The Best Sports to Play for a Great Workout

Here is our guide to the best sports to play for a great workout.

Now, we know the importance of exercise and the key role that the gym (can) play in that, but it’s not for everyone and for those less inclined to enter the ‘iron paradise’, sport is another great way to keep fit!

Potentially playing your favourite sport is a way in which you can exercise, relax and get your competitive fix without even really being aware of just how hard you’re working.

So if you’re wanting to up your sport participation in order to improve your fitness, we’ve compiled a quick list of the best sports to play for a great workout.

Please keep in mind that lists such as this one are aimed at providing you with inspiration, background and a form of guide, depending on your current fitness and physical health, certain sports may be less suited to you than others and if you need guidance, we would be very happy to help.

The Best Sports to Play for a Great Workout

1. Cycling

Road cycling, mountain biking, long rides or short rides, cycling is one of the best sports for a great workout and general fitness.

Cycling will provide you with a fantastic aerobic workout and effectively target muscles such as your glutes, hamstrings and quads – hey, you’ll also get to take in some great scenery!

Another positive of cycling is that it’s low impact on your joints and can even be done inside on stationary bikes if the weather is no good.

Don’t feel obliged to go all out on your first bike, you can get into cycling without spending a fortune and as you get more confident you can progress to competitions or cycling groups.

As a rough guide, the average person can burn in the region of 600 calories

2. Golf

A sport that can be played for many years and enjoyed by all ages is Golf. 

The good news is that if you are walking and playing 18 holes of Golf, it’s also a great sport for general exercise.

Four hours walking, moving your body and benefiting from fresh air and hopefully good company, Golf can do the world of good for your health and mood (unless you have an especially bad round!).

Not as expensive as you might think, you can get a set of clubs second hand and pay per round on many public courses.

As a rough guide, the average person can burn around 350 calories per hour playing golf (walking not in a cart).

3. Squash

Potentially a great sport for burning calories and getting in a great full body workout without really being focused on that is squash.

Squash is potentially best played to begin with against a person at your own ability/level, however playing against a better player will likely just get you moving more!

From a workout standpoint, squash will see you targeting many areas of the body including your quads, glutes, hamstrings, chest, back and arms. It will get you moving and put a focus on speed and agility. 

Depending on the intensity of your game, the average person can easily burn over 600 calories an hour playing squash (more with a higher intensity game).

4. Water Sports

Who doesn’t love getting out onto the water, especially in Australia where we are so blessed with epic beaches, lakes and water based facilities.

We’re grouping many different water sports together here but think of sports such as kayaking, rowing, paddle boarding and you’ll get the idea.

Generally speaking these are endurance sports and they’re going to benefit you in areas such as strength, endurance and increased heart rates.

To see them as competitive sports, you may need to reach out to local clubs, but for enjoyment and a great workout you can hire equipment in many locations and hit the water for fun and exercise. 

With multiple sports included, it’s hard to say exactly how many calories the average person can burn an hour but certainly you can expect to pass 350. 

5. Swimming

Another water based sport and one synonymous with Australia is swimming.

Low impact, readily available, cheap and highly inclusive, swimming is a sport that can be done year round and is a great general workout. From a calorie burning perspective, lap swimming is right up there.

To take it more seriously and add in some competition, get involved with the club side of your local swimming pool and find out about the type of events they hold for all age groups.

An hour of lap swimming by the average person, could see them burn in the region of 500 calories by swimming at a moderate pace – increase the speed and increase the calories burnt.

6. Court Sports

Much like watersports, we’re grouping a number of different sports together here, including: basketball, volleyball, and tennis.

The exact benefits vary but a good session of any of them will have you sprinting, turning, jumping, stretching and slamming! 

Cardio wise, these are great sports to play and the exact effort required is often eclipsed by the sense of competition and enjoyment. 

To get the most out of these sports, you’ll need to learn the basics but that’s easily done with a few lessons from a coach or a friend who plays.

An hour spent playing tennis in a match format for the average person, could see them burn in the region of 600 calories.

Getting into Sport

As we’ve already stated, this is a list that should act as a guide and whilst we would love it to inspire you to becoming more active, we would also caution that you pick a sport suited to your fitness level and health.

If you’re getting back into sport then we would suggest you read this article on a safe return to sport.

Further, if you don’t want to take any chances with your comeback and instead you want to make sure that you get as much enjoyment from your return to sport as possible, book in for a session with the Precision Physio team and we’ll take you through a thorough evaluation, understand your goals, your history and provide you with a plan to help you get the most from your time playing sport.

How Do I Book An Appointment with Precision Physio for Help?

We’re taking the health of our clients, members and staff very seriously and our preference would be for you to call to book an appointment so that we can make sure to explain our approach to keeping you safe. You can call any of these numbers to schedule a session:

• Customer Support Centre: 02 8607 4000
• Precision Physio Concord: 02 9736 3950
• Precision Physio St Marys: 02 9623 2220

Online Consultations

Evolving with the current environment, we are also now offering online appointments, meaning that we can support anyone who is unable to leave their home. Sessions are done via our state of the art Telehealth system and as long as you have a laptop or tablet with an inbuilt camera, or a phone with camera, we can help! Online consultations would be especially effective for discussing and planning your new year’s resolutions.

To learn more about online consultations, please call us on any of the numbers listed above.