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Natural English Listening Practice: How to Talk about Sports and Fitness (with Subtitles on Screen)
Natural English Listening Practice: How to Talk about Sports and Fitness (with Subtitles on Screen)
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30:34 · Feb 24, 2025
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this
is
Jack
from
to
fluency
in
this
English
lesson
you're
going
to
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this is Jack from to fluency in this English lesson you're going to get
0:05
real phrases natural conversational English
0:09
and listening practice all about sports workouts
0:14
and staying fit and this is such an important area of English
0:18
because people talk about this all the time I'm also gonna share some really
0:23
interesting differences between British
0:25
and American sport culture
0:28
and listen carefully and to the whole episode
0:31
because by the end you're going to have fantastic listening practice
0:36
and also you'll be ready to talk about sports
0:39
and fitness naturally and confidently let's start with sports
0:44
and physical education as a child
0:48
so the first term here physical education in both the UK
0:53
and the US we say PE PE for physical education now think back to
1:02
when you were young let's say 8 9
1:05
or 10 and you were in school did you enjoy PE?
1:11
did you enjoy PE?
1:14
because a lot of people's first experience with sport is PE in school
1:21
and I know this has changed a lot to what it used to be
1:24
like used to be what it used to be like
1:28
when I was in school
1:29
but what's interesting is
1:32
that some people will say I have fantastic memories
1:38
or I used to love playing sports at school
1:42
and everything is positive
1:45
while others hated it they hated it
1:49
and we're gonna look at some words
1:50
and phrases related to childhood sports
1:53
and physical education and I'm also just gonna talk about this
1:57
so you can get some really good practice
1:59
when I was growing up we did all different types of sports
2:05
so we would do things like rugby we would play soccer we would play
2:11
cricket we would do gymnastics
2:14
and we would do tennis even at times
2:17
so we had a lot of practice with this
2:19
but then sometimes the one
2:21
that people didn't look forward to the one sport
2:25
that people really just didn't like
2:27
and it always seemed to happen in winter was cross country cross country running
2:34
so this is where you run long distances usually in the school field Wednesday
2:40
was the big day for PE
2:42
but I also seem to remember doing it probably twice a week
2:46
and we had to wear these really uncomfortable rugby shirts
2:52
and then shorts so we just wore rugby shirts
2:55
and they were so uncomfortable
2:57
and if it was raining they would be really heavy now notice
3:02
when I'm talking about the past I'm using would we would do this we
3:08
would do that and this is another way to say we used to do
3:11
this we used to do
3:12
that one interesting feature of PE was teams
3:16
and in PE you used to have two captains
3:21
and then they would pick their team
3:23
and they would take turns picking different people to be on their team
3:29
and you might hear someone say I was always picked last I was always
3:35
picked last because maybe
3:37
that person wasn't very sporty also in addition to PE many people in the
3:43
UK join sports teams
3:45
so they might join a sports club outside of school
3:49
but there's also sports teams within the school
3:53
and I used to do a lot personally I was on the swim team
3:57
I was on the football soccer team I'm just gonna call it soccer from
4:01
now on I was on the soccer team
4:03
and I also was in a soccer club
4:06
as well I was on the cricket team for a little
4:09
while but then we didn't win many games
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so we stopped playing cricket oh I was also on the basketball team too
4:17
so a lot of the times I would wake up
4:20
and go early morning swimming I would
4:22
then play basketball at lunch
4:25
and then have a soccer game in the afternoon in the US it's similar
4:29
there are lots of different sports teams for example a lot of people play
4:33
soccer growing up here
4:35
but also baseball is a big sport for boys especially
4:39
and then gymnastics for girls it's very popular for girls not everyone enjoys sport
4:44
in the same way
4:46
so some kids grow up playing really competitively
4:49
while others just play for fun in the backyard
4:52
or park and again I would play outside a lot
4:55
so I would play soccer outside in the road in the street in the
5:00
backyard nearly every night
5:03
so you might hear people say things like I have great memories of playing
5:08
football with my friends I have great memories of playing football with my friends
5:13
and I loved sports
5:15
as a kid I was always outside running around I was always outside running
5:21
around and if it's a negative experience of sport in childhood
5:25
then you might say something like I wasn't very athletic
5:29
so I always felt left out in PE class to feel left out this
5:35
means to feel not included like people weren't including you in the team
5:41
and maybe you were picked last something else you might hear is I tried
5:46
playing baseball but I was terrible at it I was terrible at it to
5:51
be terrible at something
5:53
or to be good at something meaning
5:56
that you are good playing
5:58
that sport or you are terrible playing
6:01
that sport so leave a comment telling me what it was like doing PE
6:07
at your school what was it like?
