Different Sports Hobbies to Improve Your Life

In a meta-analysis of over 8528 studies, it was shown that participation in sports directly correlated with improved physical and psychological well-being. Sports were shown to reduce depression, anxiety, and stress levels as well as improve social outcomes such as increasing levels of self-control, encouraging pro-social behavior, and boosting interpersonal communication skills.

The bald truth then is that, if you’re able, you should be participating in some form of organized sport to improve both your mind and body.

That means more than just tuning in to support your favorite team and betting on your football predictions, it means getting off your backside and getting involved.

Don’t know where to start? Here’s everything you need to know about getting involved in some great sports.

Football

Let’s start with the most popular sport on the planet – football. The reason that it is more popular than any other sport has nothing to do with marketing or money and everything to do with simplicity.

Football is a game that can be enjoyed by elite-level athletes operating in packed-out stadiums and overweight pensioners in their local parks. The only barrier to playing is having the physical capability to walk and kick vaguely in the direction of the ball.

Ways to Get Involved

Join a Team: We can’t tell you how good you are at football and as a result, we can’t tell you which team you should play for. Only you know your ability, so if you’re thinking of joining a team make sure to join one that matches up with your skill level.

Take a couple of minutes to Google local football leagues in your area and scroll through the leagues until you find a team that falls into that perfect sweet spot between your level of ability and your location.

Once you’ve done that, find the local team’s Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter page and drop them a message asking when training is.

It’s that simple!

Five a Side: If you don’t think you’re good enough for 11-a-side football, you don’t have the fitness, or are just looking for something more casual, small-sided football is your best bet. To get involved in this type of football you have a number of options.

If you know 10-15 people who would be interested in playing each week you can book out a pitch and play amongst yourselves every week. If you want something more competitive you can form a team and join a league (there are absolutely loads of options out there if you Google it) or you can go ultra-casual.

To do that all you need to do is download an app like Footy Addicts that’s essentially the football version of Uber Eats. It shows you all the games going on in your local area and lets you sign up to play so you can pick and choose where and when you play.

Running

Talking of easy sports to get into, how about running? All you need is a pair of comfortable trainers to run in and the world’s your oyster. Whether you live in the rural countryside and have miles upon miles of winding roads to run down or in a city flush with parks and green spaces you can run anytime and anywhere.

We won’t go into as much detail as we did with football as running is a lot more self-explanatory but you have several options when it comes to getting involved:

• Train individually for fun, an event, or by using apps like Nike Running Club or Couch to 5K, etc.
• Train with a friend and enter regular races like Park Run or sponsored 5 and 10k’s
• Join a local running club

Weightlifting

We’ve tried to focus this article on sporting activities that are easy to get involved with and don’t require multiple lessons or a lot of expensive equipment which is why we’ve left out sports like tennis and cricket.

Our final entry on this list is one that requires a little bit of research and more money than the last two but is still incredibly accessible and that’s weightlifting.

You can do this by joining a local gym, buying your own equipment or even training at home with body weight.

The best recommendation that we can give you, especially if you haven’t lifted weights before is to download either Nike Training Club or Strong. They are both free to download and the first lets you put your needs and experience in before tailoring a custom-built workout routine to you. It also has tonnes of instructional videos to show you how to maintain the perfect form for every exercise imaginable.

Strong doesn’t create custom built workouts for you but it allows you to make your own, keep a track on the weights you’re lifting and also has videos and instructions for every exercise to ensure that you’re not left in the lurch when it comes to your form.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nurlana Alasgarli           

Content Specialist

Nurlana Alasgarli is a professional copywriter with more than 6 years of creative writing experience. Having lived and experienced all over the world, there are many writing genres that Nurlana follows, including adventure, outdoor and winter sports. Nurlana brings life to content creation, captivating her readers.