How do you force yourself to work out when you’re full of excuses?

islandgirl00831

Hi friends —
I’m not new to fitness… but I’ve completely fallen off. I used to lead 6 mile sunrise walks on beach in sand 7 days a week for 2 years. I had accident and screwed up my hips and I can't do my walk anymore. Lately I’ve been slacking hard and making every excuse in the book — too tired, too busy, too overwhelmed. But I know deep down it’s time to stop living in survival mode and start showing up for myself again.

I don’t need motivation, I need discipline. I need real-life tips from people who’ve been here:

• How do you push through when you don’t feel like it?
• What tricks do you use to make it non-negotiable?
• What’s your mindset when excuses creep in?
• Are you working out first thing? Putting off till night?

Drop your habits, hacks, mantras — I’m ready to get my groove back.

Thanks in advance! Stephanie

tulips_and_tea

Don't dwell on what you USED to do. Focus on what you CAN do now. More importantly, what you enjoy doing.

Once you find an activity (or more) that you enjoy, then don't think about it. Just do it. Much like we go to work, or do the laundry, or brush our teeth, etc. Most of the time we don't "feel" like doing those things, but we do anyway. For our own health and benefit.

Schedule is dependent on each person. When do you enjoy being active? It doesn't have to be a set time for X amount of minutes. Just slowly increase your daily activity and experiment with new things, if possible. I know you said you have hip issues, so I'm not sure if you can, but have you tried yoga, Pilates, body weight exercises? Just some thoughts.

nossmf

As long as you view exercise as an additional chore to add into your day, it will be added to the list of other chores, ranked and prioritized and vulnerable to having something more important come along and bump it further down the line (or knock it out completely).

Instead, exercise needs to be viewed as simply a part of who we are: I breathe, I eat, I root for my home team, I exercise, I worship, I love, I work; that's who I am. The exact nature of the exercise can change as time, cost, health permit, but the idea of doing something should always remain.

Now, for ideas of gaining discipline, some which have worked for me:

• Keep experimenting with different forms of exercise until you find one you actually LIKE…it's amazing how much easier it is to "remember" to do something you like
• Schedule it in your day, with the same priority (mandatory) as meals or meetings with the boss
• Set alarms (yes, multiple…one is too easy to ignore)
• Pre-position any clothing/equipment needed the night before
• Engage somebody else for accountability (workout together, or daily tag-up with positive peer pressure)
• Reward system 1: work towards earning something new and special (e.g. five workouts completed earns a massage)
• Reward system 2: work towards keeping a current indulgence (e.g. no watching TV tonight unless I did some exercise today)
• Find a time of day where you are most likely to exercise: if you hate mornings, don't schedule exercise in the morning! If you don't mind mornings but are likely to forget/rationalize away a later workout, do it in the morning!

spiriteagle99

I'm a runner in my late 60s. I've been running for about 14 years. It is getting harder to do my runs lately, especially since I'm not racing any more, so in the past few years I have cut back on the mileage. What hasn't changed is my determination to continue to run 5 days a week. Since I'm retired, I mostly run in the afternoon. It is on my mental calendar. Days I really don't want to run, I'll tell myself I only need to do it for 30 minutes, then I can decide whether to go for the rest of the hour or not. I almost always do continue to do my usual 60 minutes but sometimes it's good to feel like I have a choice.

I also walk every day. We have a dog, and he needs exercise to be happy and healthy. Since I love him, I don't give myself a choice in the matter. Bad weather means we usually stay home, but that's because he hates ran, not because I do.

Setting yourself a goal can help. I used to enjoy training for races and running them, which made it easier to do long runs. Now I have a goal of 1400 miles for the year/28-30 miles a week.

ETA: I see you tagged this 'depression'. What I have found for myself is that exercise is the best thing I can do for my depression. I may not want to work hard on some days, but I always feel better afterward. Knowing that gives me all the motivation I need. But you're right, it is discipline that keeps me consistent.

AnnPT77

Mostly, I just experimented until I found something so fun that I'd do it even if it weren't good for me, but it is. To stack more probability of doing it on top of that, I organized a group to do it with, even though many people do it alone; that adds a scheduled appointment plus social enjoyment plus other people depending on me to the mix.

In the Winter, when I can't do my favorite activity, I know I need to keep active so I don't totally decondition by next outdoor season. (I'm old, so decondition faster than a young person, besides.) During that early stages of that off-season time, there's an online challenge that I've managed to use as a way to get going with regular indoor workouts: I have to work out 6 days a week if I'm going to finish the challenge. It's a self-commitment, but there's also a small charitable donation that happens if I do it.

After that in the Winter, I make a workout plan, then do my best to treat it as something I "just do" like grocery shopping or washing dishes, because it needs to be done. I do my best to think of it like that, rather than thinking of it as something I decide to do each and every time. I also tend to use distractions that are fun, and compatible with the activities, such as listening to podcasrs or music, or watching videos for a non-exercise hobby I enjoy.