6:09
what sports did you play?
6:10
did you enjoy playing sports at school?
6:13
and how often did you do it?
6:15
now childhood sports can shape us
6:17
as adults because even
6:19
if you stop playing sport
6:21
as an adult a lot of the childhood experiences can still influence your lifestyle
6:26
or influence the way you see life
6:29
and a lot of people continue playing
6:32
as well for example you might say I played a lot of tennis
6:36
as a kid and I still enjoy it now I still enjoy it now
6:40
so I continue to enjoy it now
6:44
and maybe things change
6:45
so you could say I wasn't very sporty
6:49
when I was younger
6:50
but now I love going to the gym
6:53
or now I love playing sports in some schools in some cultures sport is
6:59
very important and a lot of the trainers will train the children to take
7:05
sport very seriously from a young age hoping
7:09
that they're going to become professional athletes
7:12
so you can think of either yourself
7:14
or a friend who a great term here is to show promise this person
7:20
maybe showed promise which means they had an ability
7:25
that was really good
7:27
and people said something like oh you might become a professional hockey player
7:32
or you might become a professional baseball player
7:35
so somebody shows promise at an early age
7:38
then they might go into advance programs
7:40
and go to clubs elsewhere whereas a lot of people see sports in childhood
7:46
as a way to learn how to become a better leader learn how to
7:51
become part of a team
7:53
and also how to have fun
7:55
and learn to lose
7:57
so let's move on to competitive
8:00
and professional sports now
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and we have some interesting facts
8:05
and interesting insights about professional sports in the UK
8:09
and the US and you'll also learn a lot of good phrases along the
8:13
way so for many people sports are more than just a fun way to
8:19
stay active or to learn new things they're also about competition skill
8:26
and passion competition skill
8:28
and passion and some people will train for years to become elite professional athletes
8:37
now when I was a child I always dreamed of becoming dreamed of becoming
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a professional soccer player
8:45
and even at my age I still dream about
8:48
that happening although I know it is not going to happen now
8:53
so there are different levels of competitive sport
8:56
so you can think about local competitions things like school teams recreational teams
9:03
as well so let's say you are 35
9:07
or someone is 35 they can still play in a recreational way not a
9:12
competitive way in local competitions in baseball volleyball soccer etc
9:19
and then there is a difference between semi professional
9:26
and professional because semi professional athletes they get paid
9:29
but that's not their full time job
9:31
so they might have a place on the local soccer team
9:36
that travels and plays on a Saturday they get paid to play
9:39
but that's not their full time job whereas professional sports these are full time
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athletes that is their job that's what they get paid to do
9:50
and with this comes sometimes a lot of money not all the time
9:55
because a lot of professional athletes don't get paid a lot of money
10:00
but if you do
10:01
and you play professionally for somebody
10:04
then you might get paid a lot of money
10:06
and also you will be famous now this is an interesting fact
10:11
and a big difference between the US
10:13
and the UK because in the US college sports are a huge deal they're
10:20
a huge deal which means they're really big
10:24
and student athletes can get full scholarships for playing at a high level
10:30
and a lot of the American football teams have massive stadiums where 60 70
10:37
80 90,000 people will go watch the college team the university team whereas in
10:45
the UK university sports aren't
10:49
as big they just aren't
10:51
as popular nowhere near
10:52
as big but the professional club let's say Arsenal Manchester United these are massive
11:02
and a lot of the children join academies at a young age whereas in
11:08
the US people go through the college system before joining the NBA
11:14
or the NFL the professional sports leagues now here are some fun phrases to
11:20
talk about personal experiences in competitive sports you might say for example I used
11:26
to play in a local football league
11:29
but it was just for fun it was just for fun
11:32
and again we're using this I used to play you might know someone who
11:36
is a professional athlete you might say something like this oh I know this
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person who plays for Liverpool I'm good friends with this person
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or I used to go to school with this person who now plays for
11:50
Manchester United you might also say something like I nearly made it pro
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but I just wasn't tall enough
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or I wasn't fast enough
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or I wasn't quite good enough
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so I nearly made it pro
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which means I nearly became a professional athlete that's not true in my case
12:12
so here's an interesting question for this section do you know a famous athlete?
12:17
or are you a famous athlete?
