Does anyone else dislike exercise?

defauIt · July 2014

I like *some* exercise but not all exercise. Swimming, football, road hockey, biking, kayaking, lifting, rock climbing and the occasional hike are all activies I enjoy.

Just like I like *some* food but not all food. The trick is just finding what you enjoy doing.

20Grit · July 2014

If you like exercise you are either crazy or delusional.

You don't LIKE exercise, you like the way you feel afterward, or you like how you look after spending several weeks on a program.

No one LIKES exercise itself.

Want to lose weight?

Learn to control hunger.

Skip breakfast and make your mornings useful without stuffing your stomach.

Sigh. :grumble:

tinwaleet · July 2014

I used to dislike exercising, then tried zumba and I love it, best time in my day, getting also to like steps. Maybe you have not found yet the exercise that fits you. As others have said perhaps continue to try new things and you may find the best one fir you. Good luck.

brower47 · July 2014

I will expand.

That some group exercise activities are successful (albeit temporarily) and personal trainers make out like bandits proves the point.

It is not fun to exercise. And the older you get, the more outright pain there is.

But bring in a social aspect, and the positives of social interaction outweighs the negatives of doing pointless and repetitive physical activity. Look at the franchised exercise programs.

For that matter, look at the diet programs that are "successful."

There is a big positive social component.

You can realize intellectually the positives of exercise, and then do it and get used to it. It becomes painless and routine after a while, but...I'd rather be in Paris, and so would you.

For that matter, eating food is fun and satisfying.

Learning to skip breakfast isn't "fun" but you learn to get used to it- especially if you realize the long-term benefits.

Grand sweeping statement is grand and sweeping. It's also incorrect.

YOU don't think exercise is fun. Your personal feelings are not the personal feelings of every other member of the human species. This should be rather obvious.

DebTavares · July 2014

I love the feeling I get after a good workout. I hate working out when I'm not hitting macros or when I haven't had enough sleep.

3dogsrunning · July 2014

I will expand.

That some group exercise activities are successful (albeit temporarily) and personal trainers make out like bandits proves the point.

It is not fun to exercise. And the older you get, the more outright pain there is.

But bring in a social aspect, and the positives of social interaction outweighs the negatives of doing pointless and repetitive physical activity. Look at the franchised exercise programs.

For that matter, look at the diet programs that are "successful."

There is a big positive social component.

You can realize intellectually the positives of exercise, and then do it and get used to it. It becomes painless and routine after a while, but...I'd rather be in Paris, and so would you.

For that matter, eating food is fun and satisfying.

Learning to skip breakfast isn't "fun" but you learn to get used to it- especially if you realize the long-term benefits.

You make no sense. It's more than just being about knowing intellectually exercise is good for me, far more.
Many of us constantly push our limits. We actively avoid "routine".
Yeah, I'd rather be in Paris when I'm exercising, but I'd be planning a run while I was there. Nothing better than exploring on a run.

ETA - you don't have to like exercise, that's fine. You aren't alone. But you don't speak for everyone.

MelodyandBarbells · July 2014

I will expand.

That some group exercise activities are successful (albeit temporarily) and personal trainers make out like bandits proves the point.

It is not fun to exercise. And the older you get, the more outright pain there is.

But bring in a social aspect, and the positives of social interaction outweighs the negatives of doing pointless and repetitive physical activity. Look at the franchised exercise programs.

For that matter, look at the diet programs that are "successful."

There is a big positive social component.

You can realize intellectually the positives of exercise, and then do it and get used to it. It becomes painless and routine after a while, but...I'd rather be in Paris, and so would you.

For that matter, eating food is fun and satisfying.

Learning to skip breakfast isn't "fun" but you learn to get used to it- especially if you realize the long-term benefits.

But there's Nothing wrong with making an honest living. If people have figured out a way to solve the problems with exercise and make it more appealing, I say more power to them. I'm happy to give them my money if it means I'm exercising year in year out and loving it. Hell, forgetting money for a second, some people even write free posts on MFP that make me give running an honest shot and actually like it. What's the ulterior motive there other than genius problem solving??

