Motivation

I'm getting MORE exercise during lockdown because it's gardening season and I added a new gardening project, in addition to what I'm already maintaining. I love to garden so don't usually need motivation for that, but what I found more helpful was creating habits, for example - every workday at lunch time I get some exercise. I've been doing this for years. I don't have to think about it, I just do it. Lately I've also been gardening after dinner. Now that my big project is done, I could go back to yoga or strength training after dinner.

I have various activities that I do, none of which involves going to a gym. If all else fails, there's always chores like deep cleaning or painting

I think it's a lot about finding exercise that you don't mind doing. I hate the gym, it bores me to tears, and have never been into running or anything like that. But I enjoy high energy dance classes, some HIIT, yoga/pilates, and tend to walk quite a bit. Yes some days it still tends to take some motivation to start but I find it so much easier if it's something I like more.

I don't know whether this is true for you, but it seems to be true for some people.

Some of us have had really bad experiences with formal and official "exercise" over the years, and decide it's not for us: Miserable, sweaty, gotta go someplace strange (maybe wearing spandex ) with other sweaty strangers who seem to have it easier . . . whatever. It started back in gym classes (I was one of those "chosen last" people, which will put a person off exercise all by itself.)

Sometimes, it can help just to start by thinking of it a little differently: Any form of moving one's body more will burn calories (whether you can estimate them or not), and will advance one's fitness more than not doing just that little bit of added activity. It doesn't have to be some grand production. It can be a traditional exercise, but need not be.

Thought of in this way, it's a little harder to say "I hate exercise", because literally thousands of things are "exercise", and they're incredibly diverse. Is it really possible to dislike all of them?

Active video/VR games, dancing (dozens of kinds!), birdwatching, walking in the park, outdoor photography, playing with your kids (or someone else's), gardening, home dec projects, carpentry, playing drums, many different kinds of games (frisbee, badminton, golf . . .), many different kinds of outdoor activity (walking, biking, canoeing, skating, skiing, swimming, hiking, rock climbing . . . ), the traditional gym classes and machines (soooo many different kinds!), learning a martial art, yoga. There are things that are solo and things that are social. Soooo many different things!

So, think it over: Is there anything you've ever thought sounded kind of fun, that involves doing just a bit more movement than you're doing now? Something that could be enjoyable?

Sometimes, when I feel slug-like under-motivated, for a few days I'll set a timer (how long depends on the day), and when it goes off, I get up and do something. Might be some active housework, might be some stretching or a couple of yoga exercises, maybe a few minutes of dancing or walking around the garden or whatever, maybe pick up some heavy household item and do some weight-lift-y things with it. Not necessarily a lengthy thing, just maybe 3 or 5 minutes (unless I feel like more). It feels good, gets the kinks out, gets my blood moving, helps my mood. Usually, after a few days of structured "set a timer", I'm incorporating a bit more movement into the day more routinely.

As a sort of tangent, there's a thread at the link below about just trying to work more movement into one's day, in non-exercise form:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1

Best wishes!

I make beautiful plans that go straight out the window when my alarm clock goes off

AnnPT77 wrote: »

It started back in gym classes (I was one of those "chosen last" people, which will put a person off exercise all by itself.)

Oh, honey, surely we were separated at birth. It’s amazing what a lifelong impact this can have on a person, especially a type AAA perfectionist. I was the kid who was so hopeless, I was even chosen last for Red Rover.

You’ve got to kick that idea of “hating exercise” to the curb. I thought I hated exercise. In fact, I was sure I did.

It supposedly takes six weeks to create a habit. During Covid, everything was closed, but we had unlimited access to the local bike path and everyone and their sister was hosting online yoga and Pilates classes. I was already in the habit of walking three or four times a week. Now, if I don’t get in two good walks a day, I get itchy. I was already doing about 8-10 mat classes a week. I’m embarrassed to say, out of sheer boredom, I’ve upped it to two (sometimes three if my daughter is teaching a class via Zoom from CA) classes a day.

