What exercise did you start out with til now?

xSanoura

Just curious
I’d love to see how others started vs where they’re at now.

FinelyFermented

During and after college, mostly running and curls....to the fast food joint and the 12oz variety.

That spurned the need for several BB video sets and my current crossfit addiction

Joanna2012B

I started at Spin Class. I still go to Spin Class, but now I also cycle outdoors, run outdoors, lift weights and swim.

tapwaters

I started with elliptical and walking, nor I mostly run and cycle.

steveko89

In college I dabbled in running, used the rowing machine alot, and sporadically lifted some weights

After gaining some weight after graduating and getting a real job, I bought a set of Bowflex adjustable dumbbells and did P90x on/off for a while and got into running more as that's my wife's favorite.

In 2015 I started getting more serious about weights and bought a bench and barbell set.

I now lift 5-6 days/week and really enjoy it as a hobby as well as the strength and aesthetics improvements it's brought me.

quiksylver296

How far back do you want to go?

Weightlifting class in high school, judo in college and beyond (til about 2004), nothing for awhile, jogging (up to half-marathons) 2008-2012ish, some yoga around the same time 2008-2012, Stronglifts 5X5 around 2014, competitive powerlifting and some yoga 2016 to current.

nighthawk584

I used to weight train in my 30s....then I quit , got lazy and gained 100 lbs...Last April I started up again just walking 2-3 miles a day for first couple of months... -93 lbs later, now I am back to weight training and spin bike for cardio. I work out every day of the week and am 55 years old.

cwolfman13

I started in October 2012 just walking. I transitioned to jogging a few days per week and walking the others. In February 2013 I got into the gym and added weight training to the mix. I hit maintenance in April 2013 and continued to workout. I eventually got into cycling and started training for a century ride in January 2014 for a century in May 2014...I ended up doing a 1/2 century due to a cycling crash and injury that detoured my training time. From 2014 through 2017 I did a number of endurance cycling events and races but ultimately got tired of such structured training and spending so much time preparing...not to mention time became more constrained with my kids growing and starting school and homework and soccer, archery, etc.

Road cycling and mountain biking are still my primary forms of exercise as well as lifting weights a couple times per week. Since it's winter I usually only get out on my bikes on nice weekend days and do spin classes and other indoor cycling during the week. I also do quite a bit of hiking and some rock climbing here and there. I am active most days, but I make sure I take two days for active recovery and just do light exercises like walking and/or yoga. I have two strenuous exercise sessions weekly, otherwise I would put most of my exercise as moderate intensity.

sardelsa

I really got into exercise and got pretty fit starting back in 2009 when I got into Beachbody workouts (mainly TurboFire and some others), then in 2012 got into cardio kickboxing type classes, then in 2014 started working with weights, dabbled in BodyBeast but found it did not work well with my goals, did some random Bodybuilding.com stuff then finally discovered Bret Contreras and started Strong Curves in fall of 2014. Got into yoga around that time too. Been following similar programming ever since!

ricmtz

I started with at home workouts when I first started my journey about 7 years ago. I was 350lbs and I didn’t want anyone seeing me workout. I eventually overcame that fear. It wasnt easy though. I went from working out at home, to walking and then jogging. So basically cardio until I built up the confidence to go to a gym. My current weight is 275lbs.

NorthCascades

Mostly cycling, some hiking too. Now I do crazy long trips on both, I've added climbing and skiing.

sijomial

Crawling, walking, running, cycling on a bike with only one stabiliser (could only do clockwise circles!), cycling without stabilisers, soccer, weight training, volley ball, rugby, tennis, hill walking - that gets me up to my 30's.

Squash and weight training - 30's.

Weight training and dabbled in running and rowing and cycling - most of my 40's.

Road cycling far more seriously and weight training - 50's.

AnnPT77

Oh, man.

Let's skip childhood. Only organized sport in high school was a short stint on the tennis team, and gym classes. Mostly bookish.

College, mega big amounts of cycling and walking on a large campus, plus an active job. After that, around 30 years of mostly sedentary, with brief periods where I did a good bit of canoeing (once a week or so), backwoods canoeing annual vacations with portages for around 20 years, a little random gymming and swimming, about 8 years continuous years in there somewhere of regular Chinese martial arts practice (multiple times a week). Then a bunch more sedentary. I'm sure I"m forgetting some stuff**, but most of it didn't last, other than the martial arts for a while.

Starting in my mid-40s, after cancer treatment, I realized I needed to really work at it, if I ever wanted to have normal strength and energy back. Started with gentler things like yoga, weight trained seriously for a couple of years, then joined a rowing team. Got addicted to rowing, have kept doing that since, on-water usually 4x a week in season, lower volume machine work in Winter, some competition on water and on machine; spin classes for probably at least a decade now; took adult learn-to-swim lessons and lap swimming classes for a while; ride my bike some; try to talk myself into weight training but tend to quit and resume.

