What sport should I choose and where do I start?

What sport should I choose if I am just starting out?

„When I lose a few kilos, then I'll start.“ „Let me get back into shape a bit first, I'll only embarrass myself now.“ „I'm not flexible enough for yoga.“

I have heard these sentences from so many people that I now recognise them by their intonation. Behind them lies the same belief: that before we step into the gym for our first workout, there is some preparatory stage that needs to happen somewhere else, secretly, privately, silently and before the actual exercising.

Actually, there is no such stage. Preparation for training is the training itself.

The body doesn't want preparation. It wants you to start. The first few times you'll feel awkward, you'll breathe heavily and you'll watch the others out of the corner of your eye. By the third time you'll already know where to leave your shoes and what the coach is called. By the tenth time you'll catch yourself thinking about the workout even during the day.

If you are on the verge of starting and hesitating, this article is for you. I won't tell you which sport is the right one, because I don't know. I will give you a way to find it.

The most common mistake is to start with the sport

Most people do not make personal choices, but rely on chance. A female friend signed up and took you with her. Something is in fashion and everyone is talking about it, so you decide to try it too. An acquaintance has lost weight with a certain workout and you decide that this will work for you as well.

Sometimes it works out and you stick with it. Much more often, though, you reach the third week and feel like going to the gym has become just another chore on the list. The reason is rarely the choice of sport. Simply put, one question has been left unanswered: what physical sensations do I want to experience before, during and after a workout?

Precisely this connection is the most valuable, and yet it is the one most often missing. The programme and the trainer are fine, but your body is objecting. The truth is that it wants to be heard. If for a moment you listen to its language, you will know when to push a little harder with the cardio, the weights, the reps, or to ease off the load; after which movement your shoulders straighten on their own, and after what kind of day your sleep is peaceful. You alone hold these answers. And they are encoded within your body.

Sport isn't chosen just once – a personal story

There is one more thing that petrifies people when facing the choice to start exercising: the feeling that they are making a permanent decision. That if they choose „swimming“ now, they must stick to their choice for years to come, and if it doesn't work out, it means they have failed and they start blaming themselves.

This is not the case at all, and we shouldn't reproach ourselves if a sport doesn't hold our interest for long. I'll tell you my journey, not because it is remarkable, but because it precisely illustrates this change of decisions over the years.

Ever since I was a child I danced folk dances. For years, with a troupe, with performances in front of an audience, with that specific excitement before going on stage. Then I wanted to play volleyball, but such a sport simply wasn't offered in my town, so I took up basketball. In high school and before university I went through tae-bo and the gym. At university began a long period of mountain hiking, which continues to this day. At one point I also tried rock climbing.

I started a job and went back to dancing for about a year. I changed where I lived and sought them out again. At home I practised pilates and taebo. Outside I rode a bicycle, including on forest trails. After I gave birth to my first child, I went back to the gym. Mountain hiking remained the main part of my weekends and holidays.

After that I came back to my home town and started doing HIIT and Tabata, swimming, conditioning workouts, fitness. For a year and a half, reformer pilates has been an essential part of my daily routine. Through the platform I discovered what Les Mills Core is, kangoo jumps and trampolines. This autumn I also have a mountain running race behind me, a sport that a year ago had never even occurred to me to try.

Viewed from the outside, my decisions look random. Viewed from the inside, however, I have always sought the course of action that would make me happy at the time.

We are transitional beings. I believe that you too will be a different person in five years' time, which is why the activities you choose for yourself will also change. Or perhaps I am wrong. There are people who find a love for a certain sport and remain loyal to their initial choice their whole lives. I am not one of them. That is why I believe that the first choice is not a sentence, but a door. Even a single movement unlocks horizons that hadn't occurred to you until recently, and very often leads to a desire for more.

Start from the goal, but from your own

The goal is the first thing we need to make clear, whether it's about sport or something completely different. And it has only one requirement: to come from within ourselves, rather than from the outside.

„I want to lose ten kilos by my sister's wedding“ is someone else's goal with an expiry date. „I want to climb Mount Kom without stopping at every turn“ is yours. „I want to sleep better“ is yours. „I want to finish the day without my back reminding me it's there“ is yours. „I want not to get out of breath while playing with my child“ is yours.

I have noticed what happens once the goal is clear and truly yours. The time that supposedly isn't there for a given event to happen starts to dissolve on its own. Suddenly, a twenty-minute window for walking to work appears, for a ten-minute stretch in the evening, for three workouts a week. Not because the day has more hours, but because making space for yourself is now the most important thing on your list and the moment to give yourself time has arrived.

Here I am going to say something you might not like. Laziness is not a character trait. It can be reduced and trained, just like muscles, the brain and thoughts. There is no person who does not feel pleasure and a surge of energy after giving their body the movement it was craving. Movement sets energy in motion within us. When we move, we cope more easily with everything else during the day.

Therefore, in my view, personality is the least determining factor when choosing a type of sporting activity. It is much more important to consider your current state… and to listen to your body.

The Four Filters

When the goal is clear, the choice narrows quickly. Four questions help.

The goal. What exactly do you want from your body: strength, stamina, mobility, less tension, fewer kilos, more energy? Different goals require different loads. Strength is built with weights and progression. Stamina is built with duration. Mobility is built slowly and regularly. Calmness is built with rhythmic, repetitive movements. If you want to climb to the fourth floor without stopping on the landing, that is stamina. If you want to pick up your child without thinking about your lower back, that is strength. The two lead to different gyms.

