The I hate exercise crowd

124»

Replies

  • Cylphin60
    Cylphin60 Posts: 863 Member
    leanjogreen18 wrote: »
    Here is my walking buddy!

    Ugh can't add pic on iPhone for some reason.

    Tapping the camera icon over reply doesn't do anything?
  • jaedwa1
    jaedwa1 Posts: 114 Member
    I've learned to focus on how good I feel AFTER exercise. Some workouts are fun, but if I'm going to be completely honest, I'm very lazy and most days the last thing I want to do is exercise. BUT, I know if I just go ahead and do it, I'll feel so much better afterwards. That knowledge is what motivates me to move.
  • everher
    everher Posts: 909 Member
    TR0berts wrote: »
    everher wrote: »
    I agree with the posters who say try different activities and / or exercises you might actually enjoy.

    But confession time : I hate the gym. Hate it with a passion. I hate all physical activity in general. I'm an indoors curled up with a book and my cat type of girl. I don't want to hike or swim or God forbid run. But as much as I hate exercise and the gym I also realize I need to exercise for my health. So I go Monday - Friday before work, turn my music up, and work my *kitten* off.

    But the girl practically sprinting through the gym doors at the end of her work out? Yeah, that's me.

    In that case, might I suggest just walking into the gym? Since you don't want to be there, you can sprint right out. Do it a handful of times at once and call it interval training. Exercise: done.

    I'm only half-joking.

    I didn't realize I was looking for suggestions ?

    OP, my point is you don't have to like something to do it or for it to be good for you.

    I do second all the other suggestions too that if you can't find an exercise you like or manage to power through it then try being more active in your day to day life.
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,571 Member
    I don't hate exercise. Well, I don't hate lifting. And I like being "active". But I HATE cardio. I basically do it like 3 times per year. I am trying to add some in now, but I'm not going to do things I absolutely hate. I like feeling strong, so I figured I'd go to a cardio kickboxing class with bags. I want to murder someone during the warm up, but then feel better once I take that rage/hate for cardio out on the bag.

    So in short, find one aspect of being active that you like.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 33,783 Member
    Machka9 wrote: »
    rkg1966 wrote: »
    I want to know why when someone says that they hate exercise...are the people bound and determined to make us want to learn to like it and convince us to do it? Why can't you leave us alone and wish us luck on our journeys. I find it rather pushy of you and not very nice, no matter how well meaning.

    Because we can't imagine life without activity ... we can't imagine not wanting to move.

    It's just completely and utterly inconceivable to me that someone would want to spend their entire lives in one spot.

    And from our experience, usually when people say they hate something general, they actually mean they hate one specific item, one specific aspect ... but it usually turns out that they tolerate or even enjoy another aspect. :)

    I'd like to highlight the cognitive piece of this: OP, any chance your can shift the way you think about this, just a little bit, from "I hate exercise" to something like "I haven't found a way of moving more that I like, just yet"? When we state things (even to ourselves) as a big generalization like "I hate exercise", it closes all the doors. If we can re-frame how we think of it, just to crack open one of those doors a little bit, it opens the possibility of change.

    You can definitely lose weight without exercising. But if you move more, you are more likely to retain your current strength, and keep your body humming along in a way that will let you eat more while losing, and afterward, as well as improving your health and ability to do routine tasks in everyday life.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    So glad no one took offense at my comment. I love dogs of all kinds, just know those little guys are high energy and high maintenance, but absolutely wonderful dogs when they get what they need.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,053 Member
    nowine4me wrote: »
    OP - the elliptical does in fact suck. Have you tried weightlifting? if not, give it a whirl.

    Cosigned!

    I took a few sessions with a personal trainer and then picked up a lot of stuff here and from coworkers and New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess.
  • tlflag1620
    tlflag1620 Posts: 1,358 Member
    I won't say I hate exercise... I played sports as a kid, rode my bike or walked everywhere, swam constantly in the summer. I lost interest in (and time for) a lot of those things as I got older. I put on weight when I had kids, and at that point, yes I hated exercise. Being heavy makes moving around unpleasant. It's hard on your joints, you get winded easily, and it can make you feel self conscious. Once I lost a good bit of the weight, I found exercise enjoyable again.

    I guess my point is - you don't need to exercise to lose weight, and as you lose you may find exercise less and less unpleasant. I know the popular belief is that we (the collective "we") are heavier now in large part due to a more sedentary lifestyle, but I wonder how much of it works the other way too - we move less because we are heavier.

    Keep trying new things, keep watching calories and making progress on weight loss. I don't think very many people actually *enjoy* endless hours on an elliptical, so I'm not surprised that you don't either ;). Try some different classes or videos, try a sport, see if you enjoy walking/hiking outdoors as opposed to a gym, etc. And see if your mindset changes as you lose weight. I lost 50 lbs. That's a lot of extra weight. Go to the grocery store, pick up five 10 lb bags of potatoes and do a few laps around the store.... Yeah, that's why I didn't like exercise when I was fat, lol. You may change your mind as you lose weight.

Categories