Are you not a sports fanatic? Or do you perhaps know someone who is grumpy about sports that you would like to convince to do more sport? Now is exactly the right time to convince you or your (still) unsportsmanlike friends to take up the sport and to find the right non-sporting sport.

A sports grouch does not feel like exercising. He always finds excuses not to do sports. Unfortunately there are far too many people who act like this. However, this only harms themselves. Because sport and exercise bring you a whole lot of positive things for your life. I would like to give you a few of these positive effects in this article to convince you or the grumpy sportsman you want to convert.

But often it is not the arguments in favor of sport that keep a die-hard sports gruff from exercising. Some people just find it difficult to start a sport and then even harder to stay on the ball. For this reason, I will also give you a few starting points on how a non-sports enthusiast can find the right sport for himself. I’ll also give some examples that you can try out right away.

With this article I want to make it easier for those who don’t like sports to get started in the world of sportiness.

If the article has convinced you that it can help someone who doesn’t like sports, then by all means share the article with your friends who don’t like sports!

Why is sport or exercise in general so important?

The muscles, both in humans and animals, are responsible for moving the body. Your muscles are also fundamentally important for your health . In this article, however, it is primarily about their function for your movement.

Muscles enable all movements of your body. From the legs to the arms to your head, every movement is made possible by muscles. How big the range of movement is depends on genetics (every person is different), but above all on the respective use.

In your childhood, your everyday life probably consisted of a lot of movement. You’ve probably climbed trees, ran around, and played catch, hide and seek, soccer, basketball, and other things. Your muscles and joints were moved sufficiently every day. At least that’s how it was for me. That was still fun and almost no one was a sports muffle back then.

Anti-aging or not, but as you get older the movement decreases if you do nothing about it. Other things become more important. The job and other everyday obligations leave little time for sport. Because of the many other things that are apparently more important (and also exhausting), one has increasingly no desire to exercise. That just seems to take more energy.

With the frequency of movement, the muscles and the joint capsules shrink. In addition, many people often adopt an unhealthy, sitting, hunched posture in their professional activity (and unfortunately also in their free time). All of this leads to poor mobility, reduced strength, poor blood circulation and potentially a whole truckload of physical (such as head, neck and back pain) and also psychological suffering (such as stress and depressive moods). As a rule, this does not have a positive effect on the quality of life.

All of this because over time you have developed from a happy, healthy child to a sports and exercise muffle.

The good news, however, is this is not entirely irreversible. You can now step by step with small changes integrate more exercise in everyday life and find your sport motivation again with the right sport.

What characteristics should a good (entry-level) sport for those who don’t like sports have?

I hope you are already convinced that it doesn’t actually make any sense to be a gruff and to let the fact that you do not feel like exercising prevent you from healthy exercise. But how exactly are you supposed to change that now … after all, you probably still don’t feel like exercising.

There are certainly some sensible measures, such as formulating a good, athletic goal , building healthy habits in a targeted manner or fitness anywhere in the apartment -Motivation sayings to hang up. After all, it is also essential to build a good mindset in order to overcome your inner weaker self. I will also give you a few more tips later on where you can read about it.

However, if you want to get started with the sport and you finally want to get sporty , then it is to a large extent important that you find the right sport to start with .

As a real sports grouch, it should make this sport as easy as possible for you to start and stay on the ball. In the course of time I have established which factors are decisive for this.

Getting started is easy

A good entry-level sport does not have major barriers to entry. You must be able to perform the sport with minimal preparation. Any additional equipment, any preparatory training required are potential excuses. The fewer excuses you can come up with not to start, the more suitable something is as a non-sporty sport.

Quick successes are possible

There are few things that are more motivating than quick wins. The right entry-level sport should enable you to make visible progress quickly and achieve your first intermediate goals .

The middle name is flexibility

Those who don’t like sports can always find excuses everywhere. If a sport has very strict framework conditions, then it is therefore not ideal (for entry). Rather, the greatest possible flexibility is required.

If, for example, it is only possible to train on a certain day at a certain time, you always need a trainer or you always need stationary equipment, then you should perhaps look for another sport to start with.

