The reasons to justify fun are that fun must obviously be your main goal if you are to keep ahead in this game of fitness.

  

You can skimp and scrimp on many of the expenditures required in sports. You can do without this or that refinement on your present equipment but do not be economical of energy and enjoyment.

 

You soon will have the pep and strength needed for the fulfilment of your athletic satisfaction. You need enthusiasm, you can find energy, and you will feel enjoyment and reward.

 

Considering the requisites of one may wonder which, if any, sports can meet these requirements. Let us admit first, however, that there are several sports which possess an inherent element of danger. Statistically at the top of the list are the contact sports.

 

These invariably involve the dual risks of overexertion and physical trauma.

 

Whenever you itch for a contact sport, it probably is safer to turn on TV and watch it. Among others of the potentially injurious sports are those that occasionally involve excessive speed, such as skiing, aquaplaning, and auto, horse, and motorboat racing. Injuries here usually result from the reckless overconfidence of the novice, although even the old pro is not immune.

 

Any form of recreation requiring the use of weapons may be hazardous. Even if the equipment is mechanically perfect, one still must contend with the brains behind the trigger finger.

 

In practice, both benefits and dangers can be found in most sports. It depends on how you play them. The individual who seeks recreation, who avoids sudden overexertion, and who regularly keeps trim enjoys the greatest profit and assumes the least risk.

 

The list which follows attempts to combine the above suggestions yet avoids those activities which require no sustained or reasonable effort, even though they may well be teeming with relaxation, good fellowship, and proficiency.

 

These strictures eliminate archery, fishing, breeding dogs, auto racing, and billiards, to name a few.

 

Probably no form of activity combines the endurance, the ease of scheduling, the inexpensiveness, and the year-round fun of walking or hiking. In terms of miles per hour, walking is indeed a slow sport. Covering four miles an hour is really moving. But whether you walk behind a pack of beagles, are out for sight-seeing, or just for a succulent draught of fresh air, you sense much. The macrocosm and the panorama viewed through safety glass—plane, train, and car windows—are not lost to the hiker, and the delicately beautiful microcosm of nature’s infinite detail can only be appreciated by the man on foot. Even my reluctant and decrepit old bicycle has often whizzed me past scenery too quickly for me to appreciate it. Bicycling, swimming, and rowing have similar advantages.

 

Mountain climbing for exercise is perhaps only an extension of hiking. However, the slope of the incline and the rarefied atmosphere sensibly dictate a more cautious speed. Long distance running and jogging also guarantee a full view plus the feeling of being away-from-it-all. This rapid form of ambulation can cram a more extensive workout into a shorter period of time, but has no other advantage over hiking.

 

Track can be helpful or harmful. For a person thirty-five years old to take up the hundred-yard dash would be ridiculous. However, for this same man to jog along comfortably for longer and longer distances is quite a different situation. My friend, John A. Kelley, America’s foremost long-distance runner and twice member of the United States Olympic Track and Field Team, trains several miles daily and competes in several marathons annually. Johnny is past fifty and regularly outs coots men half his age. Cross-country skiing, canoeing, and snowshoeing are becoming outdated, like many other exciting and worthwhile endeavors, but bring enjoyment and fitness to the participant. What is old hat today is fashionable tomorrow.

 

Tennis, squash, fencing, indoor swimming, and weight lifting, although devoid of varied and stimulating scenery, also satisfy our basic requirements provided that they are played for fun and not on a life-or-death basis.

 

These are a few of the activities which approach the standards of an ideal sport. As a practical matter, it is not sufficient to be armed with a list of acceptable sports; one must have a rational training program in order to assure careful, predictable improvement without the prohibitive risk of illness or injury. The “hows and whys” are as important as the sport itself.

 

Fitness is a very individual endeavor. No two people go about it in the same way. Do not tell anybody about your fitness intentions. This is important. If you do let this be known to a few intimates, you will immediately be ridiculed—first, because of the novelty of your idea and, subsequently, because of your failure to follow through. This is the same advice I give my patients who wish to lose weight or quit smoking. Do not announce your grand intentions ahead of time. After your program is well under way, you will not need to tell people—they will see the difference. At that point you will no longer be the butt of “What is old Jonesy trying to prove?” jokes. You will be regarded with suspicious but respectful awe.