I HATE exercise!

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  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    It is boring and I hate it! But hate it or not, I need to do it as part of a healthy lifestyle. Any suggestions? I think my biggest hurdle is that it is so boring!

    My guess is that your perception of "exercise" is droning away on some cardio machine. You don't have to do that...you would never catch me doing that save for very rare occasions when the weather is just too ****ty for me to get out...and even then, I often just say **** it.

    You don't have to drone away on cardio machines...you don't have to jump around like some kind of jack *kitten* to some 90Ds...30X whatever DVD. You need to find something active that you enjoy doing.

    I, for example like riding my bike...so I ride my bike quite a bit and for a little extra challenge I sign up for endurance rides in the late spring and I race cyclocross in the fall.

    I also enjoy hiking in the mountains around here and doing some fishing as well...I like a good morning round of golf...and a dip in the pool to swim a few laps. I like hitting the weight room and getting stronger, etc.

    If your exercise is boring, you are doing it wrong. I can't imagine that out of all of the active things you could possibly do that you hate every single one...I just don't buy that for even 1/2 a second.
  • jkowula
    jkowula Posts: 447
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    Go walking. It won't be a huge burn, but at least you'll get to move around.
    Blast music in your ears to keep you busy and only listen to music then, so you trick your mind into WANTING to walk just so you get to listen to music.

    This is exactly what I have been doing. I don't love it by any means, but I listen to tunes all the time so I might as well be walking. It has worked great for me.
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    right now exercise might be boring because it's pretty cold out and you're generally confined indoors. but soon enough it'll start getting warmer out and you can ride a bike or run outside.

    i often multi-task throughout the day. i'm thinking about the task at hand plus the next three. but when i'm outdoors exercise, it all kind of fades away.
  • MelsAuntie
    MelsAuntie Posts: 2,833 Member
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    Hauling hay isn't boring... it keeps the horses fed. Hauling firewood isn't boring...it helps keep the house at least somewhat warm. Using the elliptical machine while watching TV isn't boring. If I had to lift weights, do curls or push-ups, any of that gym stuff, or those exercise videos, I'd be bored out of my mind, too.
  • judyde
    judyde Posts: 401 Member
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    Although exercise is good for fitness, if all you're trying to do is lose weight, you don't HAVE to exercise. You just need to eat at a caloric deficit. Exercise helps that goal by burning calories. If you really don't like to exercise, you will need to eat fewer calories to lose weight.

    I agree with others to find something fun that is more like playing a game and less like exercise. I go swimming and ice skating with my kids. Doesn't seem like exercise if it's fun.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    Go walking. It won't be a huge burn, but at least you'll get to move around.
    Blast music in your ears to keep you busy and only listen to music then, so you trick your mind into WANTING to walk just so you get to listen to music.

    This is exactly what I have been doing. I don't love it by any means, but I listen to tunes all the time so I might as well be walking. It has worked great for me.

    Same here! If my tunes are going, I forget that I'm even exercising.
  • judyde
    judyde Posts: 401 Member
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    Also, I just got a fitbit, so that's some motivation to walk or climb steps. In the winter it's hard, but once Spring is here, we will start going to local amusement parks (we have season passes) and I will be walking 8-12 hours probably once a week at Dorney Park going on roller coasters. That is my favorite form of exercise!

    Do you like to go to museums? Get a fitbit and walk around a museum.
  • lucycw87
    lucycw87 Posts: 11 Member
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    I do high intensity type exercise for 30 minutes 5x a week. Whether that's a fitness DVD with millions of jump squats, running sprints or intervals or kick boxing, I'm spending the whole time digging deep to get myself through it and I don't have time to think about it being boring because I'm too busy concentrating on not falling over and pushing myself!!

    I think that exercise is often more about your mind than your body. My mind tells me I can't do things, I can't keep going, but if I turn those voices off and focus then I can do it. My mind tells me, 'you don't want to exercise today, you're tired' but if I ignore it, get up and start doing it then I know I'll want to continue and I always feel so much better afterwards! If you convince yourself that you enjoy it and look forward to it then eventually you start to believe it!
  • erickbrian
    erickbrian Posts: 53 Member
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    It is boring and I hate it! But hate it or not, I need to do it as part of a healthy lifestyle. Any suggestions? I think my biggest hurdle is that it is so boring!


    My GF is the same. Let me know if you find a solution for yourself.
  • ninja8tofu
    ninja8tofu Posts: 76 Member
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    Yes, this is what I meant earlier. It's not boring because I have to use some mental strength to get through it. And the results...man...seriously.

    ETA: Ooops, I meant to reply to Lucy 2 posts above me!
  • bfitgirl
    bfitgirl Posts: 138 Member
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    Weight training is very good for keeping your brain on its toes, if ye pardon the pun!

