The Best Sports to Keep You Fit and Healthy

Posted on March 31, 2015 by Natasha Bill

Rugby is a tough sport, but definitely one that keeps you fit.

Sport is such a popular pastime across the world. Many people take up a sport recreationally while others play at a professional level. The beauty of sport is that it combines a healthy competitiveness with a wonderful fitness regime. It’s important to look after your body and keep fit, and sport is a fun and exciting way to do this.

It’s also great for social interactions and teamwork. If you play any kind of sport, you’re probably aware just how much impact it has on your fitness levels. But if you haven’t yet taken up a sport here are some ideas for sports to keep you fit and healthy.

Golf
Believe it or not golf is, in fact, a great way to stay fit and healthy. It gets a stigma because it’s often associated with older overweight men. But, in fact, there’s a lot of walking involved in golf, and this is good for your heart. Also, by the natural swinging action involved you develop great upper body strength. You can work on improving your game while also keeping yourself fit. And the great thing about golf is that you don’t need to be in fantastic shape to take it up, which is untrue of most sports.

Surfing
You might not consider surfing to be a sport, but it most certainly is. Surfing is an extreme sport, and these are often some of the best ways of keeping and maintaining a fitness regime. Of course, surfing will involve a board, and you’ll need lessons in how to surf. But it can be a fun, thrilling and action-packed sport. Make sure you’re careful though because the sea can be a dangerous place, and it’s easy to underestimate it. Surfing combines the physical act of surfing with water-based activity such as swimming. So in some ways you get two sports in one, and you keep yourself fit and healthy.

Rugby
If you want to stay fit and active as well as building up your body rugby is perhaps the ideal sport. You can choose rugby league or rugby union, one is faster than the other. But whichever you pick you’ll still need to make sure you have a rugby shirt and a gum shield, and you understand how the game has to be played. If you want your focus to be pure fitness, you should think about going for rugby league. It requires more agility and pace. But rugby union is perfect for building a strong body and developing stamina. Either way rugby is a fantastic example of a sport that keeps you fit and healthy and manages to be engaging too.

Basketball
Basketball might not rank as top of your list of sports to take up, but maybe you should rethink this. Basketball is fast paced and great for developing hand to eye coordination. Okay, yes it helps if you’re tall. But it’s not a prerequisite. Remember Muggsy Bogues? He was only 5ft 3! That’s small by normal standard and minute by basketball standards. Be he still managed to carve out a career as point guard for four NBA teams. So don’t discard basketball just because of height issues. It’s a fun and skillful sport to learn and will keep you incredibly fit.