Athletes vs Couch Potatoes

1636 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Health benefits of playing sports

For many years, I’ve have been labeled as a couch potato due to my laziness and my lack of a healthy diet. Throughout my childhood, I had very few friends and I stayed inside my house, most of the time. I was always into sports, but I never got to actually join a team and play with my friends because I never enjoyed moving around. I never liked to run, skip, or jump because I was 20 lbs. overweight and I hated sweating due to the sweltering heat. I enjoyed sitting in the couch all day, doing nothing but watching T.V, eating junk food, playing video games, and watching the day go by. However, I needed to change my life around, so I joined the gym, started to eat vegetables and white meat, instead of chips, cookies, or other junk food, and I exercised daily. I was proud by the results at the end because I felt healthy, fit, and much more energetic.

Many former couch potatoes have become athletes because they adopt active lifestyles and eat healthier. Unfortunately, some people fall into the trap of a sedentary lifestyle and maintain it that way. They stay sitting around, sleeping, eating junk, or watching T.V. Athletes look forward to be involved in physical activities, while couch potatoes let life go by. Due to differences in lifestyle, physical activity and health, athletes are healthier and much more energetic than couch-loving counter-parts.

Athletes live a more active lifestyle than their couch laying counter-parts. They are either gifted with physical talents or they train extensively to improve balance, strength, and flexibility by exercising. Most Athletes go to the gym about 2-3 times a week and do about 1-2 hours of cardio to improve their heart rate and maximize fat-burning. They get up early in the morning or go o...

... middle of paper ...

...” Nature Publishing Group 28 January 2009. 27 October 2010 http://www.nature.com/nrcardio/index.html

“Why can a trained athlete run a marathon, but a couch potato cannot run half a mile?” Discovery Communications Inc. n.d. 27 October 2010 http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/diet-fitness/information/question485.htm

J. Anderson, L. Young and S. Prior “Nutrition for the Athlete”. 2010 Colorado State University Extension. 12 May 2010. 26 October 2010 http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09362.html

Albanesius, Chloe “More Than Half of U.S. Adults Play Video Games” Ziff Davis, Inc. 08 Dec. 08. 27 Oct. 10. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2336392,00.asp

Lifestyle “Health Effects of a Sedentary Lifestyle” LifeMojo Health Solutions Pvt Ltd. n.d. 26 October 2010. http://www.lifemojo.com/lifestyle/health-effects-of-a-sedentary-lifestyle-44282279#ixzz14A8O9cyZ

Show More
Related

  • Analysis of Lululemon Athletica Inc (LULU)

    2618 Words  | 6 Pages

    Kilpatrick, Marcus, Edward Hebert, and John Bartholomew. "College Students' Motivation for Physical Activity: Differentiating Men's and Women's Motives for Sport Participation and Exercise ." Journal of American College Health 54 (2005): 92. Mintel . Web. 4 Dec. 2013.

    Read More

  • Choosing Between Low-Fat and Low-Carb Diets

    1559 Words  | 4 Pages

    Fink, Heather Hedrick., Alan E. Mikesky, and Lisa A. Burgoon. (2012). Practical Applications in Sports Nutrition,3rd edition. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

    Read More

  • Why College Athletes Should Be Paid

    767 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dr. Pietro Tonino stated that “College athletes are putting themselves at risk for health problems that could persist long after they graduate.” (sciencedaily.com). The college athletes today risk their health when they step onto the court or field for their college, and get little in return. According to sciencedaly.com, there was a study published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine. Researches at Indiana University organized an analysis of two groups of people. One crowd was made up of middle-aged college graduates who played division one sports. The supplemented group comprised of middle-aged college graduates who did not participate in sports. The study showed they were in much poorer physical condition, and agonized from a number of things including depression, fatigue, and sleep disturbances. The non-athletes portrayed much less signs of wear and tear.

    Read More

  • Buyer's Behavior Of Under Armour: Case Study Of Buyers

    900 Words  | 2 Pages

    As previously stated, these consumers are involved in some sort of physical activity, and this is a trend that has grown in the past few decades. The trend of participating in physical activities will continue to see growth due to lifestyle changes of the consumers. Since, people are noticing a change in the human life capacity,

    Read More

  • The Western Diet

    1171 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wardlaw, G.M. and Smith. Contemporary Nutrition: Issues and Insights. 5th Edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill, pp 85, 2004.

    Read More

  • Essay On Violent Video Game Stereotypes

    1225 Words  | 3 Pages

    The average person who plays video games regularly is thirty-three years old (Issitt). This topic is important because video games have been given an unfair stereotype. Video games have the stereotype of taking over the lives of teenagers and making them violent. However, the benefits of video games outweigh the negatives.

    Read More

  • Australian Rules Football (AFL)

    1212 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ultimately, sports nutrition can be very interesting and should be taught to all. There are 7 types of nutrients the should ideally be consumed in our everyday meals. This will help with physical and mental health.