    You basically need to set out your exercises, mark reps, mark weights note rest times, count seconds performing. I bring a work sheet with me every time to jot down everything I do, stopping at end of reps to write it down. You get so involved that you can't think of anything else, it's always next thing to do... I would totally zone out if I was just walking or running, which obviously suits some people, to clear their heads... My next option would be team sports, I would need the stimulus of others to push me on..
  • SingingSingleTracker
    SingingSingleTracker Posts: 1,866 Member
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    My thing is that I am constantly doing a million things at once at home and especially at work. Multi-tasking is my middle name! Over the last week I have ridden an exercise bike a couple times, only for 15-20 minutes and felt like I was going crazy because I was just "sitting there" peddling away. Listening to music didn't help either, which is weird because that usually is just the thing to pump me up to get moving. I feel the same way with elliptical machines, the treadmill, etc... A lot of people have a sport or exercise they love. What would you suggest for an uncoordinated 30 something who is not exactly athletic?

    Depends on where you set up an exercise bike.

    Facing a big screen TV with something to watch, a couple of floor fans blowing on you to keep you cool - and if the exercise bike has a computer console to track your watts, rpm's, speed, HR, distance, time, calories, etc.. - you can be "entertained". Agree that riding outside is more visually stimulating, but my indoor set up is very entertaining between the computer console, TV with cable hooked up and plenty of choice entertainment, fans keeping me cool. And the computer has plenty of programs to put you through the ringer.

    If it is just a bike lined up facing the wall in a string of bikes at a gym - probably not so exciting. At least it doesn't require a great deal of coordination to spin an excercise bike and you can burn a lot of calories in a 60-90 minute session. I've managed to get a few 3 hour rides in on the weekends this year on the exercise bike, but I'm not bored as it is training for upcoming events and am targeting specific things on the bike to keep me occupied (speed, power, intervals, HR, etc...).
  • kbmnurse
    kbmnurse Posts: 2,484 Member
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    Don't exercise then.
  • castadiva
    castadiva Posts: 2,016 Member
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    My thing is that I am constantly doing a million things at once at home and especially at work. Multi-tasking is my middle name! Over the last week I have ridden an exercise bike a couple times, only for 15-20 minutes and felt like I was going crazy because I was just "sitting there" peddling away. Listening to music didn't help either, which is weird because that usually is just the thing to pump me up to get moving. I feel the same way with elliptical machines, the treadmill, etc... A lot of people have a sport or exercise they love. What would you suggest for an uncoordinated 30 something who is not exactly athletic?

    Depends on where you set up an exercise bike.

    Facing a big screen TV with something to watch, a couple of floor fans blowing on you to keep you cool - and if the exercise bike has a computer console to track your watts, rpm's, speed, HR, distance, time, calories, etc.. - you can be "entertained". Agree that riding outside is more visually stimulating, but my indoor set up is very entertaining between the computer console, TV with cable hooked up and plenty of choice entertainment, fans keeping me cool. And the computer has plenty of programs to put you through the ringer.

    If it is just a bike lined up facing the wall in a string of bikes at a gym - probably not so exciting. At least it doesn't require a great deal of coordination to spin an excercise bike and you can burn a lot of calories in a 60-90 minute session. I've managed to get a few 3 hour rides in on the weekends this year on the exercise bike, but I'm not bored as it is training for upcoming events and am targeting specific things on the bike to keep me occupied (speed, power, intervals, HR, etc...).

    This. Exercise can be a multi-tasking pursuit as well. I often use walking time to memorise new music, or go through an audio language lesson. Think laterally - what can you do while you exercise, with a screen or MP3 or book or...? Exercising outdoors is much less boring, by the way, than the same activity inside - not least because you have to keep at least half your mind on the job to avoid running into things/people, but I know that may not be possible/simple/appealing if you live in a climate with a lot of snow & ice on the ground at the moment.
  • loubidy
    loubidy Posts: 440 Member
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    I don't believe you.

    There must be something you like? Personally I HATEHATEHATE DESPISE!!! Zumba, I think it is truely horrific. Body Combat however is one of my favourite things ever and I get genuinely sad when I have to miss it.
  • castadiva
    castadiva Posts: 2,016 Member
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    I don't believe you.

    There must be something you like? Personally I HATEHATEHATE DESPISE!!! Zumba, I think it is truely horrific. Body Combat however is one of my favourite things ever and I get genuinely sad when I have to miss it.

    Strange person :wink: I pretty much loathe most of the exercise/sport-type things I could do on a regular basis without moving town/country/acquiring a very specific boyfriend/husband. If I could ski or ice-skate every day, or walk up hills to see beautiful scenery, or had a built-in dance partner ready to ceroc/waltz/tango the evening away (Zumba doesn't have the same elegant appeal), that'd be one thing, but I can't - damn geography, finite financial resources and no dance-crazed boyfriend! Those limitations being the case, I do what I can tolerate - walking, cycling in summer, and dragging myself to the gym for a brief, but intense, weights session 2-3 days/week - but enjoyment is not often a part of the equation - some of the human population simply do not enjoy sports or physical activity of the 'exercise' kind!
  • aarar
    aarar Posts: 684 Member
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    I used to hate it too. Maybe look at why you exercise, is it strictly to lose weight? If so change your perspective and find something you either genuinely enjoy or something that looks fun that you've always wanted to try. Don't worry about calorie burns, or how much weight you'll lose, just focus on having fun and getting better/stronger/faster whatever. I found once I stopped associating physically activity with weight loss I started to love it.

    Edited for spelling

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