6 Fun And Easy Sports To Help You Stay Active Despite Your Busy Schedule

Sports are good for more than just physical health. The camaraderie which accompanies competition makes them good for the mind as well.

Healthy competition, rivalry, and the often hilarious situations which ensue are good for you.

If you’re busy, and your schedule won’t allow you to do the sort of committed sporting events you’re used to, it can be worthwhile to find something else that fills the gap.

Following we’ll explore six sports that are easy to play and manage with a schedule, including:

• Cycling – What About A Group Exercise Commute?
• Billiards: It’s Still A Sport
• Pickleball, Badminton, Tennis, Ping-Pong: Paddle Sports
• Swimming
• Try And Get An Hour Hike In Every Day
• Free-Running: The Parkour Phenomenon

1. Cycling – What About A Group Exercise Commute?

Cycling can be a group or solo sport. Kids ride their bikes in groups to or from school. A lot of us did that when we were young. Well, don’t you have any coworkers that live nearby?

Having a “crew” or “group” can make a commute easier; especially if you’ve got to be regular about it. This is exercise, it can be done as a group, and healthy rivalries can be played with.

Salespeople might have separate teams bike to and from work or after-work locations in specific time-frames for varying incentives. That can be a bit involved, but it’s a fun and unique option.

Maybe you just want to get away on your bike for a few hours—do that! If you can combine cycling with your work schedule, it’s a bonus for time management. There are a lot of ways to play this one.

2. Billiards: It’s Still A Sport

Billiards, or “pool”, represent sports that aren’t traditionally considered to be in the same class as most athletic events.

However, they’re still sports, you can play solo or with a group, they’re easy to pickup, and you can play them on your schedule—you just need a table.

3. Pickleball, Badminton, Tennis, Ping-Pong: Paddle Sports

Paddle sports require two paddles, a net, and a ball. Preferably, have more than one ball around so if the main one is lost during a volley, the game doesn’t have to stop while another is secured.

Badminton requires a special “birdie”, tennis requires tennis balls, ping-pong balls are hollow little spheres around the size of a marshmallow.

A pickleball is a perforated sphere somewhere between a ping-pong ball and a tennis ball.

Of the four sports listed under this heading, pickleball is the least well-known.

Basically, there’s a no-serve zone seven feet from the net on either side to prevent spiking, and a double-bounce rule. Follow this link for a more on how to play pickleball.

4. Swimming

It’s hard to swim competitively outside swim meets. However, there’s a lot of exploration potential in local natural bodies of water, and pools can be quite refreshing—especially in hot areas of the country.

Beyond lakes and pools, if you’re near the ocean, that’s its own experience.

You might even pick up surfing; though that can be a little time-consuming; what with getting to the ocean when the “surf is up”, wearing swim trunks or a wetsuit, and cleaning up after hitting the waves.

Swimming is excellent exercise, and it’s fun to do with other people. There is a sporting aspect to it, and a variety of sports involving water one way or another.

Like cycling, it can be done solo or in a group. You just need time and a body of water.

5. Try And Get An Hour Hike In Every Day

Hiking is some of the best exercise you can get. Now it’s not much of a “sport”, per se, though there are competitive survivalist activities out there.

Still, you can just take a lap around a nature trail, park, body of water, or whatever suits you when you get an hour or so free.

The purpose of sports is exercise, and hopefully a little social interaction. To that end, many people have little groups they’ll get together with for daily walks.

If all else fails, this option can be done anywhere. It’s even better if trails allow a walk to become a hike.

6. Free-Running: The Parkour Phenomenon

This is a burgeoning sport that is only a few years old, and it tends to be practiced by those on the fringes of society; though it has become more “mainstream”.

It’s kind of an “X-games sport”. It’s like skateboarding or roller-blading, but with only your legs.

Parkour can be fit into any sort of schedule you’d like; but it can be a bit dangerous.

Basically, it’s “free running”. You find an empty area in an industrial complex, then go running and jumping all over the place, with special emphasis given to “daring” moves.

Many parkour enthusiasts like to run along the tops of buildings. This can be illegal, and it can be dangerous.

But there are increasing numbers of people practicing parkour, so indoor options at certain recreation centers exist if you find parkour suits you.

Finding The Sports That Fit You And Your Schedule

Parkour, hiking, swimming, paddle sports, biking, and billiards—these are just six sports you might consider if you’ve got a tight schedule. Many others are out there.

Find what is most desirable and fun for you. Fun is the factor to search for—that’ll keep you coming back.