You actually remind me of a Q&A Blog website where a poster had asked about his exercise habits. He golfs, plays tennis, squash, etc but doesn't attend a gym. Is this sufficient physical activity? The responder says no, he's gotta go to a gym and workout :noway: Seriously??

And I don't know about Paris. I don't speak their language (fluently) and my last trip to Europe was 8 hours. I hate long flights (possibly flying, period, frankly), and currently there's no quicker way to get across the pond

Barbellarella_ · July 2014

I will expand.

That some group exercise activities are successful (albeit temporarily) and personal trainers make out like bandits proves the point.

It is not fun to exercise. And the older you get, the more outright pain there is.

But bring in a social aspect, and the positives of social interaction outweighs the negatives of doing pointless and repetitive physical activity. Look at the franchised exercise programs.

For that matter, look at the diet programs that are "successful."

There is a big positive social component.

You can realize intellectually the positives of exercise, and then do it and get used to it. It becomes painless and routine after a while, but...I'd rather be in Paris, and so would you.

For that matter, eating food is fun and satisfying.

Learning to skip breakfast isn't "fun" but you learn to get used to it- especially if you realize the long-term benefits.

Lolz.

I workout in my garage, by myself often. I still enjoy exercising! even without the social aspect.

And although I do agree that intermittent fasting can be a helpful tool to create a caloric deficit, it's not going to give me the shapely figure I'm after, like lifting does.

brower47 · July 2014

I will expand.

That some group exercise activities are successful (albeit temporarily) and personal trainers make out like bandits proves the point.

It is not fun to exercise. And the older you get, the more outright pain there is.

But bring in a social aspect, and the positives of social interaction outweighs the negatives of doing pointless and repetitive physical activity. Look at the franchised exercise programs.

For that matter, look at the diet programs that are "successful."

There is a big positive social component.

You can realize intellectually the positives of exercise, and then do it and get used to it. It becomes painless and routine after a while, but...I'd rather be in Paris, and so would you.

For that matter, eating food is fun and satisfying.

Learning to skip breakfast isn't "fun" but you learn to get used to it- especially if you realize the long-term benefits.

You make no sense. It's more than just being about knowing intellectually exercise is good for me, far more.
Many of us constantly push our limits. We actively avoid "routine".
Yeah, I'd rather be in Paris when I'm exercising, but I'd be planning a run while I was there. Nothing better than exploring on a run.

ETA - you don't have to like exercise, that's fine. You aren't alone. But you don't speak for everyone.

Not to mention the endorphin highs many people get due to exercise. Endorphin highs are chemical fun.

usmcmp · July 2014

I will expand.

That some group exercise activities are successful (albeit temporarily) and personal trainers make out like bandits proves the point.

It is not fun to exercise. And the older you get, the more outright pain there is.

But bring in a social aspect, and the positives of social interaction outweighs the negatives of doing pointless and repetitive physical activity. Look at the franchised exercise programs.

For that matter, look at the diet programs that are "successful."

There is a big positive social component.

You can realize intellectually the positives of exercise, and then do it and get used to it. It becomes painless and routine after a while, but...I'd rather be in Paris, and so would you.

For that matter, eating food is fun and satisfying.

Learning to skip breakfast isn't "fun" but you learn to get used to it- especially if you realize the long-term benefits.

I lift on my own. There is no social component to that. Some of us just actually enjoy it. You may not, but you can't speak for everyone. Also, I have zero desire to ever go to Paris. I'd rather be in the gym.

I can appreciate that you have a very different view on exercise than I do. You don't enjoy it and you find it painful. I enjoy it and at 50% disabled strength training has done wonders to reduce my daily pain. There are a wide variety of views on exercise out there. It's interesting to hear yours, but generalizations about how everyone feels on a certain subject don't work.

