As the dark winter months roll in here in middle America, I’ve been looking at ways to stay active and fend off the SAD. Also, i just really like outdoors stuff and have been trying to get more active, so lets get psyched for physical activity!
I have absolutely latched on to disc golf since I played during my visit to Denver in early November. I played ultimate frisbee for nearly ten years but never jumped on the frolf train for some reason. But I got to play at some of the beautiful Denver area courses and brought it back home. Bought way too much plastic for Gizz to be proud of me and sneak out at lunch to play as many holes as I can haha.
Anybody into pickleball? It isn’t huge in the midwest, and my main barrier has been finding a good play group. The local rec center has free play at like 9am-12pm on Tuesdays and Sundays but im afraid it will just all be old people and I’ll get thrashed lol. I’ve had people over twice my age woop me up and down the racquetball courts.
That’s mostly what I do in winter besides dance my ass off at shows. Got to the Pigeons Playing Ping Pong show this week, only for the opener to go on 20 minutes early and for PPPP to give us an extended encore. Four hours of dancing later and I might as well have gone on a hike!
What keeps you active and having fun? I’d love to hear about disc golf from some of our Scandinavian friends because I know its so big out there lol. And for our friends closer to the equator, maybe you can brag aboit your year long sun (or does it get annoying?).
Really just skateboarding for me. I started as a very unfit, inflexible adult, so a few years in now and every session is still basically starting over.
But I’ve never taken to full-body exercise like this before either, so its the good kind of battle.
I’ve been really into fly fishing for about a dozen years. My life has become so busy that I can’t get out nearly every weekend (sometimes weekdays, too) like I used to. Still, if I have free time, I head out to a river to catch some trout or smallmouth bass. I tie my own flies, as well, which adds a fun element to it all. That allows me to use only barbless hooks to do as little damage to the fish as possible.
I’m fortunate to live in one of the most beautiful states in America with some of the best fishing, and this obsession has had me out exploring so many places most Pennsylvanians never experience.
My wife and I somehow got hooked on sumo wrestling. It’s the weirdest thing. We saw a video on NHK’s YouTube channel recapping one of the tournaments early in the year, and by now we know the names of all of the top-division wrestlers and have our favs among them. There’s a main tournament every two months and then some exhibitions in between.
Right now, there’s a tournament going on in London, which doesn’t happen very often (last time was in the 90’s).
no way! I saw this recently. too fucking funny.
My recent recreational sports obsession is Kayaking. I went my first time on July 4th and have been out 9 times since (not enough!!) and bought 3 kayaks already. I love it.
I’ve been a fisherman for a long time and only started kayak fishing a couple of years ago. I never expected this to happen but this summer I went out a few times and left the rod at home. It’s just really fun to focus on paddling. I even competed in a kayak race.
That’s awesome. I might do the opposite and try fishing! But really it’s about being on the water for me. I live by a tidal river off SF Bay and love the currents.
I’m an avid canoer. There’s something about padding – even in a relatively slow boat compared to a kayak – that just feels good. Maybe its the feeling of being connected to the water and concentrating on that push/pull between your body and the water. Who knows. But its really enjoyable and satisfying.
Lots of paddlers around here! I’ve also got a canoe and really love taking my two daughters out to enjoy the Susquehanna River and nearby lakes where I live in southcentral Pennsylvania. On my own, I prefer the kayak probably just because I’m not that competent of a paddler and any amount of wind really screws me up solo in the canoe.
Both of you guys might like this YouTube channel I found a few months back. The guy makes wooden boats and films himself floating around. He’s got me inspired enough to perhaps try one of his simpler designs. Though I really don’t need another hobby. https://www.youtube.com/@cumberlandrover
any amount of wind really screws me up solo in the canoe
Same – took me a long time to get my j-stroke down, but my canoe still sits pretty high and tracks poorly so I stick to rivers and streams. Its an Old Town Pack – single seat 11’ and only 33lbs so I can actually cartop it myself. I’d like to get something better for speed and tracking but they stopped making royalex boats about 10 years ago so everything nowadays which is that light is carbon fiber or some other fancy material and way too expensive to justify.
