Social dancing. Salsa, bachata and kizomba. You can dance yourself into a sweat without running out of breath.
this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2025
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*Frisbee golf
- croquet
- shuffleboard
- ping pong
- badminton
- lawn darts
- hop scotch
anything that was considered a parlor game in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Badminton is NOT a low cardio sport. For me anyway.
...Chess?
- Bowling
- Darts
- Boccia Balls
- Shuffleboard
- Golf
- Disc Golf (way better than regualr golf imho)
- Canoeing/Kayaking if you take it easy
Disc golf is so much fun 😀
And much cheaper, but the infrastructure is already there for normie golf if even walking the course would be a challenge. That reminds me that I need to see if my bag of 15 year old pastic still has anything usable in it and go to my local DG course.
I love disc golf but I will warn the OP that if your lung issue is too much to be walking through wooded areas for up to multiple hours, it could get tough finding a course that's right for you.
I've even player a course that essentially zig zagged up and down the face of a big hill and walking it was tough.
I actually do play DG! I try to make sure I look at course reviews before going to know how much vertical there is going to be, haha
Right on, chase them chains then!
Archery is very chill, while still incentivizing you to walk a bit
I'll third archery. If you're in the US, some places have free community outdoor ranges, and many YMCAs offer intro courses.
Whatever you do, don't just buy any old bow a store recommends. Read first!
Oooh, this is a good call, thanks!
Archery for sure. You can't do well if you're not relaxed!
Bocce
Billiards/Pool/Cue Sports (personal fav)
Darts
~~Curling~~ ok I was wrong about this one. Seemed pretty laid back but it sounds more intense than I had thought!
I'd hazard to suggest playing cards or board games, still has the element of challenge/sport, but doesn't require too much exertion.
Possibly E-Sports if you're into that sort of thing. Let the game console / computer do the running.
Curling is probably a tough one to include for someone with a lung issue, at least as a newbie, and without significant modification.
It might work with the right team at a casual club level (I've done a "no sweep Saturday" team before). I don't imagine OP taking to running up and down the ice most of the game while putting in some effort to sweep.
Using a stick delivery is another good way to reduce physical effort. Throwing takeouts alone can wind people.
And then there's the yelling.
You might get away with throwing lead stones with a stick delivery and skipping for maximum reduction of physical effort even at a more competitive level.
Curling is great fun but I wouldn't say it's cardio-light. You'll spend a lot of time sweeping which can be intense
Target shooting or trap and skeet.
I have "emphysema light", doctor's words, not mine. Don't know if this counts as a sport to you, but kayaking is surprisingly easy on the lungs.
People tend to automatically think "white water", but I'm in the flattest American state, so kayaking to me is mostly floating a slow river or creek, or at most, paddling around a lake.
The price of admission isn't bad. FaceBook Marketplace always has deals. All you need is the boat, a paddle, life jacket, whistle, and any other gear you might like. A huge yellow sponge is a must. If you get into it, you'll see just how versatile one is!
If you take the time to learn and practice proper technique, you can motor around with little effort! We saw a girl in a short kayak blowing her friends out the water at the local bayou last weekend. LOL, she was fascinating to watch from afar, hauling ass with so little effort.
Here's the thing, the longer the kayak, the less effort. Short boats tend to tack back and forth, wasting your effort. Which is what made the chick on the little 8' boat so neat!
E-bike?
Lawn bowls?
You could try Boccia
There is a drone race track near me. Took me forever to figure out what it was. Why are the goals 30 feet in the air? What sport is this???
I have a friend that insists StarCraft, and e-gaming in general, is a sport. Also my dad has tried to convince me that poker is a sport.
I tend to think of "sports" as being things that require not just mental apititude, but strength, endurance, and the like, but competitive shooting is an Olympic sport and has been for as long as the modern games have been around, so...shrugs
I mean, is curling a sport? Bowling? I think that most would call those sports, but they don't really rely on exceptional strength or endurance.
I do think that there's an argument for having some kind of word that encompasses all sorts of competitive activities, but also an argument for having a term for the smaller set that requires excellent physical conditioning. You might want to refer to either set. Maybe just have two different terms, regardless of where "sports" winds up.
I have spent a lot of time trying to define what is a sport, to me.
In general I've come to define a "sport" as something physical that has an opponent that actively works against you.
