When did you stop thinking of exercise as a take it or leave it?
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kiela64
Posts: 1,447 Member
One of my biggest problems is being sedentary. Unless I have to, I don’t think about moving. I don’t dislike exercise! I just don’t think of it, and when I do the bother of it all - changing, sweating, stretching, carrying a bag, finding a locker, the potential for injury- I can think myself out of it really fast.
“Oh my head hurts” “I have cramps” “it’s too much to carry today” “I don’t want to be smelly on the bus” “I should really focus on X instead” “I’ll do it later”
Like sure they’re all true, but they’re also excuses! I’ve re-packed my exercise bag and not gone to the gym so many times in the last 4 months.
I’ve read the advice to not make it an option and treat it like work. But when did you get there? I can mentally get out of everything unless it’s work or school. I bail on things “just for me” almost always! 😩
“Oh my head hurts” “I have cramps” “it’s too much to carry today” “I don’t want to be smelly on the bus” “I should really focus on X instead” “I’ll do it later”
Like sure they’re all true, but they’re also excuses! I’ve re-packed my exercise bag and not gone to the gym so many times in the last 4 months.
I’ve read the advice to not make it an option and treat it like work. But when did you get there? I can mentally get out of everything unless it’s work or school. I bail on things “just for me” almost always! 😩
1
Replies
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When did you stop thinking of exercise as a take it or leave it?
I don't remember ... I was too young. I've always exercised!
Incorporate it into your day.
I walk as part of my commute.
I walk at lunch to run errands and just to get out of the office for a bit.
I take the stairs whenever possible.
I walk between work and university.
If we drive somewhere (rarely and only on weekends), we'll park and then walk everywhere from there.
And then I'll often do some deliberate exercise as well ... we've got a small gym in our basement so I'll use that. Or go cycling or walking or running or hiking or ...0 -
Exercise was the easy part for me. Eating is the real struggle. I started working out and found it as my therapy time/ stress reliever. I fell in love with crossfit at 70 pounds overweight1
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I feel the same way as you do, OP. Always hated purposeful exercise. I get around this by making it as quick and simple as possible, and getting most of my activity through increasing my NEAT levels (taking stairs, adding extra trips back and forth from rooms, parking far away from the store, walking whenever possible, and adding extra walks in because they’re enjoyable).
My purposeful exercise is just 15 min every Mon, Wed, and Fri morning (but if running in place plus a quick series of body weight exercises). ONCE IN A WHILE when it’s nice out, I might replace that with a 15-20 min run outside. I don’t make it any tougher on myself than this, and I don’t make it longer than 15 min, otherwise I know I would just give it up. Better to keep up a tiny healthy habit, then to ramp it up but then have adherence issues. I like to use my free time for more rewarding and enjoyable activities 🙂2 -
When I fell in low with weight lifting. I can no longer see myself without it after 3 years.3
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In college 40+ years ago. I need to exercise. It keeps me sane, gives me an outlet when I'm stressed, keeps me in a positive frame of mind, keeps me strong, toned and motivated. I've tried a lot of things throughout my life - cycling, running, yoga, boxing, aerobics (remember aerobics??? LOL), weight lifting, tap dancing and I enjoyed them all and they all served me well at that particular point in my life. I find something new that I love and go for it. It's been a wild, fun and challenging ride....2
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The watershed "ah ha!!" for me was my Jan. and April (2019) hip replacements and aftermath. For the longest time (and today to lesser degree) I was driven by real or imagined fear that if I stopped I would find myself back to where I was a year ago. I have no interest in that. My focus now is maintaining and improving mobility, improving general health, lowering A1C and oh weight loss if it happens. I'm just not dwelling on it this time around..1
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I'm naturally inclined to be more sedentary, but I also fidget and bounce around a lot. So I suspect I have a high NEAT, but, outside of my natural jitteriness, I don't actually do a lot of purposeful exercises. I don't really go to the gym much.
Knowing that moving is good for my health, I walk at lunch and listen to my audiobook -- this really serves less like exercise and more as a way to get away from work and decompress so that when I return, I'm fresh and more motivated. Also, I get sucked into my audiobook and I find that my pace increases or decreases according to the pace of the story.
