hardly scale in comparison to Nature’s complexity and majesty.
Horseback Riding — Graceful and Fruitful Fitness
So do you want to find an activity where the pace is still fast, the fitness level is quite intense, and the journeying takes you back to Nature and yesteryear? Why not try horse riding? A whole range of equestrian sports and pasttimes attract countless millions around the globe as horse sports and races are some of the grandest of affairs, including Olympic horse events. But you do not have to be a master racer, rodeo rider, or horse whisperer to commune with some of Nature’s most majestic creatures. Horses number close to 60 million or more worldwide, so you are certain to find a horse you can spend some time riding near you.
Horseback riding also provides numerous fitness and health advantages. It provides a full workout for arm, shoulder, and leg muscles which quickly burns calories. Coordination and balance quickly improve while mounted on a beautiful stallion. Heart rates increase as riders become connected to the horse’s rapid movements. Cognitive focus and clarity allow riders to clear out everyday life’s noises, showing the age-old activity to be one of the greatest for mental and spiritual renewal.
Hardly Scraping From the Surface
This short exploration of unconsidered forms of exercise is hardly scraping the surface — the sky is the limit for different recreational activities, sports, and pasttimes someone can try for various types of exercise. Goodness, there are tournaments for anything from ostrich racing to chess boxing(yes combining chess and boxing) to cheese rolling to oil and mud wrestling. With the multi-billion dollar fitness, weigh-loss, and nutrition industries throwing countless images around of the ideal physical frame, people can easily get discouraged from efforts to become more healthy and fit. But you do not have to hit the gym five days a week nor must you find the most exotic or specialized sport or activity to reach ideal levels of physical activity and full physical, mental, and spiritual health. So many activities are easily accessible to all regardless of background or age. Just getting out to talk a walk, scrubbing the kitchen and bathroom floors, trying your dance moves to the latest hit music single, or taking up a new recreational activity like fishing or horseback riding can be great parts of a regular fitness regimen. What exciting new activity, pasttime, or passion is calling you with promises of levels of personal fitness and health? You might never have imagined what new things will appeal to you and what new levels of fulfillment they can offer.
