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I’m like a lion. I don’t have big teeth, I don’t eat raw meat and I couldn’t tell you what gazelle tasted like (or, if i’m honest, what a gazelle was) but there are some other similarities. Namely, I sit still for most of the day and then have 30 minutes of activity somewhere between all the napping.
It’s the only thing that works for me on account on my busy schedule, and the fact that I don’t really like exercise. But every now and then, when my partner starts nagging me about my health and my doctor starts looking all disappointed in me, I decide to go on a health kick. In the past, I tried running, but I got bored quickly. I tried swimming until I remembered I couldn’t swim and I embarrassed myself at my local pool. In the end, I decided to do things my own way.
So, I found a few keep-fit hobbies that were fun and could keep me entertained, while also pleasing my doctor and getting my partner off my back. These are my couch potato keep-fit tips for lazy lions like me.
Snooker and Pool
It doesn’t sound like the most competitive fast-paced game, and it’s not. But you can still burn a lot of calories playing games of snooker and pool. More importantly, they are games that most men enjoy and games that you can very easily get lost in for hours at a time. At a standard pace, you can still burn as much as 150 calories an hour playing these games.
If you want to make it a little more competitive, then put a timer on each shot or have competitions on who can clear the table in the quickest time. Before you know it you’re racing around the table, smashing balls into pockets and burning calories just as quickly as you would playing soccer.
Snooker is the better game for this as it’s longer, more technical and it will take a lot longer to get through a single game if you’re not a pro. But I find it best to mix it up a little, playing games of both snooker and pool. Get yourself an 8 pool foot table (standard size for pool, short for snooker, but still good for amateurs) and a set of both snooker balls and pool balls.
You can buy premium pool tables from specialist retailers, costing upwards of $2000 each. But if you go into your local sports store they’ll cost just a few hundred. You’ll have an easier time buying snooker tables and balls in the UK than the US, but it’s the pool table you need anyway and you can always find the snooker balls from a UK retailer like Selfridges.
If you’re worried the snooker balls won’t fit the table, checkout this video of a guy playing snooker on a pool table. It can be done and it’s actually a lot easier and more conducive to fast-play games.
Learning an Instrument
One of the best things I did was to learn to play the guitar. I was struggling for hobbies at the time and worked too much. The guitar was a release and while it was difficult in the beginning, it became a joy once I learned. Playing the guitar can burn over 100 calories an hour. Hard to believe, I know, but the numbers don’t lie.
You can play sitting down or you can let loose and jump around your front room like a rockstar. Whatever takes your fancy. If you’re struggling to learn, do what I did and grab yourself a copy of Rocksmith. It’s a video game that teaches you to play guitar. So, technically, you can burn calories and learn…while playing video games!
It’s a dream come true.
Foosball
I love soccer, but the fact that it requires me to leave the house and get all dirty and sweaty has never washed with me. But then I found foosball. It’s lazy man’s soccer. It’s played on a table that you can fit in your spare room and if you have an equally lazy friend then you have someone to play with for an hour.
You can burn between 100 and 300 calories an hour playing this game, depending on how vigorous you are. And because it’s all upper body, it’ll also help to tone your arms, chest, and back. Just don’t expect to look like like a bodybuilder afterward because I did, and I was very disappointed.
The best foosball tables can set you back a pretty penny. But you can find reduced price tables and even pay-to-play tables (so you can be “that” friend) reviews here on Foosball Fanatic and other top review sites.
Darts
The ultimate pub game, darts is a game we’ve all played while drunk and game where the drunker and fatter you are, the better you seem to be. It’s also a game that you can play for less than $20. It’s cheap, it’s easy, it’s fun and it can burn as much calories as playing pool and snooker. I personally don’t think it is as entertaining, but each to their own and it’s just as easy to play the game for hours on end.
Also, if you have a cat, let them watch. Trust me. There is something about the game of darts that cats go mad for. My fat tabby isn’t interested in anything. And I mean anything, but as soon as he sees that dart fly at the board, he’s like Garfield after getting a whiff of lasagna.
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I like the way that you say that foosball is a lazy man’s soccer. True! Not everyone wants to get all dirty and muddy all the time. Why play outdoors all the time when you can play indoors sometimes?