I take a walk at night with my husband. This is for exercise, yes, but also as a way to get away from phones, computers, TVs, etc, and just talk and catch up on our day.
The only out and out exercise I do is swimming, and that's because I LOVE swimming. So in the summer, I'm in my pool every day after work, swimming laps to my audiobook. I get lost in the story and don't wanna get out of the pool, haha!
You have to find things you enjoy! Good luck.
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when I started maintaining... I learned that exercise played a key role in keeping the weight off. To me, exercise and being active is more important now than when I was losing weight.
Once it clicked in my head the effort part went away... The way I love to eat.. I will regain everything if I don't change my overall lifestyle. and that includes exercising.0 -
A year ago, I was much like you. Exercise sounded great in theory, but why go out of the way to do it when sitting in front of the couch was so much easier? I was also terrible at motivating myself, and figuring our what workout I wanted to do when I got to the gym. Even if I did go, it was always too easy to cut it early or go slow.
So I decided to go all in, and take all of that responsibility out of my hands. I joined an intense gym that teaches the Israeli martial art of Krav Maga. I went from sedentary to doing 90 minute hard classes overnight. It was super tough at first, but with consistency it got easier. And it made it a lot easier to show up knowing 2 things: 1. People would notice if I didn't and 2. All I needed to do after work was drag myself there, no matter how I was feeling, and I knew I would get in a great workout. Because I wouldn't be responsible for pushing myself. That responsibility was left to a 3rd degree black belt who was not going to let me take it easy. It also helped a lot that it was something I actually enjoyed doing. It wasn't as if I had to work up all the energy to pretend I was going to like doing the treadmill.
If you have trouble self motivating, I strongly recommend a group class style gym with a dedicated instructor who will keep you motivated and on track. It certainly doesn't have to be martial arts. My wife goes to a gym that does jump rope fitness classes and it helps her much in the same way mine help me. So there are lot of potential options out there.2 -
My job is sedentary, so I need to do something after work. Walking and hiking are my most common activities, but I go to the gym twice a week for circuit training. I wasn't always this active. In the past, I would have a few months of regular exercise, but then slack off and gain more weight. More recently, it just became part of my day. It helps me stay sane, and working out means I can have dessert! It took me a long time to get to this point, where not exercising feels out of place.0
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I always feel like a fraud when I talk about exercise because I've never used a gym or done what I would call "workouts" regularly. However, I'd say January 1, 2008 is when I started to consider regular exercise an essential part of my life. In 2007 I was beginning my long, long path to losing weight and getting healthier but that's when I really started getting out there walking briskly several miles most nights and it helped me in a lot of ways. The biggest for me were feeling stronger & more confident and it really improved my posture. Even though I was morbidly obese back then - and have now become a pretty serious hiker and am at a healthy weight - I know there was a huge difference for the way I felt in my body, before & after that time.2
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Mine was a very gradual shift in attitude, so much so that I didn't even notice. Started out like you, where there are other things I want to do and gym was not even considered. Boss at the old job took us all to a general gym class as a group bonding exercise and i hated it.
Then I started wanting to move more. So I did 15 min home workout videos 3 times a week. At the start, my husband had to "remind" me "aren't you going to exercise today" and i would grudgingly go do it. I knew I felt better about myself after it was done, but starting was hard.
Then I thought "I feel so much better on the days I work out, can I do this every work day?" So I upped videos to 5 days a week. Stayed like that most of a year, but after 3 months hubby no longer had to remind me to do it.
This spring a friend needed someone to go to a HIIT gym with her. I went out of friendship, not because I wanted to do it particularly. That first camp darn near killed me. But I haven't missed a weekend since.
I think I realized exercise had become important to me when I re-arranged social events to still be able to go to weekend class in the morning. Old me would have never done that.
Now: I started a trial for 6 weeks at that same gym. I'm trying to go every day. I have found work arounds for my old excuses "I don't want to work out after work because commute/dinner/tired" "I don't wanna lose hobby time" "classes are no fun" etc.
