As it goes every spring, folks are looking to get back into shape, abandoning their hibernation routines for a beach body summer. Personally, I just want to get back to being mildly active again. Long gone are the days when I was able to hit the gym with nothing holding me back, but that doesn’t mean I can’t work off some rust and weight. With that in mind, here are the activities the Sip Advisor loves when he’s looking to get… well, active:

Cycling

If I’m going to have a good sweat, I’m hopping on the cycle. Mrs. Sip and I bought a fold-up cycle in March and neither of us have yet to use it. Girl Sip sat on it one evening to enjoy a book, but otherwise, it has sat in our garage. That has to end and hopefully some recently warmer temperatures encourages one or both of us to finally break the bike in.

Weight Lifting

There was a time in my life that I was a gym regular. I loved how swoll my muscles would get after a good session and incessantly annoyed Mrs. Sip about my physique. Sadly, with the introduction of kids to our life, I haven’t had a good lifting sesh in years. Now that we have our own little place, I looked into the price of weights and was shocked to see how much pieces now cost.

Sports

I’ll take getting active thorugh sports, over time in the gym, any day of the week… except for basketball (more on that later). Recently, Boy Sip and I have enjoyed kicking around a soccer ball and playing some ball hockey with a net we recently purchased. I also sometimes pine for the days when we were involved in a multisports league, playing a different sport each week. Among my favourites were ball hockey, dodgeball and volleyball.

Narrowly missing the exercises I like are activities like rowing/kayaking. What can I say, I like watersports! Now let’s move to the exercises I find wasteful and useless:

Running

Running is so stupid. How stupid is it? Well, really, really stupid. The damage it does to your knees alone is enough to make one cautious. And let’s not forget about the dreaded nipple chafing! I’ve also seen too many idiots running around on roads, acting like they have the right of way over vehicles. These folks should be rundown with no hesitation. Some kind of point system would keep people in line.

Yoga

I tried yoga once and hated every second of it. Granted it was the morning after a long drinking session, so that could have played a role. I don’t care about all the purported benefits of the activity, as I need more movement in my life, not less. I will give yoga some credit for the creation of yoga pants. Also, some of those positions can be quite inspiring, if you catch my drift!

Basketball

I hate everything to do with basketball. From squeaky shoes to the feel of the ball and everything in between. It is by far my least favourite of the major sports and I apologize to the world, on behalf of my country, that a Canadian invented the sport. Whenever we’d have basketball as part of our multisports league, I looked for every way possible to get out of the activity.

Love & Hate: Pumping Iron

• 1 oz Vodka
• 1 oz Amaretto
• Top with Orange Soda
• Garnish with a Lime Wedge

What exercise activities do you love or hate? Sadly, Mrs. Sip still disputes that sex is an exercise activity, so I’m left working out on my own… as usual!