I hate exercising.....

Dippydog
Dippydog Posts: 154
edited September 25 in Fitness and Exercise
I hate exercising and have lost some weight by just doing my food 'thing' on MFP.
I don't have a lot of time when I get home because of my traveling to work and back-so I leave early and get home late.
Any ideas of what I can do during my lunch hour? The area around my office is not safe to walk around in so that is out.

Any ideas? Anyone?

Replies

  • kdao
    kdao Posts: 265
    How about some quick cardio? Jumping jacks, running in place, windmills, crunches. Just do in a rotation for 20 mins.
  • sexygenius
    sexygenius Posts: 1,078 Member
    jumping jacks? jog in place? shake your groovy thang? anything thats gets you moving and your heart rate up!
  • fcrisswell
    fcrisswell Posts: 234 Member
    Does the building you work in have stairs? Can you walk up and down several flights during lunch? On your days off....fnd something you enjoy doing...now that the weather is nice find a place to hike or do something around your house...buy a treadmill and get up a bit earlier just to get 20 minutes of some cardio in?
  • ajbeans
    ajbeans Posts: 2,857 Member
    Take some resistance bands to work and stash them in your desk. You can do some hammer curls, narrow shoulder presses, reverse flies, squats, etc. right there in your office if you want. Easy peasy -- decent cardio, and it'll help keep your muscles built up so you burn fat instead of muscle.
  • Mishy
    Mishy Posts: 1,551 Member
    Exercising was difficult at me at first but I love it now! If I miss a day something feels off. Anyway, as far as suggestions -

    what about walking inside your office or going up and down the steps for part of your lunch?
    or getting up 15 minutes earlier and working out before work then doing another 15 minutes when you get home?

    Start small, but start. Cardio exercising and weight loss do go hand in hand, and there are many other benefits of exercising your body as well.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,328 Member
    Why do you hate exercising? Is it a time thing or a you just don't enjoy it thing, or what?

    There are a bunch of options you could do a work. A body weight metabolic resistance training routine that would take about 20 minutes and keep burning fat for hours later. No weights needed.

    The exercises are:

    Squats
    Push-ups
    Let me ins -- open a door and face the end with the door knobs. Put your feet on either side of the door and grab the door knobs on either side with the appropriate hand. Squat down so you arm are extended and your torso and thighs are at a 90 degree angle. Pull your body toward the door bending your arms trying to touch your chest to the door edge. Keep your elbows in and your torso and thighs at 90 degrees. Then lower yourself back. That is one repetition.
    Lunges (could add another set of push-ups and let me ins here after the lunges)
    Plank

    Warm-up with a little running on the spot, 2-4 minutes maybe throw in some jumping jacks or something else to get your muscles warmed up. Then start the exercises. Do each exercise for 10 repetitions. With no rest between exercises move on to the next one and do 10 repetitions. Continue until you get to the Plank and hold that as long as you can up to a minute and a half. Once you are done that you have done one set. Rest 90 seconds and do it again. Rest 90 seconds and do it a third time. Cool down with some stretches for a few minutes.

    Not only will this work your whole body quite intensely, but it will cause a great deal of metabolic disturbance which will keep you burning fat for up to 38 hours after. The whole workout will take about 20-30 minutes at most, but you will really feel it.

    To increase the intensity you can slow down how fast you do exercises like the squat and stop and hold at the bottom of it. In the case of push-ups to make them easier put your hands on something higher like a chair or stair step. The higher the easier they are, but always use full push-up position, don't do them from the knees. For Let Me Ins moving how far in front of you your feet are will modify the difficulty.

    You can add other exercises shooting for no less than three and no more than 8 or so.

    If you want to find more exercises you can look on youtube or look for the book by Mark Lauren "You Are your Own Gym" either at the library or purchase it. It by the way it one of the best body weight exercise books I have read. Another place to look for body weight stuff is bodyweightculture.com
  • ChelDM
    ChelDM Posts: 145
    You know...It is seriously a lifestyle change...You have to change the habits that caused you to gain weight in the first place...

    I hated exercising too and made every possible excuse not to exercise...I had to make exercise something I love doing....Believe it or not it worked...

    I work full time, go to college full time and manage the entire house for a family of five...

    The only excuse is that if I put everything before my health then my health comes last...Put everything after your health and your health will repay you...

    Good Luck!
  • Dippydog
    Dippydog Posts: 154
    jumping jacks? jog in place? shake your groovy thang? anything thats gets you moving and your heart rate up!

    I lost my groovy thang a long time ago...but hope to find it with my weight loss. LOL
  • kdao
    kdao Posts: 265
    You know...It is seriously a lifestyle change...You have to change the habits that caused you to gain weight in the first place...

    I hated exercising too and made every possible excuse not to exercise...I had to make exercise something I love doing....Believe it or not it worked...

    I work full time, go to college full time and manage the entire house for a family of five...

    The only excuse is that if I put everything before my health then my health comes last...Put everything after your health and your health will repay you...

    Good Luck!

    Funny you mention that, I used to hate exercise and now I crave it.
  • Dippydog
    Dippydog Posts: 154
    thanks everyone....some really great ideas!!
  • mlb929
    mlb929 Posts: 1,974 Member
    Follow a diet plan that is made for low exercise. I started with Ann Louise Gittleman's Fat Flush Plan. She suggested low impact rebounding and brisk walk of no more than 20 minute per day. My guess is once you lose weight, you will want to exercise more to get toned. Example - I lost weight then kicked up my exercise and lost another 1 to 2 sizes of clothing, just by increasing the exercise. I felt better with the weight off and wanted to move in more to the exercise. Because the weight was gone, I felt better and had more time.

