Firstly I’d like to thank Bonnie for the
opportunity to do this guest post.
How fit are you?
I’m someone who really likes playing sports
(basically any sport: soccer, cricket, rugby, tennis, etc - but particularly
basketball). I’ve found that I need to keep fit to play well and I’m going to
tell you on this guest post some of the ways I enjoy (or sometimes don’t enjoy
when I’m in the middle of an exercise) keeping fit.
There are a lot of benefits (:P) to
keeping fit, such as emergencies where perhaps you might have to run for a
while to get help or lift someone out of a burning building. Also it will help
with heart health, flexibility, and just overall healthiness in your life.
I have listed several exercises below that
I find are really good ways to keep fit. All are easy movements that can be
done with minimal equipment (except maybe for the one involving a rope) because
all are body-weight exercises.
Squat:
The squat is one of the exercises I do
every day in warming up for basketball. I do it to warm up my knee muscles but
it is also good for core strength, flexibility, and balance. You know how you
see babies squatting down on their heels? It’s easy for them because they’re
flexible but as you get older you can lose this skill and actually find it hard
to squat all the way down without losing your balance. They are one of the most
useful exercises you can do, and you’ll really appreciate being good at them
when you are 80 years old and want to get up off the couch.
Start in a standing position
Squat down until the crease of your hips is
level with or lower than the top of your knee. Keep back straight and chest up.
Push-up:
The push-up is not just good for your chest
and shoulder muscles but also your torso and some of your leg muscles. A thing
I like to do every-now-and-then is check how many I can do in a row without
stopping. (My basketball coaches make us do these all the time :P)
Check how many you can do without stopping. J
Start with chest touching or almost touching the
ground
Extend your arms until they’re locked out. Keep
your back straight
Pull-up:
This is a really good exercise that I guess
could come in handy in a number of situations. Hold onto a bar, lower yourself
until you’re dangling and then try and pull yourself up and get your chin over
the bar. This can be quite challenging at first but with a bit of practice it’s
not too hard to get five or more in a row. There is also another way you can do
pull-ups which is called the Kipping Pull-up. Basically you swing your body and
use the momentum to pull yourself upwards. It’s much quicker and less energy
consuming this way but it takes a little while to learn to get your timing
right.
Start from a hanging position
Pull your body upwards until your chin is over
the bar
Rope
Climb:
Another really good exercise is the rope
climb and this too, I’m sure, could come in handy in emergencies. To climb a
rope you need a mixture of both your legs and arms - probably more your legs
than arms in fact, if you do it right.
We have plaited together a rope and hung it
from a tree and all the kids in our family enjoy climbing (or swinging on) it.
Hannah and Stephen climbing the ropes J
So there you have four body-weight
exercises; all of them will help you get fitter. But the way I most enjoy keeping
fit is by playing sport (namely basketball).
Sport is the most fun way of keeping fit, particularly if you are on team (like in basketball). And just practicing whatever sport you play (unless it’s bowling) will really help. Maybe learn to run longer distances, or short distances faster? Maybe you should try out basketball if you’ve never played it before!
Me shooting a jump-shot J
Also I would like to learn what types of
exercises and sports other people do. Thanks for reading this and I hope you
have fun keeping fit.
When you’re thinking about exercise though,
just remember this too:
“for while bodily
training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds
promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8).
Matthew
About the author // Matthew:
I'm 15 years old and the oldest child in a family of 8 kids. I live near Christchurch, New Zealand, and I love being a Christian in the Catholic Church. I enjoy basketball, writing, reading, and a variety of other sports. I am writing a book at the moment. I play basketball for a club called Gators and I really love the game. I am also a homeschooler, and I enjoy being able to spend the whole day with my family.