If anything, it’s going to be hard to reel this insanity back in because I’ve created this habit for the past three months. I feel almost naked at the thought of one class a day.

You CAN create a habit of exercise, but you have to put your mind to it. You’ll soon learn which exercises you loath beyond all reason, which come naturally AND enjoyably, and which you have to grit your teeth but can and will do (running, for me).

Once workouts become habit, you will feel odd and incomplete if you don’t do them, or take a day off. They cease being a chore.

Cravings work both ways. I crave exercise now as much as I used to crave stuffing my face.

Who was the character who used to say,”You can use your power for good or for evil”? You have the power to simply maintain habits to continue ad nauseum on your current path, or use your power to divert to a new one.

What about exercise is it that you don’t enjoy? Some examples that have all applied to me in the past are:

- uncomfortable to get sweaty/embarrassed that I sweat more than everyone else if in public
- The changing room/showering situation is uncomfortable for some reason
- Chafing or pain from participating in exercise
- Feeling unable to participate eg getting winded after 10 meters or not able to do “even” a girl push up
- Feeling the activity itself is pointless and stupid (this is me on a spin bike - it doesn’t go anywhere!!). —> note that this requires you to identify specific stupid activities and then identify things not on that list to try
- Feel self conscious about how I look or how I perform said activity in public
- Afraid other people will point and laugh, or if you’re really unfortunate having experienced this IRL

my point is that once you get a bit more specific about what you don’t enjoy you can address it with specific strategies and over time you may find some of these obstacles erode.

exercise I currently do: walking, running outdoors (progressed from C25K), yoga at home, yoga in a studio, padel tennis

Exercise I’ve done in the past and would be happy to incorporate again: swimming, rock climbing, squash, cycling as a mode of transportation, aerial yoga, body weight exercises (OK maybe not happy, but I’d consider it a worthwhile exchange to support activities I enjoy more)

Exercise I don’t see myself returning to in the foreseeable future: treadmill running, machine focused gym, spin class, group aerobics etc, group combat class, water skiing, wind surfing, scuba diving, jump rope

Exercise I’m interested to try: diving, other aerial work, tumbling (can grown ups even start this??!), Stand Up Paddleboard

I hope this list can provide some inspiration, and remember don’t hate it before you try it 😊

I think many of us of-a-certain-weight-and-lifestyle people grow into exercise; we don't start out loving or enjoying it.

In my case, I had to force myself to work out for 5 minutes, 3 times a week, when I started in early 2019. I was severely overweight and one of the most sedentary people you would ever have met; the sheer exertion required to do any kind of exercise was quite unpleasant.

But ... after you lose some weight and get some positive reinforcement from the exercise (lower resting heart rate & BP, feeling better in general, etc.) you may come to feel much differently about it.

I now exercise a minimum of one hour per day, on my exercise bike. That is often supplemented by a 20-40 minute walk after dinner.

To say I never envisioned myself doing 1 - 1.5 hrs of exercise a day would be the understatement of the year. I literally spent decades sprawled on a couch eating junk food. Exercise entailed getting up to go to the bathroom or acquire chips.

All of this is to say, you shouldn't assume your interest or liking of exercise is static. It's something that may well change once you get into it. The key is just to get into it and then to stick to it long enough to see if it grows on you.

Also, you have to find something you like to do. Everyone likes something. You just need to figure out what the something is. For me, it was the ability to mindlessly watch multi-year TV series while putting in my time, so an indoor bike worked out perfectly. For someone else, something else.

A lot of good advice here already. I would say find the thing you hate least and keep doing it. As you get better it becomes easier and more fun. Also, find a way to challenge yourself either with time, distance, weight, reps etc.
For instance, if you choose walking you can either try to go further, go faster or both- go further in a fixed time. Or carry something to add a challenge like a weighted backpack.
I hated it when I started, but now it is the bright spot in a day. I hadn’t worked out for many years and it took a while for it to stop being a chore but a hobby. Now I hate my rest days- used to be my favorite!