Can Sports Make You Live Longer?

The Real Key To Longevity And Lifetime Health

As our quest for fitness evolves, there has been a massive increase in longevity and living longer.  Everyone wants to hold on to youth, staying active and fit throughout old age. One of the obvious answers is the gym, and we agree with this 100%.

However, there are other things you can do; lifelong health and longevity are also found outside the weight room.

We’re talking about being involved in sports and athletics. Research shows these are some of the best ways to stay consistent with training in the long term while also increasing life span.

Gym Adherence Is Depressingly Low

We want to be very clear here. We are not, of course, criticizing the gym. We love lifting weights and the whole culture around the gym. 

However, if we are being real, only a small % of the population can be satisfied with the clanking of metal plates.  It’s no secret that gym adherence is abysmally low. Some numbers to consider;

• 67% of gym memberships are not used regularly. 
• Only 18% of gym-goers utilize their membership at least once a week. 
• 50% of new members quit within the first six months
• 30% of memberships are canceled within the first year. 

You get the idea.

The Problem With Only Weight Lifting

Poor adherence doesn’t just exist in those who don’t like training. Even individuals who initially enjoyed the gym become bored after a few years. 

The most common reason is that they plateau, making gains extremely difficult, and they get bored. Or they just lose interest.

The only answer many experts give them is to do more.

We believe you should always be involved in strength training as it provides numerous benefits you can’t get elsewhere. 

However, there are other ways to get fitness.

How To Achieve Long-Term Fitness?

Imagine being told that the only way to be fit is to fish five times a week? That’s essentially the same as implying that the gym is the only way to achieve fitness. It’s not.

Many of the experienced ex-lifters we spoke about above didn’t quit fitness. Instead, they transition into more challenging, athletic endeavors. For example;

• Rock climbing
• Triathlons
• MMA/Boxing/Wrestling
• Even paintball!

You get the idea. These people aren’t lazy. They’re not quitting fitness. They’re just finding a healthy lifestyle outside the gym as well.

When discussing the global population as a whole, we believe that promoting outdoor sports and activities can be a much more attractive alternative to a wider range of people.

Sports Provide Purpose

We wrote an article earlier on how new research is finding people with hobbies tend to live longer, healthier lives with greater mental health (Guo et. al, 2025, and Cleary et. al, 2025). This is due to a variety of reasons, such as;

• Providing purpose
• Relieves stress
• Adds a social aspect

Essentially, it provides people with a reason to wake up and strive for something.

What’s interesting is that the study showed this occurred with any hobby: playing cards, gardening, or camping. Well, athletics and sports are simply hobbies with a physical component.

As we mentioned in that article, any hobbies are a good thing to have in your life. However, an athletic and physically challenging one would be ideal!

Sports Provide Various Fitness 

Athletics provide fitness but in a fun manner. There are a variety of sports, each with its own benefits, but all will improve your health. For example;

• Rock climbing promotes muscular strength, muscular endurance, and cardio
• Tennis promotes increased VO2max and agility
• Cycling increases lower-body strength and power while improving VO2max

We can go on and on, but just about every sport will place physical demands on your body.

Additionally, competing, even at the amateur level for fun, gives you the initiative to improve, i.e., through progressive overload.

Some Individuals Are Goal or Task-Oriented

Different people have different personalities.

When it comes to fitness, some individuals are more task-oriented or goal-oriented. Or they like the unique problem-solving demands that many sports provide.

Telling people they have to lift weights is like using the same method of teaching for an analytical, logical child as well as a creative, artistic child.

Playing Sports Has Been Connected To Longer Lives

Similar to hobbies, engagement with sports has actually been associated with longer lives.

In 2018, a group of researchers examined data from the Copenhagen City Heart Study, a long-running study that began in 1975–1978. It periodically collects data from both old and new participants to investigate the risks and causes of cardiovascular disease.

This group examined available data on individuals in sports, comprising over 8,000 participants.

Compared to sedentary individuals, they found that different sports were associated with varying increases in years of life expectancy.

• Tennis - 9.7 years
• Badminton - 6.2 years
• Soccer - 4.7 years
• Cycling - 3.7 years
• Swimming - 3.4 years
• Jogging - 3.2 years
• Calisthenics - 3.1 years
• Health Club Activities -1.5 years

Interestingly, they too found that participating in more social sports equated to a longer lifespan.

Coincidentally, we just published an article not too long ago about the rise in padel and its role in fitness. Looking at these sports, it does seem that racquet sports have the upper hand.

Keep in mind, this doesn’t include every sport. Activities like rock climbing produce some of the fittest individuals in the world, but you get the point.

Why Long-Term Fitness Is Essential

One of the cruel facts of life is that we don’t get to keep the health benefits of training after we stop. Although some things can persist for a while, health benefits are a direct result of being physically active. Once you stop being active, you lose a lot of the benefits over time.

This is why we encourage people to try different fitness endeavors. We love the gym, but we also like the challenges that athletics provide. And if this gets more people moving, this is the ultimate goal.

And remember, you can always do both, which is what we recommend!

Reference

1. Cleary, M., Le Lagadec, D., Thapa, D. K., & Kornhaber, R. (2025). Exploring the Impact of Hobbies on Mental Health and Well-Being: A Scoping Review. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 46(8), 804–814. https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840.2025.2512006 
2. Guo, Y., Zhao, Q., & Xu, J. (2025). Hobby engagement and all-cause and cause-specific mortality risk among people aged 50 years and older in 19 countries. BMC Medicine, 23, 187. PMCID: PMC12208283
3. Huang, W., Xiao, Q., Li, Z., Chen, Y., Wang, X., & Liu, Q. (2025). Positive association between hobby participation and objective and subjective cognition among adults aged 50 years and over in 24 countries. Social science & medicine (1982), 383, 118487. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118487 
4. Schnohr, P., O’Keefe, J. H., Holtermann, A., Lavie, C. J., Lange, P., Jensen, G. B., & Marott, J. L. (2018). Various leisure-time physical activities associated with widely divergent life expectancies: The Copenhagen City Heart Study. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 93(12), 1775–1785. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2018.06.025