Sports and exercise among Americans

The only Olympic activity most Americans will engage in during the 2016 Summer Olympics Games (in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from August 5 to August 21) will be watching the events on television. But many Americans do participate in sports and exercise activities, albeit not at the Olympic level. From 2011 to 2015, 18 percent of Americans age 15 and older engaged in some sport or exercise activity on a typical day. People who participated spent an average of 1 hour 27 minutes doing these activities. Walking was the most popular form of athletic activity: 30 percent of people age 15 and older who participated in a sport or exercise activity on an average day engaged in walking. Weightlifting (8.9 percent), running (8.8 percent), and using cardiovascular equipment (8.7 percent) were the next most popular activities or sports. 

From 2011 to 2015, 86.0 percent of people age 15 and older who participated in aerobics were women. Yoga (85.2 percent) and dancing (65.8 percent) were also more popular among women than men. In contrast, men made up 93.0 percent of those participating in football. Men also were more likely to participate in basketball (90.3 percent), golf (87.8 percent), and soccer (76.5 percent).

These data are from the American Time Use Survey. For more information, see "American Time Use Survey — 2015 Results" (HTML) (PDF) and American Time Use Survey charts.