Mostly, now (age 64) the routine is rowing (water in summer, machine in winter), twice a week spin classes, a little cycling in summer, on and off weight training, and miscellaneous occasional other fun active stuff.

** ETA: Cross country skiing. I left that out, and did a bit of it every Winter for a while, mostly in my 20s/30s.

DancingMoosie

I started with walking and yoga. I gradually learned how to run and did some strength training with body weight and hand weights (like 30 day shred and the firm DVDs). Now I run, do kickboxing workouts, step routines, lift heavy free weights, etc

BrownSugar174

I started out with the elliptical machine. Up until a week ago I was doing 60 minutes on the elliptical machine five times a week (I incorporated a weight workout in June 2019 after starting my weight loss journey on 6/1/2018)

Last week my gym installed a Jacob’s Ladder workout machine and I am completely hooked. In the short period of time I’ve been using this machine I just feel like my body is changing. Only time will tell but wow! I started doing it for 20 minutes in intervals of 1 minute on..30-40 seconds off and so on (with a total of 20 minutes actually on the machine and 20 minutes rest/moving). I keep moving on the 30-40 second rest periods. Then I do intervals of 10 squats and 1- 30 second plank (five sets). Here’s an article on the machine...and me doing it😊

https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSBRE89709020121008

Machka9

I started with walking and running.

I didn't start riding a bicycle until I was about 5 years old.

Lolinloggen

Start: yoga and walk (to work)
Now: Weights/ground in home gym 5x pw 35-45 min Running 3-4x pw total 20-30km/w Walk to work 5x pw (2.5km each way) Walk everywhere I can for shopping and other things.
On a regular basis my schedule is slightly adjusted due to work commitments/business travel but I will always get my 10K steps in and will take my running gear when away for more than one night. I like clocking up new countries and cities on my Garmin

gradchica27

Fat and not active as a kid, though I did a decent amount of canoeing.

Started running senior year of HS, worked up to a 10k.

Joined the crew team in college, rowed indoors and out. A lot. Continued running, did a few half marathons. Started kickboxing at an awesome competitive gym. Ran out of time & $. Kept running and rowing.

20s-early 30s—running, a few more halfs, got into hot yoga for a while.

Mid-late 30s—discovered weight lifting. Discovered my hips post 4 kids hate running. Lift 5-6x/week. Do enough cardio (stair machine, elliptical) to keep some endurance, run exactly 1 5k a year with my kids, and do obstacle races. Started indoor rock climbing and love it. Bought kayaks, starting to get into that too. But mostly lifting. All the lifting.

gradchica27

BrownSugar174 wrote: »

I started out with the elliptical machine. Up until a week ago I was doing 60 minutes on the elliptical machine five times a week (I incorporated a weight workout in June 2019 after starting my weight loss journey on 6/1/2018)

Last week my gym installed a Jacob’s Ladder workout machine and I am completely hooked. In the short period of time I’ve been using this machine I just feel like my body is changing. Only time will tell but wow! I started doing it for 20 minutes in intervals of 1 minute on..30-40 seconds off and so on (with a total of 20 minutes actually on the machine and 20 minutes rest/moving). I keep moving on the 30-40 second rest periods. Then I do intervals of 10 squats and 1- 30 second plank (five sets). Here’s an article on the machine...and me doing it😊

https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSBRE89709020121008

That’s awesome! I like the idea of incorporating it into a HIT type workout. My gym has them but I’ve never used it, thinking I wouldn’t be able to do it for long. Might try it out instead of the tower next time I do my HIIT!

Viktorija34

I started with rowing machine and some classes such as circuit training. This was several years ago when I was much fitter. Now, I do some cardio exercises using again rowing machine, bicycle, fast walking on the treadmill. For the last 2 months, I had some personal training sessions and learnt more or less some exercises using different weights. This was very useful. I feel a lot stronger but it is still a long way to get to my target weight.

lorrpb

In June 2014 I could barely walk up my own steep driveway. I started with 1/4 mile walks and strength training with a personal trainer 2x. 5 1/2 years later I still walk (intentionally) 2-3 miles several times a week, strength train 3x on my own, lap swim 2-3x, and cycle in the summer. I've completed several 5ks and 10ks (mostly walked) and three triathlons and many many hikes of any length I desire.

rainbow198

Walking and ice skating for me.

Walking a 1/4 of a mile was a big challenge at the beginning.

Now I'm walking 3 - 5 miles everyday, I get in 10+ mile hikes on the weekend during the non-winter months and I don't get sore or tired.

With ice skating I couldn't go 5 minutes without needing to stop and catch my breath. I would come home and have literately sweated through 3 layers of clothes.

Now I can go the entire 50 minutes non-stop and go back for more. I'm never completely out of breath and I don't sweat. I went for 2 hours practically non-stop (50 mins. twice) the other night. I did feel that in my legs but it felt really great, not sore.

