Playing sport, or even just training for a sport, can be a great motivator for you to lose weight. Taking up an activity that you have an interest in can inspire you to keep working at getting better, making the exercise elements much easier.
Training for a specific sport also helps to bring in much more diverse and enjoyable exercises that, if you practice them, can lead to you developing some usable skills. Furthermore, it has been found that playing sport also delivers many mental benefits, including improvements to your mood, sleep habits, self-confidence, concentration, and it can also reduce stress according to Healthline.
Quite possibly the best aspect of taking up a sport is that there is already a long line of adored and mainstream stars for you to herald as your icons and aspire to through your training. So, without further ado, here are three great sports to help you lose weight that have perfect idols to follow.
1. Boxing
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Boxing is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best sport that you can partake in to burn calories and lose weight. It’s a whole-body sport that builds your stamina and strength while also being incredibly fun and satisfying to train for.
Best of all, for people who aren’t overly fond of going down to a gym or joining a sports team, boxing can be practiced in your own time – you just need to drive to get the gloves on and work for it.
You can look to any boxer who impresses you, or has a similar body type or style to you, for inspiration. One of the most exciting areas to look to is women’s boxing, particularly Katie Taylor.
She is incredibly exciting to watch, incredibly, she only allows an average of 5.1 punches to land on her per round, while also connecting with 39.4 percent of her power punches. She’s sensational in the ring, with her high-pressure offensive boxing style being ideal for anyone who wants to shed some pounds to mimic.
2. Soccer
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As you would assume, soccer is great for weight loss. The sport requires you to be on your toes, moving around at a good pace for much of the time, but also being able to spark into a sprint at any given moment.
Once you have the stamina and footwork locked down, it’s about the smaller aspects, such as adding upper-body strength and enhancing your jump. The best space of soccer to focus on for inspiration is the English Premier League.
It’s one of the most competitive leagues in the world, in which players have to run non-stop and be much more physical than in most other top divisions of the sport. One of the most mobile teams is Manchester City, who are always seeking to close down the ball or run into space to get a move going.
They may be at +10,000 in the Premier Leaguo win the e betting tleague, but the non-stop running has led to players like winger Bernardo Silva clocking in 8.5 miles of running in one 90-minute game.
3. Swimming
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Where boxing can be trained solo and soccer is best practiced as a team sport, you don’t even need to hold your own weight when you go swimming. Both front crawl and the butterfly stroke are very effective calorie burners, but putting enough time in with the other strokes is also a great form of exercise.
Naturally, the key to swimming as a sport is to perfect the movements of your preferred stroke and then to be able to swim quickly for long periods of time. Depending on your weight, swimming for an hour at a decent pace will burn over 900 calories. There are plenty of almighty swimmers to use as inspiration, including Michael Phelps, Dara Torres, Matt Biondi, Adam Peaty, and Katie Ledecky.
Boxing, soccer, and swimming are incredibly good sports for those looking to lose weight, with the learning curves and skills that can be gained giving you extra incentives to keep going.
