Fitness is a blast. It’s more fun than traveling to Hawaii. That is unless your hotel is by the 24-hour gym in Honolulu. Now, that’s exciting! And fitness is more fun than dining out, cruises or discovering a lost continent. That is unless these activities are accompanied by fitness, such as hikes through ruins, dancing in the cruise ship ballroom, or a 5-star restaurant after skating or cycling.
But some of us don’t see fitness as fun. So, as a shout-out to our friends who have a world of benefits awaiting them, from health to happiness to longevity to high energy to better appearance to endorphins, here are seven ways to make fitness fun:
Research a physical activity to gain mastery. Nothing could be more exciting than studying a craft we know nothing about. That’s because the learning curve is enormous. We can go from water wings to the crawl and butterfly in the swimming pool in two months by studying YouTube videos and frequenting the pool. I’m learning swimming and skating this year, which I bomb at. So, consider getting a knack for a sport we know nothing about. And study our way to mastery.
Complement our training with activity-beneficial diets. Different activities require different diets for optimal results. For instance, weightlifting demands protein to be eaten within an hour after lifting weights. And it tastes incredible. And high cardio activities will get us craving carbs. And we get to indulge without guilt. Better still, our physical appearance and health will be transformed into our ideal states while we satisfy our cravings. But eat lots of fresh veggies and fruits to skyrocket our fitness regimes.
Get a recreation membership to explore every fitness activity. Buying a pass to a recreational center is more fun than a trip to Disneyland. So many thrilling activities await us. We can swim, skate, play sports, play racquetball, climb walls, and take fitness classes. The sky is the limit. And we’re meant to try all of them, especially if we crave excitement and adventure.
Aim to get the skills to teach or coach the fitness activity. Why not start with no skills in a particular sport or activity, and get all the certifications required to teach it. Now that’s fun! Gaining instructor status is also a way to generate revenue while caring for our bodies and mind. And by coaching, we get to nurture a high level of health and fitness in others. Can anything get better than that?
Aim to compete, perform, or go professional with the sport or activity. If reincarnation exists, I will take on a sport every season as young as possible to try out for the Olympic youth hopefuls in Canada. There is such a thing. If we’re young, we can register and try out for an Olympic-hopeful role to receive funding and support for the Olympic goal. But we’re likely over the required age. If so, many age-specific competitions exist, such as swimming competitions for people in their 30s or even 80s. And I’d recommend competing in au natural bodybuilding competitions (without steroids) if we’re revved about lifting weights. And we all should be revved about weightlifting if bone and muscle health is a goal. But take a class on how to do full-body weightlifting routines. The results are fantastic.
Year-round, do the activity five to six days a week, one hour-plus a day. Then, at the end of the year, buy a new wardrobe. I guarantee by the end of a year, we’ll be buff. Each sport gives a different bodily appearance. For example, cycling will bulk our legs and gluteus muscles (buttocks) while leaning down our tummies. Weightlifting can address every major body part if we do a “three-day split.” Rowing is excellent for back and bicep development. So, search on Google for your sport name and the word “body type.” Or Google the sports athlete, such as “swimmer,” and look at the images. That’ll give you a sense of how the sport will make you look. All sports will make us look better and feel fantastic.
Hire a coach, or join a team or club. Try getting our office colleagues to form a corporate sports team. Sports teams are great ways to learn a team player attitude. When I played sports as a youth, I’d sing sports chants loudly on the bench and give enthusiastic praise and encouragement to all the team members. Those activities were as much fun as playing the sport itself. In addition, at the university, I had the opportunity to access one-on-one coaching from an Olympian wrestler. It was a highlight of my life. So, for ultimate fun, consider one-on-one coaching or a team sport.
All sports and fitness activities are a blast, especially once we learn the craft. But if we have physical limitations, we can always do certain activities to condition ourselves for optimal performance, energy, and physique. For instance, if we are wheelchair bound, we can lift weights for upper body strength, do chair yoga, join a basketball sports team for people in wheelchairs, do upper body dance, or even engage in lower body conditioning to regain some mobility. If I recall correctly, a book titled Younger Next Year said that a research study on exercise for seniors showed that, due to exercise, seniors who were on a cane could walk independently; seniors in wheelchairs could walk with a cane; and bedridden seniors graduated to wheelchairs. So, it’s assumable that some of us could go from bedridden to athletic. After all, if we can imagine it, it’s happened to someone somewhere already. So, it can happen to us. With exercise, anything is possible–and fun.