12:20
if so let me know in the comment section below here is an interesting
12:24
part of this section
12:25
because we're gonna talk about how sports can bring people together
12:30
and how sometimes it can divide them now I'm thinking of a competition let's
12:35
see if you can guess what it is
12:38
that brings people from all over the world together
12:41
and it seems like everyone in the world is watching this at the same
12:46
time now you might think the Olympics
12:50
and that's true but I'm thinking of the World Cup
12:54
and I actually went to a World Cup once back in 2006 I didn't
12:59
make it to a game
13:00
but I loved the atmosphere of being in a city with fans from all
13:06
over the world from different countries
13:08
and it was a great atmosphere however it's not always like
13:13
that when it comes to sports
13:16
when I was growing up it was quite scary going to soccer games
13:20
because there would often be trouble at the games
13:24
which meant fighting fans getting on the pitch
13:28
and just a really bad atmosphere of going to a soccer game
13:33
so a lot of the time it can be quite intense it can be
13:37
a lot of trouble can happen
13:39
and you'll often get this
13:41
when it comes to local rivalries now we can think about some of the
13:45
biggest rivalries in sport one of the biggest ones is Barcelona
13:50
and Real Madrid Real Madrid in Spain we can also think of Celtic versus
13:56
Rangers in Scotland and I'm sure you can think of one in your local
14:03
area or in your country
14:04
so let me know what
14:05
that one is and this can also be true in terms of division
14:09
or bringing people together in local leagues
14:13
so you can think about
14:14
if you play sport in your local league sometimes it's great the two teams
14:19
are chatting there's competition
14:23
but there's this sense of togetherness we're both playing here maybe we're not very
14:28
good but we're having a good time whereas other times it can get a
14:32
little bit tense it can go over the top to go over the top
14:37
and even though it's not very competitive
14:40
or it doesn't seem very important
14:42
while it's happening two players can fight
14:45
or they can argue
14:46
and the whole team sometimes can argue
14:49
and you can also sometimes see the referees not enjoying it
14:54
when things go over the top
14:56
and maybe people are shouting abuse to shout abuse at the referee team now
15:03
something that I have seen change over a long time is the amount of
15:09
money in sports and how much more of a business it has become
15:14
because it's not just about competition
15:17
and sport things like football basketball boxing they have become multi billion dollar industries
15:25
multi billion dollar industries
15:28
so some terms we're gonna learn here are sponsorship deals to generate millions of
15:32
dollars and also endorsements
15:35
because we can talk about the top athletes
15:39
and how they have some of the biggest sponsorship deals in history
15:45
and I'll leave a link to some of these stats in the description
15:49
so you can have a look at just how much sports people earn through
15:53
sponsorship deals the biggest sporting event in the US is the Super Bowl
15:58
which is the final for American football
16:01
and this generates millions of dollars in advertising revenue mainly
16:07
because it has the attention of the whole country
16:10
and everyone is watching it now here's a question for you do you think
16:14
professional athletes are paid too much?
16:17
do you think professional athletes are paid too much?
16:21
let me know in the comment section below this next section is all about
16:26
gym culture and staying fit
16:28
and there are some really interesting parts this including different attitudes towards fitness in
16:34
the UK in the US
16:35
and also talking about some useful phrases
16:38
that you can use
16:39
because for many people stained fit is a big part of life now this
16:45
could be going to the gym taking a run in the park practicing yoga
16:51
at home for some people they love working out whereas others they feel like
16:57
they have to do it to stay healthy personally I really enjoy it
17:02
and I like to do things
17:04
that are fun so I'll play basketball soccer
17:08
and a sport that's become very popular in the US pickleball pickleball
17:11
which is similar to padel in Europe now here are some sentences you can
17:11
use to talk about why you want to go to the gym
17:11
or to get fit the first one is
17:11
because people want to stay in shape to stay in shape
17:11
so you might hear someone say I go to the gym
17:11
because I want to stay in shape
17:11
and to stay in shape means to maintain a good physical condition you might
17:11
also go to the gym to build muscle
17:11
and get stronger to get stronger
17:11
so we're using get here to talk about a change going from weak to
17:11
strong to get stronger you might also be training for a Marathon
17:11
and Marathon running has become much more popular
17:11
and a lot of people want to do this
17:11
as part of a challenge
17:11
and you might also hate exercising
17:11
but you do it to lose weight to lose weight now gym culture has
17:11
changed over time because in the past a lot of people mainly went to
17:11
the gym to lift weights
17:11
or to run on a treadmill now I find running on a treadmill quite
17:11
boring but sometimes I'll do it just especially
17:11
if it's raining or really cold outside however fitness is now a huge industry
17:11
with lots of trendy workout classes trendy workout classes
17:11
so you can think about things like yoga Crossfit
17:11
and high intensity interval training these are very big in terms of the fitness
17:11
trends today now have you tried Crossfit?