People don't have to skip breakfast to be successful at fitness or fat loss. They can if they want to. They can if they aren't hungry. It isn't necessary to skip it or to eat it. It's highly individual.

kazzsj0urney · July 2014

Its like anything we all have different likes and dislikes. I have been exercising regularly for 6 years....have tried a wide variety of things and nope I dont like it, I will never enjoy it, but I appreciate the benefits of it - I dont regret the workouts ever I simply dont enjoy the process.

Annie_01 · July 2014

I will expand.

That some group exercise activities are successful (albeit temporarily) and personal trainers make out like bandits proves the point.

It is not fun to exercise. And the older you get, the more outright pain there is.

But bring in a social aspect, and the positives of social interaction outweighs the negatives of doing pointless and repetitive physical activity. Look at the franchised exercise programs.

BTW Exercise is not a social event for me. I go on long walks by myself...hike by myself...strength train my myself.
For that matter, look at the diet programs that are "successful."

There is a big positive social component.

You can realize intellectually the positives of exercise, and then do it and get used to it. It becomes painless and routine after a while, but...I'd rather be in Paris, and so would you.

For that matter, eating food is fun and satisfying.

Learning to skip breakfast isn't "fun" but you learn to get used to it- especially if you realize the long-term benefits.

Really???

I will be 62 next month...I am in less pain now than I was in my fifties...due to the exercise that I started a year ago. I rarely even take an aspirin any more after having for years taken anywhere from 6 to 8 almost every day for years.

Maybe this has been your experience...if so...I am truly sorry about that...but for many of us our health and our quality of life has improved tremendously because of getting more active including exercise.

Paris is not one of those places that I have ever had the desire to go to...

aedreana · July 2014

Dislike, despise, detest exercise in any form. Never learned to dance, swim or skate; I have hated physical activity all my life, even as a child..Exercise makes me hostile and agitated-- I am told this is "adrenaline." I REFUSE to exercise!

Bloopers123 · July 2014

I've always hated working out and still do. However, when I do workout, I feel so much better about myself and just overall feel healthier, so I do it even though I know I can lose weight without it. It's also fun to track your progress! When I first started, I wasn't able to do even one mile on the elliptical, but now I can do like 5 miles without a second thought. Still working on the treadmill though... hate running.

AllonsYtotheTardis · July 2014

Dislike, despise, detest exercise in any form. Never learned to dance, swim or skate; I have hated physical activity all my life, even as a child..Exercise makes me hostile and agitated-- I am told this is "adrenaline." I REFUSE to exercise!

ThePersnicketyOtter · July 2014

Nobody loves exercise. We do it for the benefits. It's part of being an adult, doing things we'd rather not.

That said, I am never sorry after a work out. But I am almost never pumped to go beforehand. It's always the reward afterward that makes me glad I did it.

I disagree with this. I love to work out - if I'm doing the right kind of workout. I LOVE swimming, so my workouts are swimming laps in the pool at the gym. I hate running in the heat, so I don't. Exercise DVDs are boring, but I love the fitness games for my Wii and I can spend hours a day playing Wii Fit games. It's all about finding what you like.

AllonsYtotheTardis · July 2014

I keep seeing people who love working out, doing dvd programs etc... 1.5 year later I still don't. I force myself to do it, typically really doing half of it because I can't keep up. I've tried lots of different things. . None of that 'exercise high'. At this point I realize I just don't want it hard enough.

Is it just me?

I hated exercise until I found something that I liked to do. Now I like exercise.

ScottH_200 · July 2014

I love to walk. Since walking is exercise, the answer is no, I do not dislike exercise.

gmoneycole · July 2014

Yeah it's you. Learn to love exercise. Keep looking to find what you like to do and build it into your daily routine! You need to move and then work a healthy diet. Good luck!

librarydebster · July 2014

Actually, I DO love exercise. I bicycle, and sometimes I see deer on the trail. I started aquafit and my rec centre has aquabike and aqua bootcamp. I just did a color 5k run (Color me rad) and i am finding that exercise is fun! I got bored years ago at a gym eventually but now I am really having fun discovering new activities.

Gidzmo · July 2014

I suspect that you might not like the exercise you are doing. I tried aerobics once, but found that I was the only chubby person in the class (this can be somewhat intimidating).