    Start small - I had the 10 minute solutions DVD. I know Tony Horton has one through beachbody.com that is a 10 minute trainer. you can always advance to more when you lose weight and feel better working out. IMO, exercise isn't necessary for weight loss, but is necessary for health and fitness.
  • Sarahr73
    Sarahr73 Posts: 454 Member
    You could get a small portable stair stepper. I have one that I use at home and it is easy to carry from downstairs to upstairs. You could store it near you and use it where ever.
  • RocknnRobin
    RocknnRobin Posts: 20 Member
    Lunges.

    Also, find a stairwell and do a few step exercises on the bottom step during your break. Wear proper shoes and hold on to the railing. You can do cardio and some strength training with steps.
    Run up steps, WALK down. repeat = great cardio.

    Or an easy way to tone/strengthen without much sweat—stand on the bottom step—hang onto the railing—and do side step ups, or just balance on you toes/ball of foot and dip down and up on the lip of the stair concentrating on your calves. For a challenge do one leg at a time, (stand facing up the stairwell) and as you descend and push up on one foot, bring the leg your not standing on up behind you (toe pointed/knee straight/think ballet) squeeze your glute muscles (butt) and hold. Come down. Repeat.

    Alternate with side moves. (Stand on the bottom step on the ball of your foot, back facing the wall, hand on the railing and one leg hanging over the floor. Dip down slowly on one leg so your ankle dips below the step, and push up so you are on your tip toe on one foot, at the same time slowly swinging the other leg up to the side, toe pointed / holding / squeeze / release).
  • coachligia
    coachligia Posts: 10 Member
    I really love the MFP community, so many positive like-minded people! :happy:
    I agree you have to do something that you enjoy, jumping jacks, running in place, resistance bands, they are all great. Put on your favorite tune, and get yourself going...
    I say we never really lose our groove, we might be banned from doing so publicly....lol but we always got the mojo to get things going :wink: !

    I use Power 90 as my exercise program now due to time management and I add my own beat to it, these DVDs can be used in a DVD player or PC, and work-outs are about 30 minutes.

    They often say it takes 21 days to create a habit, so once you get started it won't take long til it becomes second nature!
  • ajbeans
    ajbeans Posts: 2,857 Member
    I was also thinking (forgive me if someone else said it already, I didn't read through the whole thread) that in the evenings, when you're watching tv or whatever is a great time to get in some cardio. You can march in place or get an aerobics step block and step your way through a show, with lunges, squats, pushups, and crunches during the commercials. Then you can still work out without depriving yourself of your unwinding time.
  • bluiz13
    bluiz13 Posts: 3,550 Member
    do you have your own office at work??? do you have a computer with internet access? do you have netflix???
    you can get exercise videos live streamed to you computer from netflix as part of your membership...there are some great 10 minute solutions programs that work different parts of the body.....i highly recommend that...in addition to all the wonderful suggestions above....this community is awesome for making recommendations in pretty much any situation...
  • healthyspark
    healthyspark Posts: 8
    Why do you hate exercising? Is it a time thing or a you just don't enjoy it thing, or what?

    There are a bunch of options you could do a work. A body weight metabolic resistance training routine that would take about 20 minutes and keep burning fat for hours later. No weights needed.

    The exercises are:

    Squats
    Push-ups
    Let me ins -- open a door and face the end with the door knobs. Put your feet on either side of the door and grab the door knobs on either side with the appropriate hand. Squat down so you arm are extended and your torso and thighs are at a 90 degree angle. Pull your body toward the door bending your arms trying to touch your chest to the door edge. Keep your elbows in and your torso and thighs at 90 degrees. Then lower yourself back. That is one repetition.
    Lunges (could add another set of push-ups and let me ins here after the lunges)
    Plank

    Warm-up with a little running on the spot, 2-4 minutes maybe throw in some jumping jacks or something else to get your muscles warmed up. Then start the exercises. Do each exercise for 10 repetitions. With no rest between exercises move on to the next one and do 10 repetitions. Continue until you get to the Plank and hold that as long as you can up to a minute and a half. Once you are done that you have done one set. Rest 90 seconds and do it again. Rest 90 seconds and do it a third time. Cool down with some stretches for a few minutes.

    Not only will this work your whole body quite intensely, but it will cause a great deal of metabolic disturbance which will keep you burning fat for up to 38 hours after. The whole workout will take about 20-30 minutes at most, but you will really feel it.

    To increase the intensity you can slow down how fast you do exercises like the squat and stop and hold at the bottom of it. In the case of push-ups to make them easier put your hands on something higher like a chair or stair step. The higher the easier they are, but always use full push-up position, don't do them from the knees. For Let Me Ins moving how far in front of you your feet are will modify the difficulty.

    You can add other exercises shooting for no less than three and no more than 8 or so.

    If you want to find more exercises you can look on youtube or look for the book by Mark Lauren "You Are your Own Gym" either at the library or purchase it. It by the way it one of the best body weight exercise books I have read. Another place to look for body weight stuff is bodyweightculture.com

    Thanks for the book recommendation! I've been trying to do more body weight exercises because of the many benefits it provides. Going to check out the book now!
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,328 Member
    You a quite welcome. Mark Lauren's book is a great resource. He was one of the trainers for Special Forces and as I read it in the book body weight exercise is the major portion of their training. I am finding body weight training a huge challenge which surprised me as a person who has lifted weights for decades.
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