As someone who was never active or athletic I'm so proud of how far I've come!

Edited to add: I still walk on the track and the trail that I lost 80 pounds on from time to time. I always think about how tough it was early on and how I kept pushing and visualizing being fit and at a normal weight.

Going back to where I started from keeps me humble and working hard while maintaining my weight.

MichelleMcKeeRN

For the first 10 years of my adult life, I occasionally went to the gym and only did cardio. For the last few years, I have been doing a lot of weight training with a little cardio. I do more bike riding and hiking in the summer too. I can hike for an hour or two and my bike rides are normally 2 hours or so. My body looks WAY better now. Kinda crazy...

hmaddpear

I wasn't active as a kid, or an adult really. Then started here in 2013, needing to lose 100lb. Lost 80 of those walking, mostly. Then discovered running. I lapsed on the logging, put on 40 of the 80lb I'd lost, but I did keep running. So there's that!

MikePTY

I went from sedentary to practicing Krav Maga (Israeli Martial art). That's still primarily what I do now. But over time (16 months), I've went from barely being able to do half the exercises to leading the conditioning portion of our classes.

BrownSugar174

@lorrpb I am so very proud of you! You inspire me!!

francinefig

I joined the Y a year and a half ago with 70lbs to lose. I started out just walking the track, because everything else was too intimidating. I made the rule for myself that I had to show up at the gym and do *something*, even if just walking. I worked up to walking 90 minutes at a time and was losing weight and feeling good. Then, plantar fascitis and sore calf muscles forced me to stop walking one day and I got on an exercise bike instead. Slowly on after that I started doing other things and now I do a large variety of things -- strength, cardio, etc. And I love it. But I still sometimes have days where I just walk because I enjoy it so much. I have always been sedentary before now (or at least unable to stick to anything for any period of time), so I say if I can do it, anyone can.

firef1y72

When I started out I struggled to walk on the treadmill for 5min at 3km/hr. Now I do the following

Monday: 30min PT, 3.1mile run, shoulders/arms (around 45min), 30min yoga, 30min tabata, 45min barbell (like bodypump)

Tuesday : 30min PT, chest/back, 45min zumba, 30min yoga, 45min insanity, 50min boxercise

Wednesday : 30min sprints (every other week), long run (6-12miles), 45min stretch, strengthen and release (similar to piyo, so based on yoga and pilates), 45min zumba

Thursday : 1hr PT, 30min yoga, 30-60min cardio (usually includes some kind of treadmill run), 45min circuits

Friday : 30min PT, 3.1mile run, 45 min total body conditioning class. Depending on how much my trainer has hit my legs I may also do a leg workout. 30min yoga.

Saturday : either 4mile cycle to 50min bootcamp. Or parkrun. 30min yoga

Sunday : active rest, 3-5mile very easy paced run with a new runner (around 4min/mile slower than my normal pace). 30 min yoga

astridtheviking

When I was a little kid, I did competitive figure skating. In college, I started yoga and then pilates. Now I do pole, lyra, personal training and weights/circuit.

Luciicul

I started about a year ago, just with the initial goal of getting at least a 10 min walk each day. I was living a very sedentary life and could go days without leaving home, so I set this small goal. It’s not that I couldn’t walk for longer, but that I didn’t have a reason to and wasn’t in the habit.

Then I increased my walks - some days would walk for over an hour, even two, but other days it was only 20 mins up to shop and back.

My main goal for the first 8.5 months was on better eating habits, improving sleep, and losing weight, rather than exercise.

I did try doing yoga a couple times but as I was obese at the time I found even simple poses excruciating because so much weight was bearing down on my wrists. It made me feel like a failure. So I decided I would lose most the weight BEFORE increasing exercise.

About 3.5 months ago I started the “couch to 5k” running program. It builds up fitness and skills over 9 weeks - starting with walk/run intervals, finishing with a 30 minute steady state run.

From 3 months ago, on the days I wasn’t doing C25k I started doing yoga (yoga with Adrienne, on YouTube) twice a week.

I finished the C25k program and kept running about 3 days a week, with yoga on other days. I even ran on Christmas morning.

At the beginning of this month I started the 30 Day Yoga challenge - so this month I have done yoga every single day.

Two weeks ago I started using an app to help me do HIIT at home (3 rounds of 7 mins), to increase all over strength and intensity of workouts. So I either do HIIT or run every second day: goal is to do HIIT twice a week but this week I did it 3 times because it was too wet to run.

At the moment my HIIT workout is at the easy/beginner setting but I can already see improvements, for example - being able to maintain form for longer when doing kneeling pushups.

Most importantly: I now have a very strong exercise HABIT where I get up and do some form of exercise every single morning.

I don’t need to be the strongest or fastest at what I’m doing, but I do need to move this body to keep it healthy. By creating good easy sustainable habits, I’m more likely to keep it up for the rest of my life rather than fall off the wagon when life gets hectic.