The Top 10 Summer Sports That Will Keep You In Shape

Tennis Is A Traditional Summer Sport And An Ideal Way To Stay Fit Through The Warm Months

Tennis is the traditional summer sport in much of Europe, and whether it's lawn tennis, clay or an indoor version. and singles or doubles, tennis can be demanding enough for serious athletes and sedate enough for the elderly, the very young or simply those who don;'t want to pass out in the heat! Doubles is traditionally an opportunity for couples to play tennis together i the form of mixed doubles - with one man and one woman on each team. Learning the basics can take longer than you'd expect if you're new to the sport, with the backhand stroke and movement around the court being difficult for beginners. But a couple of raquets and a net can make a fun afternoon without any special skill at the game.

Cycling Can Keep You In Shape Over The Summer

Cycling has a lot of great advantages as a sport. It's scalable, so not everyone has to do the Tour de France. A couple of hours at the weekend, riding with your family, can still make a big difference. And it's fairly cheap. Once you have the bike, there are only some maintenance expenses like fixing flats and occasionally replacing a worn part. On the day you ride, it's free. You can explore the countryside - or the city - around your home, and it's particularly good for kids, teaching them independence and healthy habits at the same time. We typically think of cycling as being mainly a leg sport, which it is, but the upper body and core are also involved in stabilizing the hips and pulling on the handlebars to ascend long climbs. So you can get a pretty good workout with no more equipment than a bike!

Basketball Or Street Basketball Can Both Be Good Ways To Stay Fit In Summer

Basketball was invented by Dr. James Naismith in 1891, and since then it's become one of America's most played games. The reason? It requires a relatively small number of people and hardly any equipment, it's entirely non-contact and it's as exciting and aggressive as the players. Developing skills in handling the ball has been an after-school pursuit of young Americans since Dr. Naismith's day. Playing basketball involves short sprinting motions, longer runs down the court and sudden changes of direction to maintain control of the ball, together with a whole array of jumping techniques for scoring baskets. It's easy to see that basketball can require - and encourage - great athleticism, but it can also be a fun way to pass a summer evening even if you can't lay up. You can practice solo, or play one on one, and the driveway and local park are the commonest arenas of basketball in America.

Watersports, Like Rafting, Surfing, Rowing And Canoeing, Can Help Keep You In Summertime Shape

Watersports can help keep you in good shape over the summertime. Rowing is such good exercise that many gyms contain rows of rowing machines to replicate the movement, but sculling a skiff around the lake will bring greater enjoyment than sweating under gym lights with your iPod. Then there's canoeing, a favorite in wetland areas or those where there are many rivers. You can canoe gently round the lake or tour down broad rivers, or you can sit in a tiny flat-fronted kayak and go over rapids, and everything in between. There's a classification system for waterways that grades them for canoeists in terms of the skill required to navigate them safely, so check your maps and consult the local canoe organization - or look it all up online, of course... Rafting is a relatively new arrival in the watersports menagerie in its current form. Sure, some people still build huge, heavy log rafts for sailing down broad rivers but most rafting is done in inflatable rafts on white water, with a large group of cheerful people all getting soaking wet and rowing in different directions! This is usually an organized sport, so look around your area for companies that...

Watersports can help keep you in good shape over the summertime. Rowing is such good exercise that many gyms contain rows of rowing machines to replicate the movement, but sculling a skiff around the lake will bring greater enjoyment than sweating under gym lights with your iPod. Then there's canoeing, a favorite in wetland areas or those where there are many rivers. You can canoe gently round the lake or tour down broad rivers, or you can sit in a tiny flat-fronted kayak and go over rapids, and everything in between. There's a classification system for waterways that grades them for canoeists in terms of the skill required to navigate them safely, so check your maps and consult the local canoe organization - or look it all up online, of course... Rafting is a relatively new arrival in the watersports menagerie in its current form. Sure, some people still build huge, heavy log rafts for sailing down broad rivers but most rafting is done in inflatable rafts on white water, with a large group of cheerful people all getting soaking wet and rowing in different directions! This is usually an organized sport, so look around your area for companies that offer it. They'll hire out all the equipment; usually, all you need to take is your wallet. Finally, there's surfing. Surfing is a varied group of sports incorporating bodyboarding and windsurfing, surfing proper and arguably paddleboarding too. Buying all the equipment for any of these can cost a significant amount of money but many areas suitable for surfing have companies that will lease you the gear and teach you the fundamentals. It's a great way to spend a summer day!