I've been pretty active for almost 25 years now, having started that in my late 40s/early 50s after being mostly a couch-lump for a couple of decades. So far it mostly works. YMMV. The long history is also part of the impetus for me, not to "continue history" but because if I slack off for very long, I start to feel moody, cross, stiff, less functional . . . that helps me get back on track again, just to feel better.

For myself, because I'm an unapologetic hedonist and nearly completely lack willpower, discipline or motivation, I think of this as gaming my own character faults to achieve goals: The fun of Summer activity pleases the hedonist, as do the podcasts/videos; the "just something I do" exploits what little structure or commitment I can muster. Feeling physically/psychologically worse from being inactive for too long also helps exploit my inner hedonist - I'd rather feel good.

I hope you're able to find a solution that works for you . . . sometimes just getting started is the hardest part. After some period of forcing it, the benefits can start to be part of the reason to continue.

DiscusTank5

I pack my workout clothes the night before and park in the lot that's on my walk over to my university's gym from the building where I work. That way I can switch out my purse for my gym bag later in the day (so a physical and mental transition from work to gym mode).

I have a friend --not a morning person-- who sleeps in her exercise clothes so she doesn't have to think about what to wear when she wakes up and heads off to the gym.

springlering62

I “force” myself to mop, the thing I hate doing most in the world. #2 is cleaning the cat room, which husband has generously been taking care of. He draws the line at mopping, though.

I “look forward” to yoga, swims, trainer, and walks with the dog.

It’s all in the mindset. Instead of “forcing” yourself to walk six miles, maybe enjoy a quarter or half mile. You’ll build back up- if it’s something you enjoy doing.

Maybe sand is aggravating your joints. Try walking on a harder surface and see if you enjoy that better.

Since you appear to love the beach, what about something like a sea kayak that doesn’t involve as much hips? (At least, as an uninformed person I guess that’s true!)

What would you enjoy doing? There used to be a woman here who absolutely sang the praises of rebounding. That’s not something that would normally occur to me. Think outside the box. It just needs to be movement of some kind.

If it’s a pleasure, it’s not work.

springlering62

PS: analyze those excuses and then go do it anyway.

I can’t think of a single workout I’ve dragged myself to, and not felt better afterwards for doing it.

Lietchi

Some 'tricks' for me:

• as has been mentioned above, I don't force myself to do things I actively dislike: the type of exercise, but also when and where I exercise → I'm not a morning person so getting up earlier to work-out will not work (my best time is before dinner), I also don't enjoy gyms so I have a home gym to exercise, I don't enjoy (high intensity) interval training so I mostly do steady state cardio,…
• tell myself that I can stop exercising after 10 minutes if I'm still not 'feeling it' after those first 10 minutes
• when I'm REALLY not motivated to exercise, I might add another step beforehand: just telling myself to put on my workout gear. I occasionally end up spending the evening in front of the TV in my workout gear 😄 but generally it does help get my mind more into it
• I tend to have a certain overall goal for the week, for me it's a certain mileage. So when I contemplate skipping a workout, I think about my plans the rest of the week and whether or not skipping will make it hard to reach my goal. More than once, I've pushed myself to workout saying to myself (and to my boyfriend, saying it out loud adds some accountability 😊) "I didn't run yesterday and I won't have time tomorrow, so I should run today".
• this isn't generally a mindset I encourage, but occasionally exercising is a means to an end, having more calories so I can have a treat afterwards!

westrich20940

I really recommend trying to find a form of physical activity that you actually enjoy. Not something to do bc 'you're supposed to work out'. That'll make it infinitely more likely you're not going to have an excuse, you'll just want to do it.

I also am a big believer in putting on your clothes that you're going to work out in. I am a person who takes off my 'outside' clothes and put on my 'comfies' immediately upon getting home if I'm not going out again. If I do that there's a 0% chance I'm going out again, for a walk or to the gym.

If I just put on my leggings/shirt for working out/walk/hike, etc….I'll do it. Maybe I do have to lay/sit on the couch for some time and decompress, but I'm gonna do it. Same with the summer's I have off. If I stay in my comfies, I likely won't do much. But if I get up, get a shower, get dressed, maybe put some makeup on, I'll likely find something on my to-do list to do.

wishingiwasfishing5037

Find something you like to do.

I check the temperature the night before…. If it’s cool enough , I get outta bed crack at gray light. Pull on my shorts and take the dog for a 3+mile walk. Don’t comb my hair, don’t eat, just up and out the door. Every day. With or without the dog. It’s the one thing I can do easily and without any special equipment or need to drive anywhere. It’s cool and especially quiet at dawn with lots of wildlife to see in my rural neighborhood. I enjoy it immensely. I’m down 90 pounds without meds. No more blood pressure medicine and my mental health and confidence and self esteem has also improved. But… I had to buy a whole new wardrobe and my wedding ring doesn’t fit. My “new” habits are now routine and easy. It’s taken over a year and I only have 9 pounds to goal