Sticking To Sports – How Is It Done?
When it’s time to get fit, you want to do it in a fun way. It’s said that if there’s no pain there’s no gain, but there has to be an element of enjoyment in what you are doing in order for you to carry it on. Whether this joy from the progress that you are making or even just getting out and seeing friends, making it as exciting and refreshing as possible is definitely the way forward in being able to stick to it. But there are more elements to it than that – how do we keep on going with what we are doing?
Take Up A Brand New Sport
If you have gone through sport after sport and given them chance after chance, it could be that you are looking for something new – or a combination of what you already love. For example, Pickleball is a relatively new sport, having been invented in the mid 1960s. It has rules similar to badminton and tennis but with racquets specifically designed for the game, which you can buy from https://www.wolfesports.com/collections/pickleball-paddles. Or you may like to have a go at Ki-oh-rahi or Kabbadi – lesser-known sports that you would need to form a team to play, but it could just be the making of what you love. If you take your sport search across different continents, you will find a range of different activities that you may like to take up. Don’t keep it contained in what you know – look outside of the box and keep looking for something that you love. The internet is a great place to start, especially if you don’t quite know the rules or things that you need for specific sports. There are often communities of enthusiasts that you can join, as well as videos that you can watch for reference on how to conduct yourself.
Play With Friends
If you have somebody to go out and exercise with, there’s a certain amount of sticking around that you will need to do to keep up appearances. Nobody likes to be the first one to flake out at what they’re doing, and having somebody there to spur you on and motivate you to get moving is something that will keep you going at it in the long run. Don’t pair up with somebody who is too competitive, as this could put you off; it’s hard to keep up with somebody who is aiming for the best and trying to win everything that they’re doing, and that’s just playing with them against somebody. If you are playing with them every week and they are going above and beyond to beat you, and succeeding, this can be especially disheartening. What helps is if you are both working on the same level. If you are training with somebody who is working at a level above or below you, it can easily get frustrating; either you are slowing yourself down to get to their speed or having to explain things which seem obvious to you (but you know that you have had to learn at some point), or are not able to keep up and are the one asking the majority of the questions. Sometimes it helps if you start something together, at the same time. That way you know that you have both been given a fair starting chance at what you are doing.
Set Yourself Goals
Depending on what exercise or sport that you’re doing, you should begin to see an improvement gradually over the course of a few weeks, but you should still be setting yourself goals. Partly because it’s great motivation and something to set your mind to outside of the daily struggles of work and personal life, but also because it could see you becoming fantastic at what you do. Everybody started out at what they’re doing as a beginner or an amateur; it’s up to you to take it past this stage and turn into whatever you want to be. The sky’s the limit with sports, especially if you put your mind to it. There is a certain amount of natural talent that you will have to have to succeed in some exercises, especially with quick-reaction games like table tennis, but a lot of it can also be attributed to practise. If you’re not putting as much in as you’re expecting to get out, then you’re already working on a losing combination. There are apps that you can download to your phone in order to track just how well you are doing. Coupled with a smartwatch from http://www.fitbit.com, you will be able to monitor your progression in endurance, weight loss and general fitness over time. As you get quite detailed results with these devices, it’s a steady way to watch yourself increase in all of the positives that you were looking for. They can also be quite a motivator – a lot of them have an inbuilt alarm or throw up messages and a buzzing sensation to get you on the move when you have been inactive for too long.
Enter A League
No matter what sport you play, there will always be a competition somewhere in the world for you to join in with. If you’re not at league level in terms of being able to put yourself forward as a contender, this should serve as proof that you should stick with what you’re doing until you actually get there. That way, you know that you are working towards an aforementioned goal; it doesn’t matter how long it takes to get there, and you certainly shouldn’t push yourself harder than you are already doing in order to get there quicker. Just take things at your own pace and enter whilst still enjoying what you originally started out for. The great thing about joining in with a competitive sport is that there are always tips and tricks to be learned; if those who are better than you aren’t forthcoming with them, simply look at their technique and how they’re operating.