Trying to find an active hobby

Sakebomb

Me and a freind are recovering from depression. My therapist suggested that I get into some kind of regular physical activity like raquetball. Unforutantely, there are no free raquetball courts in Austin that I could find. Cheapest one was at the local YMCA that wanted $55 a month. Not interested in basketball or tennis either.

Anyone have any suggestions?

815165

Sakebomb wrote: »

Me and a freind are recovering from depression. My therapist suggested that I get into some kind of regular physical activity like raquetball. Unforutantely, there are no free raquetball courts in Austin that I could find. Cheapest one was at the local YMCA that wanted $55 a month. Not interested in basketball or tennis either.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Work backwards. What free/cheap facilities are in your area? Do you prefer individual things or team sports? A team sport could be good for people coming out of depression, I imagine, because there's less pressure on you as an individual to succeed and meeting people is always a good idea.

RUNN1NGMAN

How about an ultimate frisbee rec league. There's absolutely no skill required to join one, and they are a lot of fun and very laid back. You can also probably find a lot of pickup games where you can just show up and play. Find a pick-up game that's newbie friendly, show up and ask someone to teach you how to toss a disc.

http://upla.austinultimate.org/

slacktron

Try Disc Golf. It's just walking with a little upper body exercise, but it gets you outside and is (usually) free. If you can manage to bike to the courses, that's even better.

http://www.texasoutside.com/austinframes/discgolf.htm

THEPAIN73

http://www.geocaching.com/

Try geocaching. Me and my girlfriend go out to parks or in the city and search for these as a team and we get outside and they can be as hard or easy as you wanna make it.

Essentially it's 21st century treasure hunting. People hide containers and put the location on this site, you load them into the GPS and then you head out.

All you need is a GPS and a good keen eye.

It's great fun.

Deadfall

Kickball man. Kickball.

It's relaxing, it's entertaining, everybody just goes to have fun (for the most part). I've been playing in adult leagues for a few years now, and it's the highlight of my week.

www.kickball.com

starmanbrand

Came in here to offer geocaching after I saw you weren't interested in tennis.

UncleChet

Dude. It's Austin TX. So much to do. Take up swimming at a local quarry, take up walking the river walk. Start a part time business as a dog walking service, find some random college dudes to play flag football/vollyball with. Get in to the music scene and walk to shows and stuff downtown.

My therapist wants me more active as well, but outside of walking my dog, I just haven't hit my stride yet.

CowShark

Roller Skating

Darkewolfe

Bicycling is an easy solution.

Evil_Reaver

Deadfall wrote: »

Kickball man. Kickball.

It's relaxing, it's entertaining, everybody just goes to have fun (for the most part). I've been playing in adult leagues for a few years now, and it's the highlight of my week.

www.kickball.com

Quoted for truth.

I had no friends when I moved to Los Angeles. 3 months after I moved there I got involved with WAKA (the national kickball organization) and made some of the best friends I will ever have in my life.

Do. This. Immediately.

Darkewolfe

Kickball is good. Other thing in that same vein is dodgeball. Dodgeball is pretty much the most fun I've had as an adult in an organized, team sport. There are two big things to realize about team sports as they relate to your goal:

1. Even when you are struggling with your depression, it may help you to be involved in a team sport, because you'll know that if you don't get your ass in gear and get to your weekly event, you'll hear about it from someone else. Accountability is huge when starting out with something like this.

2. The activity will not always be available to you. Pick one that is scheduled so that you can go when it does happen and don't miss it. If you find that you need another physical activity, pick one that you and your buddy can do without having to schedule. (Bicycling, running, walking, rollerblading, fishing, bear wrestling, etc.)

Daimajin

Buh-leted

Djeet

Might want to check this out. There is a cost associated with partcipating. IIRC your shirt gets you beer specials at the post-game happy hour.

Regarding flag football, opt for super social league if you aren't you know, good at football or in decent shape.

Gareth

Personally, my favorite physical activity is riding my bike around town. If you already have a bike then I'd suggest giving it a try. If you don't have one it can get a bit expensive to find a decent bike, but the cheap wal-mart ones will usually hold together for a few months at least.

blakfeld

I've got a bit of a spell with Depression as well, and for me, my favorite is just a long walk. It clears your head like nothing else. It's something that can force you to take a step outside yourself, look around, notice all the things you don't on a day to day basis. Look for the color of the leaves, how the ground feels, the nice breeze, the sounds of birds. I do that, and I am shocked at how much I had forgotten how colorful the world is

CrystalMethodist

What's wrong with basketball and tennis? They're both cheap if there are public courts around, every male in the US plays basketball so it's easy to play with friends, and tennis only requires one other person (who is easy to find thanks to a million clubs).

An-D

This is exactly what you need.


Also, running is an easy group exercise that is super good for you and super free. There are indoor games that can be pretty intense, like ping-pong or air hockey. If you don't have access to a free table, dropping a couple bucks each at an arcade once or twice a week probably wouldn't be too financially stressful.

Donovan Puppyfucker

Darkewolfe wrote: »

Bicycling is an easy solution.

You got a bike?

Go crazy man. Whip down big dirt hills at ridiculous speeds and see if that doesn't cheer you up a bit!

Also you'll get fit without having to do a 'workout'.

Don't have a bike?

I understand why you're depressed. If I didn't have a nice bike at my disposal I'd probably lose my fucking mind.

Get a bike. Go nuts!

Donovan Puppyfucker

Daimajin wrote: »

Swimming or kayaking in the river. There is great people watching, and can be enjoyed even when it is hot as dog balls outside.

Oh yeah! Kayaking fucking owns, I've only done it a couple of times, but good GOD it was fun. Just paddling along breathing that fresh air and enjoying the spectacular scenery, then oh shit! Rapids!

I gotta get a kayak...

Tavataar

http://www.austinswingsyndicate.org/

Go swing dancing! It is awesome and you are always meeting new people.

Sakebomb

An-D wrote: »

This is exactly what you need.

That royaly made me laugh!

Saaruto

Try Martial Arts! Try not to go to the standard Taekwondo or Karate school either, they're usually really pricey. I'm sure there are a lot of things to pick from in Austin, so look around for Kung-Fu or traditional martial arts or even something like Krav Maga. Google or the phonebook are good places to start.

Pablo the Penguin

How about running? Also, the most important thing about going outside and doing things is to DO IT. I'm recovering from depression too, and I can tell you that you will not want to do much. But do it anyway. Know that you want to make your life better more than you want to sit around.

3drage

My choices that I'd throw into the hat are walking, you can do it for free and it has the same effect with creating endorphins to combat depression. It was my exercise of choice when I was working through some panic attack issues I had.

I moved on to swimming, great calorie burner and invigorating. You get great results with roughly half the time/effort. The drawback is that pools can be hard to come by and public ones are not the best way to get a routine down. If you have a friend or neighbor with a pool, you could offer to pay for some of their cleaning supplies for an hour a day of use.

Get out and walk though, it'll do wonders for your mental state.

EWom

I have to say Disc Golf/Folf is a good one. It should be free to play on the courses around you, I'm sure there are some yuppie bullshit groomed golf course like courses that make you pay, but there should also be some free ones, that hopefully aren't manicured and groomed and all that shit. The wilder the course the more fun it is IMO. So the cost is about a 8 - 15$ depending on what disc you buy, and prepare to buy 2, because you'll lose one at least when you're starting out.

For newbies I would suggest a Tee-bird and Roc or Cro combination. Nice easy to throw long range and mid range discs, though at beginning level you'll probably be throwing them the same distance