Mental block when exercising.

Your body likes consistency. So before (I assume) you were consistent at sitting on the couch. When you try to change what your body is used to it will rebel against you. You have to push yourself to make your new consistency working out. Eventually you will end up like me and when you have to rest for a few weeks due to injury your body starts rebelling because it isn't used to sitting on the couch - it wants to MOVE.

Biggest tip would be to find workouts you love. Group classes sound like something you would enjoy. They also provide accountability, which is something I rely heavily upon. Though I have become more accountable to myself than I realize....haha.

Find a workout you love. Also, now that you know you do this, you have the awareness to call yourself out before you quit.

Exercise isn't ever going to be easy if you're doing it right. As JoRocka would say....work through the suck.

I'm not a therapist, but I play one on MFP. It sounds like you have yet to embrace the idea of working out FOR YOU. You're great at working out so that others approve of you, which is awesome but not even a little bit the same thing. And that's fine. Some people love it. Others don't. For some it's easy. They are natural athletes. I hate those people. Just kidding. Ok, not kidding. But for a lot of people it's a grind. And you have to learn to love the grind, just for the sake of grinding. That takes time and patience. You can't expect to love it right away if it's not your natural thing. Just keep trying. It's like the old P90X thing... just keep pushing "Play" and eventually it clicks.

One other thought that people will probably hate me for is... if you find yourself really hating your workouts, start by working out to type. So many people on here try these various systems. Everything from the aforementioned P90X, to C25K, to StrongLifts. They are all great, in their own way. But they sort of miss the point for a lot of people. It seems people start them because "I want to look like that" or "I want to be able to do this". That's great if you're already in that place where you can embrace it. But if you are just starting out, and really struggling to feel the love, then take a step back, look at how you are comfortable using your body, and how you are comfortable approaching challenges, and find a plan that is geared to you. Find something that fits your mental and physical "type". Find that and you find the love. Find the love, and you'll soon be wanting to step outside that comfort zone and try all sorts of things.

Listen to music? I find that I work out longer if I can set goals like "One more song..." Then I'll put on something like Knights of Shame by AWOLnation that's 12 minutes long. lol.

tiffnkailey wrote: »

Oh, I didn't think about that. One of my worst ever workouts is the eliptical, I hate that machine with a passion. I do five minutes of it and I'm sweating and gasping for breath (I have athletes asthma).
When I watch the biggest loser they make people bigger then me, work out a long time on those machines, and I heard on one of the episodes that they worked out for five hours. I guess I haven't pushed myself, or been pushed enough to know what my potential is with workouts.
I do know three flights of stairs going up gives me athma, and I start seeing dots.

I probably should find a workout buddy, someone more experienced that can push me, and be like, It's ok Tiffany, you won't die, keep going.

if you have exercise induced asthma, you need to go slower on your work outs. if you are a hot sweaty mess after five minutes, you are probably starting off way to strong.

also, if you're doing cardio workouts indoors, try setting up a fan pointing at you. i do that when i'm on my bike trainer.


and learn to tell yourself that you won't die, that you can keep going.

Capt_Apollo wrote: »

tiffnkailey wrote: »

Oh, I didn't think about that. One of my worst ever workouts is the eliptical, I hate that machine with a passion. I do five minutes of it and I'm sweating and gasping for breath (I have athletes asthma).
When I watch the biggest loser they make people bigger then me, work out a long time on those machines, and I heard on one of the episodes that they worked out for five hours. I guess I haven't pushed myself, or been pushed enough to know what my potential is with workouts.
I do know three flights of stairs going up gives me athma, and I start seeing dots.

I probably should find a workout buddy, someone more experienced that can push me, and be like, It's ok Tiffany, you won't die, keep going.

if you have exercise induced asthma, you need to go slower on your work outs. if you are a hot sweaty mess after five minutes, you are probably starting off way to strong.

also, if you're doing cardio workouts indoors, try setting up a fan pointing at you. i do that when i'm on my bike trainer.


and learn to tell yourself that you won't die, that you can keep going.

^this

Pretty much what I was going to say...slow it down, turn down the resistance. You don't need to be on the machine for 5 hours, but 5 minutes isn't going to do much for you. You should be working out at a pace you can handle for a little longer.

tiffnkailey wrote: »

Oh, I didn't think about that. One of my worst ever workouts is the eliptical, I hate that machine with a passion. I do five minutes of it and I'm sweating and gasping for breath (I have athletes asthma).
When I watch the biggest loser they make people bigger then me, work out a long time on those machines, and I heard on one of the episodes that they worked out for five hours. I guess I haven't pushed myself, or been pushed enough to know what my potential is with workouts.
I do know three flights of stairs going up gives me athma, and I start seeing dots.

I probably should find a workout buddy, someone more experienced that can push me, and be like, It's ok Tiffany, you won't die, keep going.

Don't try to tough out asthma. There's no shame in taking a little Ventolin (sp?) before your workout to prevent an attack. Lots of olympians and professional athletes do. If your body thinks you will asphixiate everytime you get out the workout dvd, it will fight you on it. Try to get positives associated with exercise.

When I'm uncomfortable, I acknowledge it. And then I make a deal with myself to try a little longer, like just one song. Every day you show up to the workout is a victory. You will be slogging through at the beginning, and this is true for a lot of people. As your body adapts you will have an easier time getting going, and will find it is possible to go a little harder. Best of luck

Your not alone. I fight my mind every workout. It is usually until my body warms up and my mind realizes that what we are doing isn't bad. The very first part of my workouts, like the first 10 mins or so are the hardest for me

Like you said, it's probably just you not wanting to workout and finding any possible excuse to get up and not have to go back. Before I workout, I try to eliminate any possible external reason for me to stop mid-workout: go to the bathroom, grab a towel, use my inhaler, put on my fan, etc. When it comes to wanting to stop during a workout, I try to look at all the variables in the same way--is my playlist stale, am I just bored by the activity I'm doing, do I need an extra puff off my inhaler? Sometimes it's one of those things and other times it's just that I want to watch TV or something. It sucks, but you just kind of have to convince yourself to keep going. And what will work for that totally depends on you and what you respond to. It's trial and error, so don't feel discouraged if something you try doesn't seem to work for you.

I pre-log my workouts, which helps. Telling myself that I'll only be burning 150 calories instead of 300 makes me want to stay on. Or, I'll tell myself to give it 5 more minutes. After I complete the 5, I'll see that I only have 10 minutes left, and I'll say that I can go 2 more minutes. I negotiate this way until I'm done. I guess it maybe breaks down that chunk into smaller goals.

Personally, I think whether you go to the gym or work out at home, you'll still be encountering the same problems (perseverance and commitment) just in different forms.

You need to slow down. My friend has asthma that is aggravated by exercising. So something that will take me 10 minutes to do can take her 20-30 minutes. There is no shame in that. It's important that you listen to your body or you are going to burn yourself out or injure yourself.

If you don't like the elliptical then don't do it. Find something else to do. There are plenty of exercises out there, find one that best suits you.

I do the couch to 5k program for my treadmill. If I don't have something telling me when to start and stop I tend to quit walking or running after a few minutes. Structure is good. Pre-logging it and trying to get it in early in the day also helps me. I never feel like exercising but I feel like crap when I dont.