Now my exercise is, largely, walking--either walking myself to work or to errands, or walking our Bluenose Pitbull.

Benefit to walking to work: save on gas and getting exercise.
Benefit to walking to errands: errands get done, and I get exercise.
Benefit to walking the dog: Kita learns to behave on-leash, I learn how to get her to behave on-leash. And I get exercise.

So there you are, getting exercise doing everyday stuff.

mermiths · July 2014

As a former runner who fell and was on crutches forever -- here's some tips- wrap gauze around the handles and armpit handles. Ice helps with the pain. Do wimpy arm weights while sitting -- you'll feel somewhat righteous-lol. Do core exercises for your tummy.

mermiths · July 2014

YES!!! I've found that I'm extremely ADD when it comes to exercise so I'm trying to change it up. WII fitness is fun,and has lots of options (but now I'm getting bored with that) HOWEVER-I am facing surgery for my back and have been doing my physical therapy "core muscle training"' religiously for more than a year. I hope you will find something to stick with because exercise is much more beneficial than surgery!

TroublesomeTribble · July 2014

I know people who have lost significant amounts of weight, who have been at it for years, who still hate exercise. The bottom line is, not everyone "learns to love it." However, you should (easier said than done, I know). There are lots of tricks, I'm sure, but you have to figure out what works for you. Generally, anything that feels like a chore, people tend to come to hate. For example, I have loved art my entire life, still do, but when it comes practice, school work or jobs, I hate it so much. It doesn't matter that art is a life long beloved hobby, I hate it when it the moment it becomes work, the moment it feels like a chore. And therein lies the problem, I believe. Most people regard exercise as a chore, as something they MUST do, even if they don't want to. It doesn't have to be though. It can be fun, you just have to find a physical activity that makes you happy, that you get excited about and look forward to. Maybe it's running, or dancing, or mixed martial arts or what have you. I used to love boxing, kick boxing, and mixed martial arts, as well as hiking (which is unfortunately an incredibly rare activity for me since I live in NYC). These were the only physical activities I ever loved or enjoyed, let alone could tolerate lol. I'm out of shape and always felt like I was dying, but it was okay because I loved what I was doing.

almondjoy206 · July 2014

I disliked exercise for quite some time. Especially when I became a stay at home mom and I always felt so tired! But just a week ago i joined up on MFP to help me get on track to lose this weight. And i have finally been going to the gym and i feel great afterwards! Altough i am tired after and go back to sleep before my kids wake up. It sucks that it hurts.me.so bad to try to jog/run due to a knee injury that never healed. But i do enjoy doing the elliptical trainer and i am curious if its just as good doing that for 30 minutes as being on a treadmill for 30 mins?I

Leana93412 · July 2014

I see exercise time as play time.

But I agree, lots of exercise I don't like. But I DO fancy walking. Because I sometimes just walk up n down the room without me even noticing it. Weird I know. Not because I'm stressed just because I started walking and forgot to stop I guess. :ohwell:

I've also joined a gym group. Seems more fun around other people. For me atleast.

MissCharly2 · July 2014

I keep seeing people who love working out, doing dvd programs etc... 1.5 year later I still don't. I force myself to do it, typically really doing half of it because I can't keep up. I've tried lots of different things. . None of that 'exercise high'. At this point I realize I just don't want it hard enough.

Is it just me?

I know my problem is stamina, and I have to get that up first before I can do the rest more comfortably.
I've learned to start easy, focus on the goal, remind myself that 'this is good for me', know I will be stronger later - and most of all, listen to or watch something I love whenever possible. It makes the effort less noticeable (so eliminates the negative messages) and makes the time go faster. No, I don't like it either, but if I can think of my results it's more likely that I'll continue. I know some people who don't like exercise like Zumba, but I haven't tried it. I feel for you

Keep on keepin' on! Find something you like that burns energy... Best wishes, dear!