17:11
or different types of exercise classes?
17:11
I know that a lot of gyms have different types of classes for example
17:11
hip hop dance they'll also have peloton
17:11
as well where people go in their bikes
17:11
and do peloton classes
17:11
so what is your favorite type of gym class at the moment?
17:11
Something I've noticed is
17:11
that in the US a lot of people go to the gym early they
17:11
go late people love going to the gym whereas in the UK the gym
17:11
is popular but it seems to me from my experience
17:11
that people prefer team sports
17:11
or outdoor activities instead even
17:11
though the weather is terrible
17:11
so let's now learn some phrases these are gonna be really useful to describe
17:11
your workout routine and also gym goals
17:11
so you might say something like I go to the gym three times a
17:11
week or I go to the gym every Thursday I go to the gym
17:11
every day to talk about how long you've been doing something you might say
17:11
something like I've been on this new workout routine for the past six months
17:11
to be on something I've been on this new workout routine for the past
17:11
six months and if you're not too committed
17:11
but you want to do your best you might say something like well I
17:11
try to jog twice a week I try to jog twice a week you
17:11
have the intention of doing it
17:11
but maybe you don't do it every time
17:11
and maybe you have a specific goal
17:11
so your goal might be to lose 10 pounds before summer I know a
17:11
lot of people want to do
17:11
that my goal is to lose 10 pounds before summer oh my goal is
17:11
to be able to do 5 pullups to be able to do 5 pullups
17:11
now here's a good fun part gym stereotypes
17:11
and gym etiquette we'll start with the stereotypes
17:11
because there's always that one guy who grunts loudly
17:11
when lifting weights to grunt loudly this means to make loud noises
17:11
when working out you'll also notice probably in every country in the world now
17:11
people who take too many selfies in the mirror instead of working out
17:11
so they'll take a selfie in the mirror
17:11
or maybe they'll just be on their phone instead of working out there is
17:11
some gym etiquette that is big in the US the first one is always
17:11
to rerack your weights after using them
17:11
or you can just say put your weights back
17:11
so let's say you get some weights out you start lifting you don't just
17:11
leave them where they are you have to put them back after
17:11
so to put back means to replace a gym I used to go to
17:11
was always busy and it was difficult to get on certain machines
17:11
so there's an idea
17:11
that you shouldn't hog the machines hog the machines now to hog something means
17:11
to use something for far too long
17:11
and not let others use it
17:11
so don't hoig the machines let other people use them too
17:11
and if you make a big mess you should wipe down the equipment after
17:11
sweating on it so
17:11
if you're sweating a lot
17:11
and you get your sweat all over the machine you should wipe this down
17:11
afterwards now with sports
17:11
and activities and we're onto the next section now it's not just about playing
17:11
them and we touched on this before it's also about watching
17:11
and supporting specific teams
17:11
so for many people watching sports is more exciting than playing them
17:11
or for some people they just prefer to watch instead of play
17:11
and where I grew up you support the team your family supports
17:11
and you never change I think this is true in a lot of places
17:11
but once you become a fan of a team they're with you for life
17:11
so it's not always your fault
17:11
that your team always loses
17:11
so let's go into this topic now
17:11
and also we've got an interesting difference between sports culture in the UK
17:11
and the US later on now some people watch sports for the action
17:11
because they love to see the action happen
17:11
but for most people it's about the excitement the thrill of last minute goals
17:11
and penalty shootouts it's also for the community where you can share this experience
17:11
with friends family and other fans
17:11
and also for the tradition
17:11
so supporting a team can be passed down through generations like we talked about
17:11
before you support the team your family supports in most cases
17:11
so this team is passed down to you through generations
17:11
and going to a live game is very different from watching on TV
17:11
because you can really feel the energy of the crowd you can be part
17:11
of that moment and also watching the action depending on where you're sitting is
17:11
much better to so here are some common phrases for talking about life sports
17:11
events you might say the atmosphere at the stadium was incredible
17:11
so the atmosphere is the mood
17:11
and the noise and the feeling of a place the atmosphere at the stadium
17:11
was incredible the crowd went wild
17:11
when we scored the crowd went wild
17:11
when we scored to go wild means to become very excited
17:11
and we had great seats to have great
17:11
or good or terrible seats we had great seats right behind the goal
17:11
so we could see everything I've been to sports events a lot in the
17:11
UK and also in the US
17:11
and there are big differences here now in the UK in England football fans
17:11
will often sing throughout
17:11
and also very focused on the game
17:11
so they watch every kick every movement
17:11
and the crowd is very involved in the game whereas in the US it
17:11
seems like there's a lot more emphasis on entertainment
17:11
so I went to a big basketball game
17:11
and there was music playing all the time they were constantly throwing things into
17:11
the crowd constantly entertaining the crowd with different competitions
17:11
and things that were happening
17:11
and it wasn't so much a focus on the game it was more a
17:11
focus on the extra things
17:11
that were happening around the game
17:11
so tell me what was the last sporting event you went to?