Swimming Is A Summertime Favourite For Staying In Shape

Swimming is a fun leisure activity in the sunshine, but like cycling, it's very scaleable. You can splash around in the pool for half an hour, and you may be surprised at how hungry you are when you get out! Or you can do serious lengths, with some amateur swimmers knocking off several miles in a single session. Swimming is a near-perfect exercise system for the whole body, requiring a balance of cardiovascular and muscular endurance and using the majority of the body's muscular system. It's also almost totally impact free so it's great for people with joint troubles, the overweight or the elderly.

Baseball Or Softball Can Be Great Ways To Keep Up Fitness In Summer

Baseball is the quintessential American sport and it's a traditional summer pastime, with its little brother softball. While baseball requires both some equipment and some organization, there are teams everywhere you look playing at every level from the sponsored amateur team that's a whisker from professionalism to half a dozen guys in a weeknight pickup game. Baseball offers several fitness benefits. There's the throwing and hitting movements of pitching and batting, sprinting between bases and the longer runs involved in fielding. Even a casual game can last for several hours as baseball doesn't use a clock even at the professional level.

Soccer And Street Soccer Can Be Fun Ways To Keep Fit In Summer

Soccer, like basketball, requires little equipment. If you have a ball, you can improvise the rest and in the two spiritual homes of the game, Britain and Brazil, soccer is played everywhere using walls, fences and even curbstones as goals. Smaller groups can play in one half of a soccer pitch, competing for access to a single goal kept by a neutral goalie. Soccer's main contributions to fitness are running and kicking the ball. As in basketball the ball must be dribbled with the hands, so a soccer ball must be dribbled with the feet and players can run many times the length of the pitch during a game. In the warm summer sun, with family and friends, none of us is going to bend it like Beckham, but soccer on a pitch or an improvised, free-spirited street version can be a good way to stay fit through the summer months.

Frisbee Can Be A Great Way To Keep In Shape Over The Summer

As a game between friends, or a family activity, Frisbee has few equals. It's easy to learn and young children can join in, and it requires no equipment beyond a frisbee and a park or open space. There's a more high-octane version, Ultimate Frisbee, which is played in a similar way to football, with the aim being to land the disc in the opposition's goal area. But for families and friends, there's no need to put on pads and spikes. Just throwing the frisbee and running for it for an hour will give you more exercise than you'd expect and it's a good way to socialize too.

Badminton Can Be A Fun Way To Stay Fit Throughout Summer

Badminton is similar in its basic set-up to tennis. Players use a lighter racket and a shuttlecock instead of a ball. The shuttlecock moves slower than a ball would so the pace of play is generally slower, but the game can still be demanding. Like tennis, badminton is played either by singles - two opposing players - or doubles, four players in two teams playing against each other. Rather than the two-bounce rule in tennis, in badminton the shuttlecock may not touch the ground. Despite its image as tennis' more sedate and feminine cousin badminton can be fast and require great agility. For beginners or families badminton has the advantage that it's easier to get a 'volley' - continuous passing between one side or team and the other- - going, because the shuttlecock moves more slowly, and because it isn't supposed to touch the ground badminton can be played on far rougher ground than tennis. The equipment can be very cheap and the basic game is not hard to play, but even a slow sedate game before dinner will give you an appetite.