I feel like I have zero time to exercise, also I frickin hate it

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  • funjen1972
    funjen1972 Posts: 949 Member
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    Don't feel like you need to start with hour long workouts, which can be overwhelming. Start small and gradually build up, only if you want to. Try a bazillion different exercises to find something that works for you. Maybe add additional activities into your regular day or routine. For instance:

    Planks during commercials
    Body Squats while brushing you teeth
    Walking lunges to the mailbox
    Walk to the corner store instead of drive
    Go dancing with friends
    Take the family to a nature center or metro park and walk or bike the paths
    Go to a water park or pool and swim

    Best of luck to you!
  • makkimakki2018
    makkimakki2018 Posts: 414 Member
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    Cycle to and from work daily :smile:
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    edited August 2018
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    gallicinvasion wrote: »
    Walking outside is wonderful, but I just can't fathom purposeful exercise. I think my attitude is mostly coming from being exhausted after work, and wanting to save my evenings and weekends for fun activities (alone or with friends).

    I guess I should think of ways to work activity into my regular day, but I'm so reluctant to start. Do you guys have success adding in physical activity to your day, besides going to the gym?

    I guess I'm lucky that a lot of my friends are also runners & triathletes so I get to combine exercise and social interaction to some degree. This sounds counter-intuitive but back in the day when I was a highly accomplished couch potato I was more exhausted at the end of a work day than I am now.

    Walking is a good start. Would it be practical to bike to work a couple of times per week? Do you have any interesting walking / hiking trails you could go to with your friends? Is there a sport you enjoy playing?

    Getting more active doesn't require going to the gym, it's just a matter of finding opportunities to move more.

  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
    edited August 2018
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    For me I just decided it was a priority in my life. It's essential for good health, especially since I sit on my butt all day at work. Also, the hardest part is getting started. After a while, it became habit. Now I just do it and don't think twice. There's no mental game anymore thinking of reasons why I shouldn't or why I don't have time. There are lots of activities that you can try that don't involve going to a gym and lifting weights or getting on an elliptical. (or whatever it is that you dread so much). You could join a sports team. Take exercise classes. Yoga. Hike. Pole dance lessons lol. Rowing. Paddle boarding. Ride a bike. Tennis. Pickleball. Martial arts. etc. Oh, and walking. Whatever gets you moving.
  • divcara
    divcara Posts: 357 Member
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    If you don't typically exercise, I would say exercise is not very enjoyable - it's strenuous, requires exertion, and if you are out of shape, it can be just plain miserable. Well that is how I always felt. I would try something way too hard, have no physical endurance or conditioning to do it, be self-conscious, and not attempt it again for months.... years. Eventually when I got into a routine I liked, and my body became more conditioned and strong, it became something I actually looked forward to doing. Now it really is one of my favorite "hobbies." Everyone has to start somewhere and sometimes you just have to be willing to suck for awhile and stick with it. If you reach a certain level of proficiency, it actually can start being more enjoyable.
  • RunsWithBees
    RunsWithBees Posts: 1,508 Member
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    I never had time for exercise. Until my health was on the line and I made it a priority. Then I magically found time to exercise. Now I love running, hiking, swimming and walking and always make time to get some physical activity in. I think what helped the most was giving up TV, it just sucks up too many hours for so little return for me and I don’t even miss it. I’ll still occasionally watch a show or two here and there but I’ve realized that TV is a snacking trigger for me too so it’s just easier to stay away from it. I’m in so much better health nowadays I’ll never go back to my old ways and luckily my partner doesn’t care for TV either so we do fun stuff together instead of veging out in front of the screen. Ymmv :)
  • Courtscan2
    Courtscan2 Posts: 498 Member
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    I struggle to find time as well as I work full time, am currently in grad school, and have 2 young kids and a fairly needy husband - however I have to make time for my mental health as well as for my body. I wake up at 5am and workout in my garage (I have a bunch of weights, a bench, a pull up bar, some other bits and bobs and a bunch of videos) before they all wake up 5-6 days a week. I don't necessarily love exercising, but I love how it makes me feel and it's the only "me" time I get all day.
  • robbienjill
    robbienjill Posts: 456 Member
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    Mental exhaustion can be as tiring as physical some days. So I would suggest knowing the difference and pushing through. I come home on my lunch break and workout on the treadmill mos days. Get creative and get moving. If it’s mental exhaustion, you will be so surprised of the benefits of working out. It helps you lose everything that’s rolling around in your mind.
    You got this!!!! Best wishes on your success.
  • noblsheep
    noblsheep Posts: 584 Member
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    h1udd wrote: »
    makkimakki2018 wrote: »
    Cycle to and from work daily :smile:

    This ... I used to hate exercise until one day I queued 20 minutes to get out the carpark, whilst queuing I googled the cost of bikes and realised that a cost of a decent bike was a 3 months parking and fuel in the car.

