Ready to aim for a personal best? Try these Olympic sports yourself

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Every two years, the world's best athletes gather for the Olympic Games and – with feats of strength, speed and skill – inspire millions of people to sit on a couch and watch.

Happily, many of those viewers then decide it's time to challenge themselves by heading out to their local gym, pool or recreation center to try a new sport.

Some want to get fitter because they've seen people who are in great shape, said Dr. Abbi Lane, an assistant professor of applied exercise science at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Others are captivated by the Olympians' stories of dedication. Whatever the inspiration, she said, "we should ride that momentum to get ourselves exercising."

Here are five ways to do so. But first, a preliminary round of tips.

If you haven't been active for a while, don't let that stop you. Doing anything is going to be helpful, said Lane, who was vice chair of a 2023 American Heart Association scientific statement on resistance training. But if you have heart problems, kidney disease or other serious medical concerns, see a health care professional first.

In general, most people can probably start light exercise with no problems, she said. Just don't try to be an Olympian on Day 1 and push yourself so hard that you can't work out again the rest of the week.

And with that – we're off! With the Summer Games underway in Paris, here's what experts say about turning Olympic fever into heart-healthy fun.

Running

No Olympic sport has a deeper history than running – and nothing could be easier to try, according to marathon expert Amby Burfoot.

"We were born to run," said Burfoot, winner of the 1968 Boston Marathon, former executive editor of Runner's World and author of several running books. "The human body is really good and really efficient at moving forward in a direct line."

Short-distance running competitions were held at the ancient Greek Olympics. The oft-repeated story of the first marathon, from the town of Marathon to Athens, isn't part of that tradition. But a marathon has been part of the Games since 1896.

Burfoot has quite a history himself. The resident of Mystic, Connecticut, has run enough marathons to have lost track – it's about 75, he guesses. He did Boston's again this year, at age 77.

It starts simply, he said.

"The secret to beginning running is that all running begins with walking," Burfoot said. "And then every once in a while in your walk, you do a little run for 15 or 20 seconds."

Don't start off trying to imitate the heroics you might have seen while watching the Games, he said. "The biggest mistake that people make is they attempt to run too fast. And when you're just beginning and you attempt to run too fast, you don't last long. And when you don't last long, that is very discouraging and makes you feel very defeated. And then you quit."

Those who stick with it will find all kinds of options to test themselves, from 5K and 10K runs to half- and full marathons. For people enamored with track events, USA Track & Field and other international groups hold Masters events worldwide for people 40 and older.

Burfoot thinks big, long-distance races are perfect for entry-level runners.

On a track, the gap between the fastest and slowest can be huge, obvious and perhaps embarrassing. "But in a road race, you can hide, because there's 50 others, or 5,000, or sometimes 50,000 out there. And so you very much disappear into the moving parade of bodies."

Making the Olympics is not a realistic aspiration for most – and that's OK, he said. "You can aspire to be healthy and fit for as long as possible."

Weightlifting

"For almost everyone, weightlifting is a great idea," said Lane, who worked as a strength and conditioning intern with several Olympians. And if building strength is your goal, you don't even need weights to get started.

"Bodyweight squats, some form of modified pushups, some situps and lunges – it's going to get the job done," she said.

The original Olympians did not compete at weightlifting, although an ancient Greek wrestler named Milo of Croton supposedly trained by lifting a calf every day until it was a bull, which he carried on his shoulders around Olympia.

Lane didn't exactly endorse that approach. But she did say you don't need a lot of equipment to get started. "You can use milk jugs or soup cans or anything you find around your house."

If you decide to hit the gym, start slowly, she said. Beginners will sometimes try to do too many repetitions or fail to rest in between sets, "and then you're like Frankenstein's monster, walking the next couple of days because you're so sore."

Don't worry if you're surrounded by people with more experience, she said. "Here's a gym fact that people don't always tell you: When you're at the gym, no one is staring at you. Everybody's looking in the mirror at themselves. So don't be afraid to go in and do your thing."

Swimming

Lane is also a fan of swimming.

"It's such a great workout," she said. It works the whole body and has both strength-building and aerobic elements, "so you're definitely going to get stronger."

In terms of fitness, it's one sport where an amateur gets a benefit: "If you're very inefficient and bad at swimming, you're going to expend a lot of energy, which is not a bad thing," she said.

Lane, who has worked as a certified swim instructor and taught aquatic fitness classes, said that if you want to get faster, you'll need instruction. She suggested checking with a local rec center – or, if you know a good swimmer, "offer to buy them lunch and see if they'll teach you."

Fencing

Fencing is a time-honored sport that has been contested at every modern Olympics. The appeal is simple, said Phil Andrews, CEO of USA Fencing, which is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

"Most kids, at some point in their life, were in their backyard holding a stick from their local tree," pretending to be Zorro or Captain Jack Sparrow, he said. "In the simplest form, that's precisely what we're doing, at the highest level."

It's a sport of the mind as much as the body, he said, forcing combatants to quickly analyze a foe's defenses. It attracts people with "quirky personalities" who prefer an individual challenge to being part of a team, Andrews said. "They might be artists, or they might be engineers, or they might be into acting, or they might be into ballet."

But make no mistake – it's a workout. Think of the effort required for lunges. A robust gym session might include a dozen or two. Fencing athletes lunge hundreds of times during a high-level bout.

Fencing has three traditional weapons – saber, foil and epee. Saber can be the most fun to watch, Andrews said, but the rules are more complex, while epee is simplest, with foil as a "happy medium." A fencing gym might specialize in just one weapon, but beginners don't need to worry about equipment. "Almost every club will have gear they can loan you," he said.

His advice to the curious is to simply check out a local organization. "Come in, put on a fencing suit, grab a foil, an epee or a saber, and see if you enjoy yourself." It's not the sport for everybody, he said. "But it might be the one thing that speaks to you."

Team sports

Sometimes, Lane said, watching the Olympics can reawaken a past interest, like a team sport you played as a kid.

Team sports can be helpful in many ways, she said, starting with motivation and accountability: If your friends need 11 people on the field to play, and they're counting on you to show up, "it does get you out there."

Running-intensive sports like soccer or basketball have a lot of activity built in. But less active sports, such as baseball or volleyball, can inspire someone to start training regularly. "It's so powerful to get off the couch and do something that just starting anywhere is going to be helpful," Lane said.

If you're having trouble making a choice, it can help to think about whether you're looking for something social, Lane said. If you want camaraderie, try a team. But if you want to exercise when you want and just compete against the clock, then running or swimming might be more your style.

And if you don't like something, just move on to the next sport, she said. That's how she helps her children find their own sports.

"We're just trying everything," Lane said. "We've had a couple of sports that are hard no's, and we've had a couple that we found we really liked. And I don't think it's different for grown-ups. You give things a shot and see what sticks to the wall."