Five Basic Sports
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Written by suphut
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Tuesday, 19 February 2008 |
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Walking, swimming, bicycling, running, and jumping rope. Every woman has tried most of them at some time in her life. These five are the natural exercises. You don't need lessons to walk, run, or jump, and you need only the most rudimentary swimming or cycling lessons before you can start paddling or pedaling around on your own. In contrast, it takes months before you can rally in tennis, ski down a mountain, apply an arm bar in judo, or develop even an elementary degree of competence in most other sports.
The basic five are lifetime activities, and they require very little special equipment or cash outlay. You can walk in any pair of comfortable shoes, you can run a year or two in one well-fitted pair of running shoes, you can jump with almost any rope lying around the house, and you can ride on a borrowed child's bicycle with as much joy as you get on the shiniest new ten-speed. Even swimming is cheap if you join the local Y instead of a health spa or country club. Everyone of these sports can be done any time of the year in cities, suburbs, or open countryside. (If you live in an area with severe winters, you can't bicycle when snow and ice are on the ground, but you can pedal a stationary exercise bicycle indoors.)
These five are the building blocks (every other sport either runs, jumps, walks, kicks, or moves the arms against some kind of resistance), and everyone gives your heart, lungs, and muscles a healthy workout.
The basic five make greater demands on your body as you ascend the list. Walking, the mildest, is one of the best ways for senior citizens, obese women, and cardiac patients to get back into shape. Add a backpack and a mountain trail, though, and you've got a real challenge. Swimming is variable. It may be as undemanding as a slow walk or as strenuous as a marathon run, but it is easier on the joints than either because the water supports your body. Bicycling demands more muscular strength in your legs than the first two, but it also adjusts from smooth easy pedaling to a thorough aerobic workout. Running, which stresses the legs and builds up your heart and lungs, requires a moderate level of conditioning before you start. Jumping rope is the most strenuous of all because you can't start out gently-the rope simply won't go over your head if you turn it too slowly.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 25 February 2008 )
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