Learn to Love Sports
Welcome to another of my Top 100 weight loss tips. The series is approaching its end with just 11 more to go as this post is article number 10 in the series that provides readers with great tips for losing weight.
This post looks at the important role that getting involved in sports can play in a weight loss strategy. And I'm talking about the taking part, not the spectating!
Play a Sport, Get Fit and Lose Weight
While this isn't about joining a professional football or hockey team, unless of course you are fit enough and skillful enough to do that. It is about getting together with a local sports club at amateur level and finding a sport that you enjoy and can do on a regular basis. This is a great way to change your lifestyle for the better too!
The first consideration is your current fitness level as well as the amount you are overweight. That's because these factors must be carefully monitored by a doctor or qualified sports trainer before you get your kit on and start running around a soccer pitch for 90 minutes. If you're not ready for it, it could kill you - literally!
Real Life Example
As a real life example of this, several years ago I worked with a guy who was 36 years old and quite overweight, although he believed he was still fit enough to play soccer. The company we worked for had its own sports center and its soccer team competed in a small time, inter-company league.
This guy decided he wanted to play and as the team were short, he got the call up. Well, he ran around like a champion for about 10 minutes, then casually walked off the pitch and threw up on the side lines. He then keeled over with a heart attack. Although the medics got there fast they were unable to revive him and he died.
So be very careful about playing any sport before you've had a chance to build up your fitness levels and especially if you are eating a really bad diet of junk food. Do this by first changing your diet to a more healthy one.
Also make sure you are drinking plenty of water Then start exercising by starting slowly and gradually building up the time you do it for.
When you start to play a sport, start by only playing for short time and building that up as well as the amount of strenuous work you do each time you play.
Stamina Training
You should also do some stamina training to coincide with your chosen sport, such as distance running or jogging which will boost your fitness levels. Again, start small and build up the distance that you run for.
Swimming is also a good fitness building exercise as it makes you use most of the muscles in your body depending upon the stroke, so vary this to include breaststroke, crawl, backstroke and sidestroke.
Some good sports to take up if you are unfit and need to build up your strength and stamina are badminton, volley ball or even table tennis, where the focus is not so much on the physical running around as it is in games like hockey, tennis, basket ball or soccer or strength related as it is in rugby or football. You can also play for a few minutes at a time then stop and get your breath back before continuing if you feel you can.
In fact, there are countless other types of sports you can try that I haven't even mentioned here. Choose one that fits with what you like and that you will enjoy doing. Once you get used to a sport and can play at amateur match level once or twice a week, then you will have attained a level of fitness that will naturally decrease your weight!
100 Weight Loss Tips number 9 follows in the next post!
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Posted on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 in Top 100 Weight Loss Tips | 2 Comments
2 thoughts on "Learn to Love Sports"
Medi says:
Ever thought that cycle on which you went to places in childhood could help you to lose weight? Cycling is the one of the best and most interesting ways to lose weight. It involves vigorous movement of your lower body. It strengthens your thigh and calf muscles. It works best on your leg muscles by making them strong and helps with burning calories which results in weight loss.
Hamed says:
Very good! You have a really good article in here. For sure, the ways you mentioned here will work because two of them worked for me before. This is Hamed.