Mine’s an Old Town Discovery 158 that my buddy traded me for a case of beer. He’s one of those guys with a fleet of canoes: one is a gorgeous wooden antique and two are older kickaround canoes, and then he’s got like a half dozen others that still hold promise but that need a lot of work.
Old Town canoes are awesome. My father, who grew up in York PA (your neck of the woods, it sounds like?!) spent a lot of time working in boat yards in southern Maine before settling down and having kids. He restored a really old wooden Old Town back in the 1980s – recanvassed and releaded. I need to get the serial number on that thing and look it up one of these days. Wish I had a pic to share.
Nice to find some other folks who enjoy recreating in small boats/pumpkins!
Stoke to see some love for paddling here. I’ve got an Old Town brand too. Ocean Kayak Malibu 11.5 sit on tops. The coat about 1K but I got three and a lot of gear for about 800. My wife and I been loving it and my 16 year old is developing an interest. Hoping to go out this weekend. It’s warm enough here for now without the winter gear we lack. Dry suits are on the agenda but we’re low budget af so who know when that will happen.
I grew up playing all the sports. It was the one thing my parents really pushed and I’m grateful for it as it keeps me competently active across many different activities and sports. My main sport was/is soccer, but that has waned over the years as I enter my late 30s. I’ve shifted more towards volleyball and weightlifting/running. I also play disc golf sometimes, take walks, and can jump into just about anything else if it’s suggested. Being out in CO, there are always trails to hike, but I’m more one for meandering – looking for mushrooms, listening to birds, sitting by the creek – than to hike a 14er as fast as possible. I just like to BE in nature. Once I heal from ankle surgery, I’m going to be back into all of my things and I CANNOT wait.
I’m more one for meandering … I just like to BE in nature.
Have you heard of Shinrin-Yoku, the Japanese practice of forest bathing? Sounds exactly like what you’re describing. I’d offer a definition of it but I seems like you’ve discovered the benefits already
Forest bathing is a way to describe an intentional act of immersing oneself in nature and seeking a connection with the natural world around you as a way to expand ones perspective. I think it probably falls into the category of a Mindfulness practice. Its a way to interrupt/separate yourself from the normal thought patterns of everyday living (and all the bullshit and crap that comes with that). A way to connect with something vast and different from yourself, and in so doing provide space to reflect on ones own life and gain self-insight in a non judgemental way. I am certainly no expert but it feels very meditative to me, too.
If you’ve ever gone outside to do something and thought to yourself something like “it was just nice to be outside. I’m not sure why… but it was just nice”. Or maybe you were in the car and it was that first day of the summer when you can really put the windows down and enjoy the feeling of the warm air rushing around your face as you drive down the road… you’re feeling the benefits of this! Forest bathing, IMO, just doubles down and goes all in on that fleeting but often-felt idea: that being in nature and experiencing it in a very detail-oriented and thoughtful way provides an easy way to disconnect and recharge ones inner self.
When put into practice intentionally – in a way that just feels good to you, there’s no “right” (or wrong) way to do it – some folks might literally hug a tree. Others might just touch a leaf. Others might imagine having a conversation with a plant. Perhaps you take your shoes off and just enjoy the cool moist earth under your feet. Me, I like to sit and try and listen with my full attention to everything and find the quietest noise I can discern and fully concentrate on it – imagine what creature might be making small rustle in the dry leaves, or imagining the currents of air moving through the pine needles and making that beautiful white noise of the wind. And then just let my thoughts wander from there, wherever they want to take me.
The idea is to find something that captures your imagination in the moment and just study it and ponder it. As @obsidiancleaver put it – just meander, whether physically or mentally. Follow the muse. Just like they say in music “if it sounds good, it is good” … thus “if it feels good, it is good”.
Tl;dr – its using nature as a springboard to find and experience awe. As Dascher Keltner defines it in this book, awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast and mysterious that transcends your current understanding of the world. I think a lot of us know how that works in the context of both playing music as well as attending concerts … and forest bathing is analogous to that. But in the context of nature instead of music.
I’m sure there’s more formal definitions and such, and good wikis that you can find about it. But that’s my perspective on the matter. Give it a try some time!