    Read More

  • Obesity an Escalating Problem

    1585 Words  | 4 Pages

    People are consuming too many calories and aren’t physically active, because of changed lifestyles and technology advancement, in the last 20 years. Both adults and children pass a lot of time watching the television, playing video games and researching or chatting on the computer. These lifestyle changes encourage sedentary behavior. The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention stated that in their study to calculate obesity across the nation. In 2010 “no state had a prevalence of obesity less than 20%” compared to a maximum of 15% to 19% in 15 to 20 states in 1994 (CDC, 2011). Physical inactivity and high calorie intake from processed food has made big changes to our health. Now days people don’t even cycle or walk to the grocery store, or at least walk to the nearest bus station to go to school or work. Every year people’s physical inactivity increases while our eating habit become worse.

    Read More

  • Performance Enhancement through Protein Supplementation

    1277 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to the book “Understanding normal and clinical nutrition”, the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein intake is, 0.8g/kg of body weight for non-athletes; according to nutrition professionals this amount can be achieved through a healthy diet (Rolfes, Pinna, & Whitney, 2012). It is well known that athletes, due to their high energy expenditure, need to ingest a greater quantity of nutrients with the purpose of repairing and building muscle cells, besides reestablishing energy storage; The International Society of Sports Nutrition (2007) states that athletes and exercising individuals amount of protein to be consumed depends on the intensity of the exercise training sessions, the quality of the protein ingested in their whole foods diet, besides their carbohydrate intake. Meanwhile, athletes’ protein needs should be about 1.4 to 2.0 g/kg of body weight, and even though dietary supplements are a safe way to meet protein requirement, it would be healthier to obtain the necessary nutrients ingesting high quality foods as part of a daily diet (Campbell et al, 2007).

    Read More

  • The Case Against Exercise Essay

    765 Words  | 2 Pages

    To support his claim, he references to a quote from a source which he doesn’t recall. His argument and his supporting claims are weak as he does not even recall a quote he references to. In my opinion, if we prefer sedentary lifestyle and not use our bones and muscles, our life will be meaningless and equivalent to a statue or a scarecrow or a mannequin. The article by Mayo Clinic staffs titled “Exercise: 7 benefits of regular physical activity” proposes seven benefits of motion and activity including but not limited to controlling weight, boosting energy, combating diseases, promoting better sleep, and so

    Read More

  • Nutrition for Athletes

    401 Words  | 1 Pages

    Whether it is on a track, a pitch, court or rink, nutrition is of vital importance in the development of a healthy, competitive athlete. Athletes must depend on highly nutritious and vitamin rich to keep their body at their healthiest, their mind focused to maximize their performance.

    Read More

  • Nutrition: A Key to Success in Sports

    880 Words  | 2 Pages

    Certain foods can make a difference in sports competition. Conditioning, strength, and speed have been the focal points of athletic training for years; however, the research on nutritional elements indicates their importance to an athlete's optimal performance. Knowing the proper food to eat before, during, and after a physical activity can help an athlete in achieving their desired performance.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Video Games

    1545 Words  | 4 Pages

    Exercises are important activities for people who want to achieve healthy lives. Imagine that John, a person who loved to play tennis. He played tennis every morning before he went to work. However, one day, it rained hard outside and he couldn’t play his favorite sport anymore. He was so sad and depressed. Luckily, he remembered that he had a Wii--a video game console-- that could help him to play tennis with online people inside his house. It’s a big thank to the video game industry, now people can play sports any time they want inside their houses. Not only tennis, there is a ton of exercise game for people to choose: dancing games, yoga games, footballs game, fitness games to name a few. More than that, the video game industry is trying to create new exercise games that are more and more realistic so that people can burn the same amount of calories as they do actual sports when they play video games. In additions, for the first time in century, everyone can actually play sports and compete with people around the worlds inside their small houses. Exercising is more fun than ever before. ESPN channel actually broadcasts video games as normal sports. People can also learn about healthy foods when they play cooking video games. For an example, Cooking Academy, a game where players will play as a chef and learn to cook more than fifty recipes. Players will fry, chop, flip, mash, and more while answering

    Read More

  • Benefits of Playing Video Games

    1776 Words  | 4 Pages

    "Video game play may provide learning, health, social benefits." American Psychological Association. February 2014, Vol 45, No. 2

    Read More

  • The Impact of Video Games on Children

    640 Words  | 2 Pages

    Over the years gaming has become a widely popular aspect of our culture. Kids and teenagers have replaced riding there bike or playing with dolls for video games that connect people together all over the globe .We have all been there at one point and time, there are games for just about anybody. Video games are for all age’s yes us adults love to play them to. Playing video games are fun but not a lot of people realize the impact video games can have on the body physically and mentally. Excessive playing of video games can cause decreased social skills, deterioration in health and increased aggressive behavior.

    Read More

More about Athletes vs Couch Potatoes

Open Document