A sport that you can pursue at any time in different places and with as little equipment as possible is ideal.

Four seasons beyond pizza

If you start a sport as a non-sports enthusiast, then it is important that you have the chance to stay tuned. This is often a problem with seasonal sports. If you don’t live on a glacier where you can ski all year round, then you better look around for other sports who don’t like sports.

The chance to train in a team

It is always harder to change behavior alone. That is why it is a decisive success factor that you can look for colleagues. This can be a training partner or a whole team / group with whom you can do sports together. It doesn’t have to be a team sport for that. There are enough other sports groups for running, cycling, swimming or weight training.

You have to enjoy it

That is perhaps the strongest argument ever. If you know a sport that you used to enjoy doing very much, that was always a lot of fun, then this is a great starting point. Having fun is an incredibly great motivator. It doesn’t have to be anything where you immediately think “great”, I’ll do that now. However, if you used to have fun with something, then there is a good chance it can do it again.

With these criteria you can now start looking for a suitable sport for you. Maybe you won’t find anything that fits all the criteria, that’s not bad. Just try what works best for you.

Which sports are good for those who don’t like sports?

If it is difficult for you to find a suitable sport, then I have three classic sports that are not sporty, with which many have managed to integrate sport into their lives. Of course, not every sport is equally suitable for everyone, but at least the suggestions can give you a starting point to look for something suitable.

Otherwise it makes sense to choose one of them and start with it. Ultimately, the main thing is that you start and don’t think too long about whether, when, how and with what to start.

1) Run

Running is the classic entry-level sport, and for good reason. After all, you can go running anytime, anywhere. You don’t need (almost) any equipment for this. Just a pair of good running shoes, sportswear and a headlamp * if you want to run at night. It is super easy to start running, you make your first progress quickly and the first small run will get you your first medal in a few months.

In general, there are a lot of reasons why you should run more often. Let that go through your head!

2) Strength training

You may be thinking by now that weight training is a bad sport for those who don’t like exercise. If you look at it purely from the perspective of “having fun in sport”, that may be true for many people. Strength training, and I clearly include bodyweight training here, has a number of advantages that can make it the perfect entry-level sport even for those who don’t like sports.

Getting started is really easy and you will quickly make your first progress. In addition, this sport will visibly change your body very quickly. These are very important motivational factors, which in turn increase the fun of training. Thanks to bodyweight training and tools like the Thera Band and Sling trainers , you can do very effective strength training anywhere and anytime and do not have to rely on a gym.

Strength training also goes very well with many people’s fitness goals. If you want to build up or lose muscle mass and maintain as many muscles as possible so that you get the most aesthetic body possible, then strength training is the most efficient sport of all. So what are you waiting for?

3) Jump rope

You might be thinking “What ??? Jumping rope ??? “but there is a good reason that I am performing jumping rope here.

In fact, many people quickly have a lot of fun jumping rope. You can do it almost anytime, anywhere, and in the end all you need is a (sensible) jump rope *. In addition to jumping rope, you can also watch a film or listen to music for training , for example. Nevertheless, it is a very effective cardio training .

If you don’t know what it is like to jump rope, then I can only advise you to try it again. It’s really fun and still more exhausting than you think! 😉

Some more articles that can help you

As a non-sports enthusiast, it is of course not just about finding the right sport. There are also many other useful tools that you can use to change your life step by step to healthy and sporty.

I have already linked a few of my articles in the text at the appropriate place. However, here are a few selected articles that I would particularly like to recommend to you if you would like to overcome your weaker self, achieve your goals and lead a sporty and healthy life:

Otherwise, take a look at our Sports motivation category for suitable articles for you.

Conclusion

It is possible to stop being a sports grouch and you can start today. To do this, you should look for a sport that you can practice as flexibly as possible all year round. Ideally, this will even enable you to achieve your first successes in a short time.

Ultimately, however, it is always a question of habits and mindset. You should also work on that if you don’t want to be a sports grudge anymore.

If you want an effective and tried and tested step-by-step strategy that supports you in the fight against your inner weaker self, I can recommend my book The weaker self .

Believe me: not feeling like exercising is no reason not to start exercising anyway!