Something physical that DOESN'T have an opponent acting against you, I prefer to think of as a competition.
E-sports is not what I'd consider sports, but the term works fine. E-competition doesn't have the same ring to it.
So, team sports like baseball, soccer, boxing, etc I consider sports.
Bowling, track+field, golf, I do NOT consider sports, I consider them a competition.
Chess is not a sport, it's a competitive game. Fight me it's not a freaking sport, it's chess.
Yeah there’s some I think are iffy. I think a certain amount of physical effort needs to be expended before I respect something as a sport. It’s hard for me to describe why. Like bowling? Yes. Pool? No. Curling? Yes. Darts? I’m not actually sure with that one. Because I’d consider archery a sport, but maybe not darts? Even though it’s roughly the same idea? Not sure why I draw the line there. But I do.
The only sporty thing about poker is the competitive drinking needed to enjoy the game. 😅
Yeah I agree. To be clear, I dont consider either of those things to be real sports and I make considerable amounts of fun of my dad and my friend for those beliefs.
Anyone say cornhole yet?
In the martial arts, Tai Chi is the obvious answer.
Consider Aikido. It's generally more like choreographed exercises. A lot of dojos are very understanding of physical constraints. Check with your doctor, it might be good way to gently test your limits. Plus, it's important to know how to fall safely.
I grew up doing Judo, so martial arts have definitely been on my mind. I'll check out Aikido!
Aw yeah, if you already know your rolls and breakfalls, Aikido is a great thing to check out. At lower levels, the "attacks" are basically two-person katas, usually involving escaping from grabs. At upper levels they do have something called randori but even then it's all very structured. Aikido gets made fun of sometimes for not having a "live" adversary who's actively trying to beat you. I've read there are some dojos that do competitive Aikido, but I think that's rare.
Pickleball. It's still exercise, but it's never left me panting. Idk how severe your issue is. But it's way less exerting than tennis or volleyball.
You must only play doubles, and at a low level.
I like table football
Cornhole, Horseshoes? Any sport works, if you don't play it accurately, like basketballs fine if you don't play a game, you can still play around the world and horse, prob equivalent games for other supports
Grab a dartboard
I think golf is pretty much made to be a low effort sport, you drive hole to hole
Air hockey
If you've got a small fortune to spend you could try those small motorcycles, I think they're called motorcross? Might be the same as dirtbikes if those are motorized? I've note tried it myself (see the point about the small fortune) but sitting, standing, squatting, steering and adrenaline, seems like the intensity can be adjusted depending on speed and track.
Parasailing, skydiving and base jumping seems adrenaline inducing af but maybe not too physically demanding?
SUP on a calm lake isn't particularly strenuous, but really rough if the wind or water flows against you. Put on a life jacket and learn to relax and lightly steering yourself to float to shore if you can't breathe enough to swim, should you fall off where you cant get back up.
Racing around with a motor boat is easy, as long as it turns on by the press of a button (not pull-chord-to-start) and doesn't break down so you have to row back. Always bring a phone in a water safe bag strapped to yourself, and use a life vest at all times, and let people know where you'll be and when they should expect you back.
Yoga can be super chill, or super demanding. There are plenty free tutorials online and you don't need equipment.
Maybe learning an instrument (though not brass) and playing in a band would scratch the same itch as doing a team sport?
E-sports
Motorsports
Shootingsports
Bowling
Snooker
Darts
Archery
Motorsports absolutely is not a chill one. Besides the significant cost in most formats, it's actually quite physically demanding to do basically anything except the slowest go-karts. Obviously not everyone has to do full on neck strength workouts like the F1 drivers, but still
Folkrace is not exactly f1, my guy.
The cars cost 1000 dollars, and if you participate you must sell them at 1000 dollars, which keeps the sport fair and relatively slow.
Folkrace is the most reasonable way to get into it actually, that's fair. It's not much of a thing where I am so I forgot about it as a format
I haven't seen croquet mentioned yet. Also many things could be low cardio if played that way (meaning with both people dedicated to playing it chill, possibly with some added rule around how much you can move). I could imagine, say, most raquet sports played that way, though maybe it requires enough skill that the ball isn't going all over the place.
Here's another crazy idea: both players wear heart rate monitors and going over a certain heart rate is a penalty.