The temperament. Do you get energy from people or are you drained by them? There are people who go regularly just because they are waiting for them at the gym. And others for whom the best part of running is that for a whole hour no one wants anything from them. Both are completely normal. If you are one of the latter, a group workout will feel like a chore, not a pleasure. Group, individual, live online or pre-recorded. The options are more than they seem from the outside. If three solo workouts in a row have remained only on the plan, and an arrangement with a friend hasn't been cancelled, you already know which type you are.

The body. What are you feeling right now: old injuries, sensitive knees, a lower back that's playing up, long hours in front of a screen? You ask yourself these questions not so you can give up on training, but to be aware of your situation and approach it responsibly. If you spend eight hours in a chair, your body first wants to regain its mobility and only then carry weight. If your lower back is playing up, a sport involving a lot of jumping will be a difficult first step.

Here I will share something personal. For about a year now, I have been doing fascial manoeuvres. Simple things that do not require equipment, a gym or much time. The effect on me is noticeable: I feel more mobile, more energetic and free from lower back and body aches. I am not offering this as a prescription, I am sharing it as an observation. And as a reminder that something does not have to be complicated to work.

Practicality. How many times a week can you realistically train? At what time? How far from home or work? People fill in this filter last, and it decides whether you will continue attending workouts after the third week. A forty-minute commute to a workout sounds bearable on a Monday and impossible on a Thursday evening.

Quick test: where to start

Five questions. Make a note of your letters and see which one repeats the most.

1. When do you find it most pleasant to move around?

A) Early, alone, before the world has woken up

B) When there are people and music around

C) When it's calm, slow and nobody's rushing me

D) When I have someone to measure myself against

2. How do you want to feel after a workout?

A) Empty head and peace of mind

Energy and a pleasant tiredness

B) A lighter body, without tightness

D) That the hard part is behind me

3. How are your knees, lower back and shoulders at the moment?

A) I have no complaints

B) Sometimes they call after exertion

B) There is an area that I keep constantly protected

D) They are healthy and I want to make them stronger

4. How much time do you actually have?

A) Time, but when I decide

B) Two or three fixed evening hours

C) Twenty to thirty minutes, often at home

(d) Weekends, and generously at that

5. What stops you the most?

A) I don't like being watched

B) Alone it's boring and I'm giving up

B) I'm scared of injuring myself

D) I can't wait for slow things

More A. Alone with oneself. Running, swimming, cycling, working out to your own programme, mountain hiking. Look for a sport in which you set the pace and nobody waits for you.

More B. Rhythm and folk dances. Group conditioning workouts, HIIT, Tabata, Les Mills Core, Kangoo Jumps, trampolines, dancing. Booking a group class will do the work that willpower would otherwise have to do.

More B. Careful with the body. Reformer Pilates, mat Pilates, yoga, swimming, rowing, long walks. Start with mobility and control. Strength comes afterwards and comes more painlessly.

More G. Challenge. Martial arts and kickboxing, CrossFit, rock climbing, trail running, tennis and team sports. You need something that can be measured and beaten, otherwise you will quickly get bored.

If your letters are scattered, that is also an answer: try two different things within a month and let the body vote.

The sports map, organised by sensation

Alphabetical lists help nobody. Here are the same sports and practices, organised by what you are looking for.

When you want to be alone with your thoughts: running, trail running, mountain hiking, swimming, cycling, fitness, meditation, breathwork.

When it's the group that keeps you going: conditioning training, HIIT, Tabata, functional training, LesMills Core, Kangoo Jumps, trampolines, dancing.

When the body wants attention, not blows: reformer pilates, pilates, yoga, swimming, rowing, long walks.

When you want to forget you are working out: dancing, tennis and group games, climbing, trampolines, hikes with friends.

When you are looking for character and a challenge: martial arts, kickboxing, CrossFit, rock climbing, mountain running.

The same sport can be in two columns. Swimming is both solitude and looking after your back. Dancing is both social and difficult. This is good news, not a contradiction.

How long to give a sport before deciding

This is the most underestimated question when starting out and the reason most people give up too early.

The first workout tells you nothing. It is a shock, spatial orientation, and anxiety. The second and third are a bit better, but you are still learning where to look. The real information comes somewhere around the eighth or tenth workout, which is after six to eight weeks at twice a week. By then you know whether you want to go, or you are forcing yourself.

Give yourself this deadline and do not decide before it. With one exception: pain. Fatigue passes in a day or two, it is normal and even pleasant. For muscle soreness and recovery I wrote separately. Pain that occurs in the exact same spot, stays there and does not subside is a signal to stop and ask your coach-instructor, rather than grit your teeth.

And another thing that is rarely said out loud. People do not give up just because they lack motivation. They give up because they have not set an achievable goal and because they expect change to happen on its own, like by magic. The body does not work that way. Nothing sustainable in life happens in this manner. Change comes with responsibility, consistency and regularity, not with enthusiasm. That fades quickly, so do not rely too much on that feeling.

If this chance was fair and things still don't work out, it's not a failure. It's an attempt. I've been through enough sports to state that calmly.

And finally, the most practical question: where

Last summer I attended Emil Zlatev's summer camp. I returned from there with a real surge of energy and a clear desire for movement to be part of my daily life, rather than something that happens occasionally.

And then I was faced with the most mundane question possible. What sports are actually available in my city? Where do you train what interests me? Who leads the groups, what time are they, are there any spaces left?

The replies were scattered. Across Facebook pages, in other people's stories, on the phone of an acquaintance who knows a coach. There was no central place where a person could see what was on offer around them and sign up.

Exactly Livra. A platform that connects people who want to train with those who offer sporting activities and pursuits. That is why its slogan is „Sport close to me“.

If you are reading this line too, you already have a direction. The easiest part is left: Livra, take a look around you and sign up for one workout. Not for a programme, not for an annual plan. For one.

The rest your body will tell you.

Author: Tsvetelina Ralcheva