Body Blog: Summer Sports Leagues Make for Fun Workouts

By Noa

With the sun shining and the weather heating up, it’s hard to motivate yourself to spend an hour inside a dark and smelly gym. At the same time, if you’re not into running, getting a good workout outdoors isn’t always easy. Or fun. So what can you do to take in the beautiful summer weather and burn some serious calories?

Join a summer sports league.

It doesn’t matter if you are living in a big city, or crashing with the parentals in suburban America – you can find a summer sports league near you. They range from softball to dodgeball (and everything in between) and are a great way to meet people, get a little workout, and have a really good time doing it.

I spent last summer playing kickball twice a week. Sure, kickball requires a lot of standing around (especially when your team is full of boys who can’t stand losing and thus do most of the work for you), but we’d do some warm up runs (serious calorie burning), I’d run at least one base every time I kicked (serious calorie burning), and there were many times that bright red ball flew right over my head and I’d have to run after it (serious calorie burning).

Next week I’m starting a summer volleyball league, which can burn between 450 and 700 calories in an hour! All that while hanging out with some cute boys (that’s how I chose my team…) and keeping my toes in the sand. That definitely beats 45 minutes on the Stairmaster.

Summer leagues are easy to find and easy to join. You don’t even have to know other people doing it – there are plenty of teams that need extra players and you can hop right in. And don’t worry; if you’re not good, that’s OK, too! Most of these leagues are just about the fun, so it’s OK if you aren’t the star softball pitcher for your university.

My summer leagues really get me excited about working out and there is nothing better than that. I highly recommend everyone try one out – it’ll be the easiest 400-ish calories you ever burned.

To find a summer league near you, Google the sport you want to play and your city (Softball league, Boulder CO). If kickball is your thang, check the WAKA (World Adult Kickball Assocation…for real) website to find a league near you.