Work or play

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allother94
allother94 Posts: 588 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Just curious, do you consider exercise fun and the health benefits are just a bonus OR do you consider exercise work that you must do to get the benefits? If it’s a mix, which way do you lean?

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  • Duck_Puddle
    Duck_Puddle Posts: 3,224 Member
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    I enjoy the exercise that I do. Although some of it is work, some of it is fun, and some of it is therapy.

    Mostly I enjoy that doing the work allows me to enjoy an active life full of whatever adventures strike my fancy.

    I don’t really consider the health benefits when I decide to do a workout. I am very aware of my health, and I monitor the health effects of my workouts (lower RHR for example), but I don’t workout to be healthy. I do it because I enjoy it.

    I was so large and so weak for so long, that to be reasonably strong and capable is still kind of a high for me. That’s what gets me excited. When I could barely walk and now I run marathons. Or When I couldn’t carry more than a single can at a time and now I can pick up 200+ pounds off the floor? Those are pretty awesome feelings.

    I can jump out of planes, swing around on a flying trapeze, go climb a mountain and then dangle off the side of a cliff by a rope, or hike 7k for up to a lake on top of a (different) mountain, or really whatever seems like it might be fun.

    So I don’t know. I guess neither. I do it because I like it and I do it because it allows me to live an incredibly full and adventurous life.
  • jeagogo
    jeagogo Posts: 179 Member
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    I agree with @Duck_Puddle - doing something fun that just happens to be physical is what motivates me (also, trapeze is a super fun way to build some upper body strength; highly recommend trying it if it is available to you).

    I've always been more of a creative person than athletic, so physical activities with an artistic element appeal to me more than most sports. Finding the things I enjoy has taken me from being a totally non-active person to being at a point where there isn't enough time in a week to do all the physical activities I want.

    I also do some standard gym weight lifting workouts, but the programs I've stuck with best have been when I'm training in the gym to improve performance in the activities I do for fun.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
    edited January 2020
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    Depends what I'm doing. If I'm going for a hike then it's for fun, but if I'm lifting weights or whatever then I'm doing it for the health benefits.
  • puffbrat
    puffbrat Posts: 2,806 Member
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    That depends entirely on the exercise and my mood. I despise hiking up steep hills and consider that as being strictly for the health benefits and benefit of time with my family who enjoy doing it. I love playing tennis and consider that to be just for fun with a cool bonus of health benefits. Walks, easier hikes, and bike rides all depend on the route, weather, and my mood as to whether I consider them to be more fun or work.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
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    While I do enjoy lifting weights, I wouldn't consider it fun. It is an accomplishment and has many rewards, but it can be really physically and mentally tough.
  • Onedaywriter
    Onedaywriter Posts: 324 Member
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    rainbow198 wrote: »
    Great question! For me my answer has changed tremendously over the years.

    At first exercise was just to burn some calories. As I saw results, exercise gave me motivation to keep going.

    Then I saw some health benefits such as feeling amazing, sleeping better, having more energy and my stamina was improving.

    Once I hit my goal it became more of a vanity thing and I worked on tightening up my body in areas.

    After a while of that it became a fitness thing. I wanted to challenge myself physically, walk further and longer, try new activities, classes and workouts etc.

    Now exercise helps me to maintain a nice body composition and I enjoy and look forward to working out. It's my "me time".

    I relate with this.
    At first my workout was a real chore. Now it is the highlight of my day. I think that’s why I started and stopped many times in the past. It’s easy to say I’ll do my chores tomorrow - I never made it to the good part. So for anyone new or renewed to exercise- keep going for a while and see how your mindset changes!!
  • ianwhite5555
    ianwhite5555 Posts: 17 Member
    edited January 2020
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    I hate running. I hate the time preparation, dressing stretching warming up cooling down. I hate the 51:14 time for the 10k. I hate the tediousnessof of the activity. I hate I my joints are so painful and I hate my lungs and hearts are doing so well it porlongs the whole painful effort thing. Being a little bit of a geek I enjoy the accomplishment in itself, looking at the numbers achieved, completing and run on paper bit at the time. And completing 3miles 5k. 5mile 10k and finding out how many total miles in the week. That's the pleasure I get. Not physical running, certainly not the pain in knees but the black and white no quibbles fact that on Sunday, I'll run 50 miles this week as a 50 year old too. 50 in 50 I will enjoy. The pain and the actual fun. Not so much
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    I love running. That's all for fun.

    Resistance training I do because I know it's good for me.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,430 Member
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    allother94 wrote: »
    Just curious, do you consider exercise fun and the health benefits are just a bonus OR do you consider exercise work that you must do to get the benefits? If it’s a mix, which way do you lean?

    I think that's a very black and white way of looking at things. I like grey, maybe tweed, cognitively speaking.

    I think work can be fun.

    Most of my exercise is fun for me, some I probably wouldn't choose to do for the pleasure in the activity itself, but I do it to get better at the exercise I do enjoy (it's fun to be better) or to feel good and be able to do other day-to-day things (which is fun). Fun is healthy . . . and speaking as a survivor of stage III cancer, and the whole menu of treatments (surgery, chemo, radiation, and more), health is very, very fun, compared to the alternatives.

    For sure, I preferentially choose exercise activities I enjoy more; I don't select them for absolute maximum theoretical health benefits. Health benefits from a fun mix are plenty good enough. Satisficing, maybe even satisfying, but not optimizing. Balance.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    Strength training is a bit of a chore but pretty much everything else I do is related to race training which is my play time.
  • GummiMundi
    GummiMundi Posts: 396 Member
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    Interesting question, I had never thought of it that way.
    For context, I have lead a very consistent couch-potato life for more than 20 years :D , and only started exercising around a year and a half ago.

    I find that not all exercises are equal to me, when it comes to play vs. work. There are activities that I discovered I like a lot (like walking and, much to my surprise, strength training). Now I look forward to doing them. I enjoy not only the actual activity, but also the improvement that I achieve over time. I start getting antsy when I can't get my daily fix! ;)
    As for other types of exercise that I don't enjoy so much, I try to focus on the health benefits they provide me. And, yeah, I guess those do feel like work.

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