17:11
and what was it like?
17:11
just leave a comment in the comment section below after a game is often
17:11
when you'll talk about it
17:11
and give your opinion on the game
17:11
and you can say things like
17:11
and use past modal verbs like for example ugh he should have scored at
17:11
the end he should have scored at the end he didn't score
17:11
but he should have scored
17:11
and it would have been a different game
17:11
if he had been sent off
17:11
so let's imagine a player should have been sent off he did something bad
17:11
but the referee didn't see it you can say we would have won the
17:11
game if he had been sent off
17:11
so that is a conditional sentence now talking about win you might say ah
17:11
we smashed them we smashed them four nil now to smash a team means
17:11
to win easily and maybe your team was losing
17:11
but then you won the game you can say
17:11
that was an amazing comeback
17:11
that was an amazing comeback
17:11
so a comeback means to win after being behind
17:11
and talking after a loss you might say we got destroyed we got destroyed
17:11
today which means we lost in a big way
17:11
or you might say we were winning
17:11
but we threw it away in the second half we threw it away in
17:11
the second half to throw something away means to lose after having an advantage
17:11
let's now talk about some quotes around passion
17:11
and the love of sports
17:11
and I like some of these quite a lot
17:11
so the first one is this it is you have to love what you
17:11
do to want to do it everyday you have to love what you do
17:11
to want to do it every day
17:11
and this is from Serena Williams
17:11
and this means that success requires passion
17:11
and if you love your sport
17:11
then you'll do it even
17:11
when it's hard and you can think about how this applies to anything in
17:11
life not just sports
17:11
so when you enjoy your workouts staying fit becomes a lot easier
17:11
that is why personally I like to do things I enjoy basketball soccer
17:11
and pickleball now Pele the Brazilian football legend the most famous soccer player ever
17:11
probably said the more difficult the victory the greater the happiness in winning the
17:11
more difficult the victory the greater the happiness in winning
17:11
which means that winning feels better
17:11
when you've worked hard for it
17:11
and overcoming challenges makes success more rewarding now this is one of my favourite
17:11
new quotes and it's this winning isn't everything
17:11
but wanting to win is winning isn't everything
17:11
but wanting to win is
17:11
and this is from Vince Lombardi an American football coach
17:11
and it's saying that the desire to succeed is more important than the result
17:11
and even if you lose trying your best is what matters most
17:11
so this is a quote I've never heard before I researched it for this
17:11
lesson and I love it winning isn't everything
17:11
but wanting to win is now you might hear some cliches
17:11
when it comes to sport
17:11
and about hard work
17:11
and effort now you'll often hear things like no pain no gain no pain
17:11
no gain which means
17:11
that you have to work hard
17:11
and enjoy discomfort to achieve success do you agree with this?
17:11
no pain no gain another one is practice makes perfect practice makes perfect you'll
17:11
often hear this a lot
17:11
and this means the more you practice the better you become
17:11
and when I hear quite a lot is leave it all on the field
17:11
leave it all on the field
17:11
which means you need to give your maximum effort during the game
17:11
and another one which is very very common is give 110% give 110%
17:11
which means to try your hardest
17:11
and even though 110% is impossible people say this for motivation have you heard
17:11
these sport cliches?
17:11
these motivational statements before?
17:11
if so let me know in the comment section
17:11
and also give me another one
17:11
if you know one fantastic what to do now is go to the description
17:11
and get all of these quotes
17:11
and then watch another lesson they are on your screen now thank you for
17:11
watching and I'll speak to you soon bye for now
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