Cycling. I don’t (yet) have all the fensi equipment nor an expensive bike and don’t do long, exercise-like laps. It is much more incorporated into my daily life. I have an oldschool road bike which I use for my commute and then every day after work go around the city with it for some hours (with small breaks for say shopping/eating; ca. 25-30 km per day). Longer rides on the weekends (average ca 100-120 km per weekend). Never was keen on sports but was always into little daily adventures and this combines the two. Last time: yesterday.
Jiu Jitsu. Really fun to grapple hard against an opponent. Unlike striking sports, you can practice pretty hard and mostly avoid injuries. There is a thinking component and a mental strength component making it much more fun than other workouts I do.
Grappling is great because not only do you need to learn strategy, patience, set ups, push pull, etc; you also have to train your body to do what your mind is thinking.
If the body is capable but the mind is weak, you suck. If the mind is capable but the body is weak you suck. And if both are weak, your just like me!
Also it’s gender semi neutral. Women can absolutely dominate against men using skill. Same with Davids vs Goliaths.
Yeah same here. The problem is that as I get better, I put in a lot less effort. I lost like 15 pounds from white through blue belt. I’ve gained back 8 during purple. On my way to being a stereotypical bald fat brown belt.
There’s a bouldering gymn near my house and my fourth-grader has gotten really into it. She would rather swim when the pools are open, but once the weather gets colder we’ll be there every weekend. I can do all of the beginner tracks and most of the 0-1s, even some of the 2s, but the difficulty goes up to 16 and the climbers who do anything above 5 seem to be thinking about the sport in a way I cant even visualize.
I’m no where near a pro…intermediate at best. I generally climb v-grades around 7-8. I know this feeling you’re talking about very much. Sometimes I revisit where I was, and where I’m at, and what once felt impossible to even imagine now just feels intuitive (of course it’s all relative, as anyone climbing v10 and above look like magicians to me). It sort of just happens naturally through practice and experience. Learning a skill is so wonderful!
Running. I do it 4 times a week, and my last time was yesterday. I took it up late in life, and found that I love it. Imagine my surprise, given that I’d spent my life telling myself I don’t like doing physical activity
How long do you run? I tend to get bored while doing any monotonous activity. That’s why I don’t like walking. I run a mile or real regularly. But want to run for longer without getting bored.
I enjoy boxing immensely. Not only is it a full body workout, but there is something deeply, instinctually satisfying about punching a bag really hard. Ive fallen off the wagon recently, I should really get back to doing it.
First, why do you like to do swimming laps? Also, when is the last time you have engaged in physical exercise, and do you have any additional thoughts?
I like swimming because of the no impact when swimming. Another reason is because its like meditation for me, I don’t think about anything else when I swim. The last time I engaged in physical exercise was on Thursday so 3 days ago.
It’s also swimming for me. I used to swim combative during my time in school, but stopped after I graduated. I didn’t do any sport regularly for about 10 years and picked up swimming again a year ago and I love it.
It gives me a break from every day stress. Once I’m in the pool, all the noise gets drowned (literally and figuratively). I totally agree that it’s like meditation. Concentrating on your breathing and feeling your body float in the water you either think about nothing, letting your body do the moves you practiced a million times over and over, or you try to feel every muscle and the feedback of the water to try to perfect your stroke by making small adjustments. No distractions, no phone in your pocket, no music in your ears, no one trying to talk to you. Having my routine and knowing how long it takes I don’t even have to check the clock.
Also I like that you don’t have to rely on the weather. There’s no excuse not to go because it’s too hot, or raining or whatever. In an indoor pool you always have the same conditions no matter what.
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