4 Often Forgotten Sports to Add to your Fitness Routine

Participating in sports is one of the best ways to get and remain fit, and there may be more sports options for you than you’ve realized. Some of the lesser-known sports can improve many aspects of your physical fitness, and taking up any of these sports may be a better alternative for you. Here are four overlooked sports that you can try adding to your fitness routine.

Skating

Whether you choose to skate on roller skates, inline skates or ice skates, skating is one of the most fun and physically well-rounded forms of exercise. Skating offers an excellent cardio workout and can also tone your legs, glutes and core muscles better. In addition to doing basic skating, you can try learning the skating skills that are required to do ice or roller hockey, figure skating or speed skating if you want to challenge yourself further.

Horseback Riding

You may think that horseback riding isn’t much of a workout, but this activity can help strengthen muscles in your arms, legs and core as you work to sturdy yourself while riding and controlling your horse. If you wish to partake in classic English riding, you can get all the English tack that’s required for riding with the right gear. You may also choose to participate in equestrian competitions once you’ve mastered the basics of riding.

Tug of War

You likely participated in this fitness challenge in school as a child, but tug of war can be a great activity for all ages. In case you’ve forgotten (or never participated in tug of war previously), the objective is to pull a rope with your teammates while another team pulls on the other side to see who can pull the opposing team a specific distance in their direction the farthest. Tug of war is great for working the arm, leg and back muscles. Tug of war isn’t just popular with kids; adults have also been known to get in on the action, and there are even official tug of war teams that are suitable for people of different age levels.

Archery

Shooting a bow and arrow requires a lot of hand, arm and back strength, and you can give the muscles in these parts of the body a good workout by practicing archery. Your hand-eye coordination will also likely improve remarkably the more that you practice trying to hit targets by shooting arrows from your bow. Another benefit of archery is that it helps to sharpen concentration so that you can develop greater mental focus.

Football, baseball and basketball aren’t the only sports that are available to try. By incorporating some of the lesser-known sports into your exercise routine, you’ll be able to improve your fitness in more ways than you’ve probably imagined.