best sport for overall fitness over your lifetime?

banjobongo

What sports do you think would be the best for overall fitness, that you can do from being a child and keep doing all your life? This sport should be able to keep you aerobically fit at all ages, and you should be able to take part in it until you are in your 60s/70s. You should be able to do take part in this sport at a competitive level without doing any damage.
I’m a swimmer myself; I guess swimming would certainly fit in here. Cycling, as its low impact sport, should also go in here? I would guess that gymnastics, done at a competitive level, would have long term health implications for your joints, so I don’t think this would be on the list?
I believe that long term, basket ball is very hard on the knees.
Long distance running probably is not great for your knees also, especially if done on the road.
Rugby– nah, for obvious reasons.
Same for boxing or karate/MMA (Mixed Martial Arts).Badminton should be good…same for tennis?
What do you think? What sport(s) would you vote, and why?

amazingemmet

Gymnastics done at a competive level isn't bad for the joints. I think from training rather then accident is more down to unbalanced and unthought out training rather then the sport itself, which is pretty much the same for any sport

as an example one of the selectors for the usa team recently put in a new pb on unsupported paralell bar handstand push ups of over 100. Not bad for a 67 year old. An nother example is anastia liukin this years usa team, father is one of the usa's national team coaches and her personal coach he was a gold medalist for his home country of russia, iirc, and he still trains at a high level for personal enjoyment

BobbyOLeary

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Low impact and once the initial stages are worked out it has a surprisingly low level of injuries. As an example, I'm in my 3rd year of BJJ and I've gotten 1 injury which wasn't even directly related to the sport (I got slammed during an MMA competition and twinged my back slightly).

Keeps you pretty fit too, not quite as fit as normal wrestling or MMA but fit nonetheless. Oh and if you don't know what BJJ is it's a form of grappling evolved from Judo that focuses primarily on the ground aspects of grappling. The ground part of MMA without the strikes essentially.

PeakOutput

swimming is the easiest and most obvious for the majority can keep you in great shape for your entire life

Killme00

+1 for swimming. I would also suggest kickboxing

EileenG

Gotta be cycling for me, with skiing in winter.

I reckon you can do lifting all through your life too, just don't know if I would class that as a sport.

n1ck

Badminton is a decent one, my grandad still plays and he's just turned 86.

Ping Chow Chi

plenty of oldsters play in my badminton club, seems to keep them pretty fit and its not as bad as some others for you back and legs

I would imagine that a balanced combo of a few sports would be ideal though, most sports have their own merits

Racy

There's a great mix of age groups out on the liffey and often master crews will trounce novices with superior technique. The main injuries would be related to poor technique and bad training. So it could be a lifelong sport or one could mess one's self up big time

brianon

Olympic Lifting I would imagine would keep you pretty fit and strong into your old age. Low chance of injury also.

billyhead

Running.

murphious

Underwater cycling fights !!

Money Shot

banjobongo wrote: »

What sports do you think would be the best for overall fitness, that you can do from being a child and keep doing all your life?

Any sport that you enjoy. It's a very individual thing to say the 'best sport' for anything. A sport that you enjoy and are most likely to keep up will be the best for that person. For some it will be walking, for others rock climbing. I don't see age as an issue for particiapation in most sports - the level at which you participate will obviously decrease significantly over the years, but it shouldn't stop you participating.

BrianD3

The one I'd suggest and I'm not joking is golf. I've been playing since I was 7 and I'm still relatively sh1t at it but it is an addiction and I'll be doing it till I'm physically unable to swing a club. I know many 70 and 80 year olds who play golf and get physical, mental and social benefits from it and still compete and win prizes, play against their mates for money etc.. The aerobic fitness aspect of golf may not seen like much for someone in their twenties however it gives a baseline level of fitness which is lacking amongst the average couch potato. IMO golf + good diet + not being overweight = good health. Also if you're 70 years of age and can play 36 holes of golf in a day, you're very physically fit for your age.

Colm_OReilly

This is all based on personal opinion, so anything could go here. Doesn't swimming at a high competitive level lead to chronic shoulder injuries? There's oxidative stress in cycling/long distance events.

Basically, practically any sport can be played at a reasonable level at any age, once adjustments are made.

bman

Kitesurfing

The_Kew_Tour

n1ck wrote: »

Badminton is a decent one, my grandad still plays and he's just turned 86.

+1 and fair play to your grandad may it long continue..

I think swimming would also get my vote

mamindah

GAA, football/hurling....

These games are great for developing co-ordination and motor skills in kids, great overall cardio/muscular strength/endurance activity, great for making friends (old & young), practically free and you can keep it up into old age if you get into the coaching, or playing at home with your kids/grandkids. You can play/practice alone too, all you need is a bit of space or a good high strong wall for belting a ball sliotar at!! AND, There are facilities in every village in the country.

BossArky

mamindah wrote: »

GAA, football/hurling....

These games are great for developing co-ordination and motor skills in kids, great overall cardio/muscular strength/endurance activity, great for making friends (old & young), practically free and you can keep it up into old age if you get into the coaching, or playing at home with your kids/grandkids. You can play/practice alone too, all you need is a bit of space or a good high strong wall for belting a ball sliotar at!! AND, There are facilities in every village in the country.

Not the best sports if you are going to live abroad for a while.

Degsy

SWimming i reckon.

Roper

Variety is the spice of life. When I stop fighting I'll probably throw my hat at Olympic lifting, and I'll probably have a go at running (semi) competitively too, maybe when I'm 40+ for the last one though.

I train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at the moment and it's really the only thing I've ever done that I can imagine doing for life. Easy(ish) on the body, low impact and if you get some like-minded individuals to go with who don't try to squeeze your head and neck all session you can have a great time. It's probably the only sport I have played that I really, really love. I've enjoyed others of course but I've fallen in and out of love with them variously.

I just think you find what you love and if that changes over time, you follow your interests and go and do that.

Vampireskiss

This is very subjective because all sports are good for fitness what I would say is do the one you most enjoy that way you will more likely stick to it