TiffieLand · July 2014

Yes I do dislike it as a way to burn calories but I do enjoy sports that burn calories unintentionally. I could play tennis, ride a bike,etc for fun but if I'm doing it for the sake of burn calories then I hate it.

neandermagnon · July 2014

I will expand.

That some group exercise activities are successful (albeit temporarily) and personal trainers make out like bandits proves the point.

It is not fun to exercise. And the older you get, the more outright pain there is.

But bring in a social aspect, and the positives of social interaction outweighs the negatives of doing pointless and repetitive physical activity. Look at the franchised exercise programs.

For that matter, look at the diet programs that are "successful."

There is a big positive social component.

You can realize intellectually the positives of exercise, and then do it and get used to it. It becomes painless and routine after a while, but...I'd rather be in Paris, and so would you.

For that matter, eating food is fun and satisfying.

Learning to skip breakfast isn't "fun" but you learn to get used to it- especially if you realize the long-term benefits.

Grand sweeping statement is grand and sweeping. It's also incorrect.

YOU don't think exercise is fun. Your personal feelings are not the personal feelings of every other member of the human species. This should be rather obvious.

^^^^ this

there are several kinds of exercise that I have done in my life that are enjoyable that I did for no other reason that that they're enjoyable. Skating is a prime example - not just hockey, skating too, as in going to a public skating session, without friends (usually with friends but if they weren't around I still went without them), and just skating around in circles (because what else can you do at a public session in an ice rink) - health and not getting fat were not on my mind at all. I just did it purely for fun. It was a lot more fun on the public sessions where there were few enough people that I didn't have to just skate around in circles and could do all kinds of other things like sharp turns, circles and all the rest though... busy public sessions were less fun because you had to skate slowly to avoid collisions with people who couldn't skate so well.

most of the exercise I've done in my life I've done for fun. Ice hockey, judo, hiking, cycling, playing games in the street with the other kids... some kinds of exercise, like cross country running, netball and rounders, i hated and would not have done at all had PE teachers and judo coaches not made me do it.

I didn't get fat until I quit ice hockey and carried on eating like I was still doing all the training i used to *facepalm* - only then did the concept of doing exercise to stay healthy and get thin even dawn on me. So no, the above is not just me intellectualising the benefits of exercise or enjoying the after effects of it........ I enjoyed it all for its own sake, other than running and sports that I found boring like netball. (netball isn't even exercise anyway, mostly it's standing around as players aren't even allowed in the entire court, hence why it's boring)

My kids too - they love running around and playing outdoors. I don't need to make them exercise. They do it all by themselves. I'm also inclined to think that this is the natural way for humans to be, and people get conditioned out of enjoying exercise, probably due to a combination of overbearing PE teachers and becoming unfit due to being too sedentary, so they lose the ability to enjoy exercise, and may never regain it (although I think people do regain the ability to enjoy exercise).

For people who genuinely hate all forms of exercise... well I admire your dedication for sticking at it. And also, coming at this question from the opposite perspective... I do find it hard to believe that anyone would hate *all* forms of sport and exercise (not saying that these people don't exist, just that it's hard to imagine)... I totally get not liking specific ones, but it is hard to imagine someone hating every single kind of exercise there is.... I guess that's because it's hard for people to imagine other people having vastly different experiences to their own. I also want to know if this is a genetic thing, or if people are conditioned to hate exercise through negative experiences, perhaps due to a combination of being unfit as a child and unable to keep up with the other children and overbearing PE teachers who humiliate kids for not being good at sport (which was very common in the 70s and 80s unfortunately).

Is there an ice rink in Paris? I might rather be there... or, even better, in Canada skating on natural ice (never had the chance to do this, would love to one day).

_runnerbean_ · July 2014

If you don't like planned exercise sessions you could try "active lifestyle" to try to boost your weight loss. In other words, walk places when you can, take the stairs not the lift, park the car far from the shops etc. if you meet a friend go for a walk together instead of a coffee etc. life is too short to do things you hate. But the benefits if being active are huge, especially if you can stay fit as you get older.

Does anyone else dislike exercise?

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