As for the "I don't feel good/tired/cramps": When working at home I always told myself "Just start the video. you can always pause if you start feeling worse". I never paused the video and stopped.2 -
My doctor put me on total bed rest. Thanks to lymphedema, my leg had swelled up and I had a weeping wound that we were still trying to find the right antibiotic to treat. My PCP referred me to a vascular surgeon for tests, but until I got the appointment, my doctor warned me that walking and other physical activity would raise the temperature of my leg and that elevated temperature was bad for the infection.
By the time I saw the vascular surgeon and was cleared to walk, I wanted to. Especially when it turned out that my condition was obesity-related. (My bulk had caused the veins in my legs to collapse and was compressing my lymph ducts. When I got an infected cut or scrape on the leg, the increased production of lymph fluid had to go somewhere. My leg erupted in water blisters and the rest is history.)
The condition is manageable, not curable. And it's managed through compression stockings and weight loss. I didn't want to deal with another weeping wound, so it was "Lose weight or else" and I had a clear idea of the 'or else'. That was my, "No more excuses, no more procrastination" moment. I wasn't active; I've got motor coordination issues that impacted my ability to do most fitness activities ('lift this while lowering that; breathe in while tensing this and relaxing that; breath out while tensing that and relaxing this...' Help!), but walking was at least something I could do right. So I started with a daily 25-minute walk or, if the weather didn't permit, 25 minutes on the glider in the basement.
Over the last almost-3 years, it's built up to over 2hours of walking daily. But it started with the reverse psychology of having spent weeks not being allowed to walk and the realization that my being 'in the mood' to exercise was a bonus, but in the mood or not, exercise was happening. I could pick which. I could pick the time of day. But whether I was going to do it? Not negotiable.3 -
I need to exercise for blood glucose control, and when I don’t, I see an immediate change in my carb tolerance. On the other hand, a hard strength workout will improve my tolerance for 24 hours and running 10k will allow me to eat a big carby meal like a normal person.
One thing that helped me when I first started exercising regularly, and which helps keep me on track when life gets in the way, was setting bare minimums. For me, that’s 15 minutes of HIIT stationary bike on cardio days or 2 bodyweight strength exercises on lifting days, plus 10 minutes of stretching/calisthenics first thing in the morning. No matter what, I get these minimums in. When my husband was in the hospital and I was stuck waiting around, I did counter pushups and squats. When the weather was icy and we couldn’t leave the house, I could still ride my bike. If I am ever seriously ill I may have to forgo the HIIT and strength, but even then, I try to get in the calisthenics. Most days I get much more exercise than this, but it’s helpful to know I plan to do at least this much, no excuses.0 -
When I looked back on my life and realized that as a kid I was in constant motion-riding a bike, skateboarding, swimming, roller skating, just playing, life was never static. I ate everything in site and was remained slender 5’7”/118# until my 50s. Weight was never a second thought for me as food was just fuel, that is until I started a soul-sucking 9-5 job that had me sitting most of the day. 50# later, I realized that life wasn’t as much fun when you have to struggle to do those things that give you joy. So, I decided to reframe exercise as the tool that allows me to take joy in being physically fit; life is just more fun for me when I don’t feel like I have limitations because I am out of shape. Also, after seeing my Mom deteriorate from Alzheimer’s, there is no way that I want that for my future and sweating myself to the chance of better brain health is a small price.2
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Personal trainer was the only way. I hate exercise and being sweaty and I'll talk myself out of all kinds of independent action, but if I make an appointment with someone then the adult part of my brain that allows me to work in an office and go to the doctor and generally adult takes over. I don't miss appointments or meetings.2
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One of my biggest problems is being sedentary. Unless I have to, I don’t think about moving. I don’t dislike exercise! I just don’t think of it, and when I do the bother of it all - changing, sweating, stretching, carrying a bag, finding a locker, the potential for injury- I can think myself out of it really fast.
“Oh my head hurts” “I have cramps” “it’s too much to carry today” “I don’t want to be smelly on the bus” “I should really focus on X instead” “I’ll do it later”
Like sure they’re all true, but they’re also excuses! I’ve re-packed my exercise bag and not gone to the gym so many times in the last 4 months.
