Importance of Regular Exercise Outside of Sports

CLEVELAND - If you enjoy golfing, playing tennis or any other sport for fun, it’s important to make sure that’s not the only exercise you’re getting. 

“Physical attributes like strength, endurance, flexibility, and balance, these things need to be specifically developed. And playing a sport may incompletely develop some of them, but not very well. And for injury prevention so that people can keep playing the sports that they like playing, we prefer that people develop those qualities independently,” said Evan Peck, MD, who specializes in sports medicine at Cleveland Clinic.

Dr. Peck said based on current guidelines, people should be doing at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise every week. 

That can include activities like walking, biking, running and swimming. 

He also recommends doing strength training two or three times a week. 

It might seem like a lot, but you can split that up into 30-minute sessions. 

In addition, Dr. Peck advises those playing sports to concentrate on four main areas when they exercise: strength, endurance, flexibility and balance. 

By developing these traits, you’re not only going to help with injury prevention but could see an improvement in performance too. 

“I would recommend people ignore their sport when they are calculating how much time they are spending exercising. And the reason I say that is that I think it just becomes hard to quantify. Also, a lot of sports are dependent on finding someone else to play with,” he said.

Dr. Peck said if you just started adding more exercise to your routine, it’s okay to take it slow -- what matters is staying consistent.