    I bought a bike

    I became addicted to cycling to work, racing other riders, dragging buses and cars up the hills .. I bought a faster bike so I could sit in the drops and power home .... I bought another bike so I could take shorcuts off road

    I started lifting weights to improve my performance

    I started riding at weekends for fun ..... I bought a turbo-trainer so I could play zwift and ride my bike online and join in races and group workouts with people.

    I got too fit cycling to work that I wasnt progressing in the short journey so I took up running as well .....

    it escalates .... find an activity you like doing .. a sport maybe

    Ditto... one day I was stuck in traffic on the bus across the street from a bike shop. I got so fed up with the traffic that I jumped off the bus at the next stop and bought a bike. I never did get too good at cycling, but I now run ultra marathons (shrugs).
  • Mandylou19912014
    Mandylou19912014 Posts: 208 Member
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    I am up early in the mornings to go and work on an office until late, by the time I get home I am exhausted and starving. But I mentally force myself into the gym .. I take pre workout if I’m feeling particularly tired and this helps me to stay alert. I find that once I’m in the gym I love it and spend a while in there and then eat late at night, that feeling you get after a great workout more than makes up for the pain and the exhaustion
  • hmaddpear
    hmaddpear Posts: 610 Member
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    gallicinvasion wrote: »
    Walking outside is wonderful...

    Then just walk. To start with. I lost my first sixty or so pounds with just walking more (and making sure I was in a calorie deficit, of course.) I 'signed up' to walk to the next tube stop, meaning a mile, on the way into work, and walking the same back. Then I started going for short walks round a nearby park in my lunch hour. Which then became longer as I became more fit. I then made it a rule that for any journey under 3 miles, I walked, rather than taking the bus. Once I'd lost more weight my sister challenged me to a 5K run. So I did Couch to 5K. I thought I was going to hate it, but I learned to love it. Fast forward 4 years and I'm still running. (I put on half the weight I originally lost - oops - but I'm still running!)

  • bpotts44
    bpotts44 Posts: 1,066 Member
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    Keep trying different exercise modalities until you find one you like (strength, kettlebells, crossfit, running, body pump, etc). Walking is perfectly acceptable though.
  • Deviette
    Deviette Posts: 979 Member
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    Find a physical activity that you love and you want to fit into your day. For me, that's judo. Yes I have days when I cba, yes I have days when I'm tired, or want to do something else. But I don't, I go and I remind myself every time why I do this sport. I don't do it for health reasons. I don't do it to lose weight. I do it because I love it. Personally I've always hated doing exercise for exercise sake. Gyms? Hate them. It's not for me. But I love doing activities. And many of those activities are physical by their nature. Find something you will love doing. It may take a while, but it'll be worth it.

    Feeling tired after work is completely normal. And yeah, when you start doing a new activity it will seem like hard work, it will seem super tiring and like you can't be bothered, but it does get easier, it really does. Once habits become established, you'll find that that difficulty to find the energy for something fades. It will be there sometimes, and sometimes you'll burn out, but most of the time it'll not seem so hard.


    Out of interest, what kind of activities do you do normally that you do enjoy?
  • gallicinvasion
    gallicinvasion Posts: 1,015 Member
    edited August 2018
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    Packerjohn wrote: »
    gallicinvasion wrote: »
    Walking outside is wonderful, but I just can't fathom purposeful exercise. I think my attitude is mostly coming from being exhausted after work, and wanting to save my evenings and weekends for fun activities (alone or with friends).

    I guess I should think of ways to work activity into my regular day, but I'm so reluctant to start. Do you guys have success adding in physical activity to your day, besides going to the gym?

    What do you consider the fun activities you want to save your evenings for, vegging on a couch watching a tube? If so, don't say you don't have time for exercise.

    There are plenty of people who have kids, work a full day, do household chores, etc and still have time for purposeful exercise.

    If you are too tired after work, workout before you go to work.

    I fully understand there are busier people than myself. I didn't say I don't have time for exercise, I said that I want to save my time for stuff I find enjoyable (which is not exercising).

    In short, yes I love vegging on a couch. I love knitting, I love sewing, I love playing piano, I love playing bass, I love reading.

    My question is less "please tell me to work out!" and more "I'm interested in hearing your suggestions and ideas for fitting natural physical activity into a regular day."

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