I’ve read the advice to not make it an option and treat it like work. But when did you get there? I can mentally get out of everything unless it’s work or school. I bail on things “just for me” almost always! 😩
Based on your post, you find excuses to not exercise because that's all your focusing on. If you exercise in a form that excites you and/or works towards a goal, there are specific benefits beyond "I should do this/it's good for me". I struggled with that as well in the past; I tried p90x and p90x3 and only really did the workouts because it was something I was supposed to do for my health and the calorie burn. Same with running, never could really get into it but trying to chase better times piqued my interesting for a short while. It had to click for me that to look the way I ultimately desired I needed to put on muscle. With that goal I started following a more conventional barbell lifting style and haven't looked back. I'm healthier, stronger, and happier with my body than I've ever been and lifting has become a hobby all it's own as well as supports some of my other hobbies.1 -
One of my biggest problems is being sedentary. Unless I have to, I don’t think about moving. I don’t dislike exercise! I just don’t think of it, and when I do the bother of it all - changing, sweating, stretching, carrying a bag, finding a locker, the potential for injury- I can think myself out of it really fast.
“Oh my head hurts” “I have cramps” “it’s too much to carry today” “I don’t want to be smelly on the bus” “I should really focus on X instead” “I’ll do it later”
Like sure they’re all true, but they’re also excuses! I’ve re-packed my exercise bag and not gone to the gym so many times in the last 4 months.
I’ve read the advice to not make it an option and treat it like work. But when did you get there? I can mentally get out of everything unless it’s work or school. I bail on things “just for me” almost always! 😩
You don't have to go to the gym to exercise. Go for a walk...go for a run...get the bike out and go for a ride. I only go to the gym 2-3x per week to lift weights. If my exercise was predicated on making it to the gym everyday, it would never happen.
I think a lot of people have a very myopic perspective on exercise and that you have to go to the gym and either drone away on some piece of stationary cardio equipment, or have some kind of sufferfest workout. Find something you enjoy doing...I love riding my bike...I like walking my dog...I enjoy family hikes on the weekends, etc. Outside of lifting weight, the majority of my exercise consist of recreational activities.0 -
A year ago, I was much like you. Exercise sounded great in theory, but why go out of the way to do it when sitting in front of the couch was so much easier? I was also terrible at motivating myself, and figuring our what workout I wanted to do when I got to the gym. Even if I did go, it was always too easy to cut it early or go slow.
So I decided to go all in, and take all of that responsibility out of my hands. I joined an intense gym that teaches the Israeli martial art of Krav Maga. I went from sedentary to doing 90 minute hard classes overnight. It was super tough at first, but with consistency it got easier. And it made it a lot easier to show up knowing 2 things: 1. People would notice if I didn't and 2. All I needed to do after work was drag myself there, no matter how I was feeling, and I knew I would get in a great workout. Because I wouldn't be responsible for pushing myself. That responsibility was left to a 3rd degree black belt who was not going to let me take it easy. It also helped a lot that it was something I actually enjoyed doing. It wasn't as if I had to work up all the energy to pretend I was going to like doing the treadmill.
If you have trouble self motivating, I strongly recommend a group class style gym with a dedicated instructor who will keep you motivated and on track. It certainly doesn't have to be martial arts. My wife goes to a gym that does jump rope fitness classes and it helps her much in the same way mine help me. So there are lot of potential options out there.
I love that! I would absolutely love to do something like that. The things I am motivated to do all have people in them. Just knowing I could get out of my student solitary confinement lol would be great.
However I’m not sure I’m physically capable of something like that. I can’t do any jumping, squating, lunging, or running exercises due to my knee issues. I think nearly all group classes do these!0 -
Personal trainer was the only way. I hate exercise and being sweaty and I'll talk myself out of all kinds of independent action, but if I make an appointment with someone then the adult part of my brain that allows me to work in an office and go to the doctor and generally adult takes over. I don't miss appointments or meetings.
I would love to do that but I think you need to be more fit to get one! It’s for weight lifting right? Plus they are soooo expensive.0
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