How do you not get bored working out?

Options
2

Replies

  • Flossiesdoll
    Flossiesdoll Posts: 48
    Options
    Could you swim or do water-based fitness classes like aqua aerobics? Breast stroke is a bad idea with a knee injury, but crawl would be ok.
  • WVprankster
    WVprankster Posts: 430 Member
    Options
    If I'm lifting, I'm focused on maintaining mind/muscle connection. Cardio, I check out the girls.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Options
    Music. I don't often use machines because of the boring factor, but when I do, music is a must. I can always lose myself in a good song.
  • mojohowitz
    mojohowitz Posts: 900 Member
    Options
    Listen to music. Stare at the lovely bums on the ellipticals in front of me.
  • runningjen74
    runningjen74 Posts: 312 Member
    Options
    IF on a machine, which I try not to very often, I'm doing HIIT - I don't have time to think about it. For the Pushing myself part of it I'm counting down the seconds till it's over and then for the 'rest' parts I'm thinking cricky I've to do that again. Has my heart rate gone down again, maybe I should go again, I'll count down 5 seconds, and the monologue continues.
  • dixiewhiskey
    dixiewhiskey Posts: 3,333 Member
    Options
    I listen to music.. trying out a new lifting move, upping weights or machine keeps me interested.
  • JTick
    JTick Posts: 2,131 Member
    Options
    On the treadmill it's usually music. I try to watch TV as well, but I tend to fall off the treadmill when I do that. :blushing:

    On the bike or elliptical, I usually read or watch a TV show on my tablet. I really hate cardio machines though, I much prefer being outside. If I actually get an entire planned session in on a machine, I kind of feel like Chuck Norris.
  • dianalee9
    dianalee9 Posts: 134 Member
    Options
    I daydream about how hot I'm going to be when all this hard work pays off!
  • MysteriousMerlin
    MysteriousMerlin Posts: 2,270 Member
    Options
    I have to change it up. I really like the strength training, so I'm not bored with it, but walking on a treadmill everyday would demotivate me. I try to do the strength training every other day, and I change up where I walk (I work for a hospital, so it's a huge connecting network of buildings). I can't do more than 5-10 minutes on a treadmill at a time, but I can walk around outside or in the hospital for much longer.
  • NoxDineen
    NoxDineen Posts: 497 Member
    Options
    I listen to podcasts on long runs. Sometimes it bites me in the *kitten* when I laugh at something just as I run past somebody and feel like an *kitten* because it looks like I laughed at a stranger.
  • crystalflame
    crystalflame Posts: 1,049 Member
    Options
    Ugh I feel you, I was there back in January, and it was miserable. But I was miserable because I wanted to be doing other things and working on my goals, not because I was bored. With the elliptical, I'd do intervals or the "random" setting and push as hard as I could. It would keep me focused on surviving the next minute, then the next one, then the next, and before I knew it the workout was over. I've always bought into the idea that if you can focus on the TV or a book, you're not working hard enough, so up the intensity as much as you can.

    If you have a knee injury, you can still do upper body lifting. I did 3 days of cardio and 3 days of lifting. I wanted to keep my strength up, and I would have gone insane if all my workouts were cardio on a machine.
  • dpwellman
    dpwellman Posts: 3,271 Member
    Options
    So what do you do? Do you watch a movie on your phone? Listen to an audiobook?
    For stationary machines (treadmills) and the weight stacks, there's not ONE single thing to keep me from getting bored withing 15 minutes.

    Having a workout buddy tends to help, a little bit though.
  • goodbyefreshman15
    goodbyefreshman15 Posts: 71
    Options
    I do elliptical and music every day!

    And to be perfectly honest, I close my eyes when I run and pretend that I am sprinting over rooftops or training to defeat some ultimate evil, and keep yelling "WOULD WONDER WOMAN STOP? HUH? YOU THINK HARLEY QUINN LOOKS LIKE THAT BECAUSE SHE SLACKS OFF AT THE GYM? DO YOU EVEN WANT TO FACE OFF THE HELLFIRE CLUB?" in my head.

    I mean hey. Do what works.

    I appreciate your internal dialogue. Impressive. :P
  • goodbyefreshman15
    goodbyefreshman15 Posts: 71
    Options
    If you're a college student, getting on the cardio machines while zoning out into your notes is always good. Kill two birds with one stone! A lot of people take their iPads and read while on it

    Somehow I've never thought of this! Studying and working out.. together. Brilliance.
  • goodbyefreshman15
    goodbyefreshman15 Posts: 71
    Options
    When I don't feel up to running but still need to whip off some calories, I hop on the stationery bike, grab my tablet and read! I'm about halfway through my reread of the Song of Ice and Fire series, and I really think it helps. It sort of turns workout time into my self-care time twice over, you know? I'd be laying around reading anyway, but this way I'm getting hotter and hotter with every chapter D:

    "hotter and hotter with every chapter" I like your logic!
  • goodbyefreshman15
    goodbyefreshman15 Posts: 71
    Options
    I do different things, bike and elliptical would bore me to death too. But when I was stuck on the bike I used to read a book while riding. It worked for me.

    Can you do other low or no impact exercises? Like Pilates? Upper body only weights?

    I could.. but I don't know how to do either! Especially not lifting weights. It's just something I never learned. :(
  • goodbyefreshman15
    goodbyefreshman15 Posts: 71
    Options
    Could you swim or do water-based fitness classes like aqua aerobics? Breast stroke is a bad idea with a knee injury, but crawl would be ok.

    Technically I can but I'm too self-conscious to wear a bathing suit................
  • sculler62
    sculler62 Posts: 13 Member
    Options
    Can you swim in an indoor pool?
  • goodbyefreshman15
    goodbyefreshman15 Posts: 71
    Options
    Listen to music. Stare at the lovely bums on the ellipticals in front of me.

    bahaha. I stare at guys' arms, since some of the weight equipment is stationed by the cardio machines. I feel a little less creepy now.
  • goodbyefreshman15
    goodbyefreshman15 Posts: 71
    Options
    Ugh I feel you, I was there back in January, and it was miserable. But I was miserable because I wanted to be doing other things and working on my goals, not because I was bored. With the elliptical, I'd do intervals or the "random" setting and push as hard as I could. It would keep me focused on surviving the next minute, then the next one, then the next, and before I knew it the workout was over. I've always bought into the idea that if you can focus on the TV or a book, you're not working hard enough, so up the intensity as much as you can.

    If you have a knee injury, you can still do upper body lifting. I did 3 days of cardio and 3 days of lifting. I wanted to keep my strength up, and I would have gone insane if all my workouts were cardio on a machine.

    I need to find someone to show me how to lift.............

Categories