Find working out extremely boring, advice?
SebasKrolak
Posts: 5 Member
Hello everyone. As the title suggests, I find working out incredibly boring and unfulfilling. I enjoy hiking and am an amateur figure skater, but my everyday life is quite sedentary due to my being an artist and student. Therefore, I’m trying to work out more. I don’t wish to sound pretentious, but I thrive off of intellectual stimulation and find it very difficult to do repetitive tasks that don’t involve thought. As an autistic person who also has ADHD, doing things that I have no interest in and that don’t stimulate my brain is extremely challenging due to differences in executive functioning that come with aforementioned neurodivergence. I also think that it would be misguided to devote so much of my life to something that I hate, and to associate health with misery. If anyone has any advice as to how to make exercise less boring, please share it! Many thanks. - Sebastian
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Replies
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You mention 'exercise' like it's a single type of activity. What are you doing that you find boring?
Try other types of exercise, there are so many options. Walking, cycling, boxing, rebounding, geocaching, rowing, badminton, tennis, judo...
And even within the same type of exercise (for example cardio at the gym), there are ways to make it less boring.
Read a book or play on your phone while using a recumbent bike, watch TV while on the elliptical, listen to a podcast while walking on the treadmill, use the app Zombies Run while running,...
Or make the exercise session more dynamic by including intervals, not just steady state cardio.6 -
As you're a creative person: What about dancing? Learning to do hiphop dancing or anything else a bit more acrobatic? You need the right strength and agility to do this. Or what about things such as climbing or parcour? Both rather creative and not as dull as walking on a threadmill. Btw, nothing wrong with walking! It's also exercise.2
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Resistance training will maintain your muscle mass while dieting. Otherwise up to a quarter of your weight loss will be muscle. Also it's challenging. Technique is everything..and there is quite a science to it. Cardio is boring. Unless you challenge yourself. For liss I read a book. Watch the net or zone out. For a challenge i walk up a fake hill..try and get my heart rate way up. Listen to loud music..2
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I too find indoor cardio at the gym boring, so only do it in the months where I find it too hot/humid to be outside. This time of year I bundle up and hike. Tomorrow, I will be snowshoeing. When I'm inside, I listen to music, podcasts, or audio books while exercising.
You have less options while strength training. Lifting weights is the most efficient. I recommend listening to something stimulating once you have the routine down.0 -
I also enjoy hiking, martial arts, riding my motorcycles, and HATE typical "cardio" exercises.
So, get creative - personally once I got into it, I found I loved weight lifting (but hate calisthenic type workouts). Zumba was fun and a bit more entertaining for me, and found it was something I could enjoy a couple times a week without getting bored with it. Did a bootcamp for 6 weeks once and enjoyed it, but was ready to move on afterwards. Nothing wrong with switching it up - no where does it say you need to do the same thing over and over again!
I also recently got myself a "walking pad" for under my desk - takes a little getting used to working while walking, but it has dramatically increased my step count and I'm only using it a couple hours a day at this point (generally during meetings for me, but during an online lecture or other type of activity it would totally work). It's been an easy way to up my cardio a bit without hating it - I do have to be able to shed some layers as I will get a little sweaty, but not like I'm "running" so it's bearable.
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Gym cardio is like watching paint dry! lol
I just do strength training at the gym.
For cardio I go for power walks with the dog.
Win win!
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I hate treadmills, yet love walking outdoors.
You indicate you enjoy hiking and skating. What’s preventing you from doing either?
Do what you love and it’ll never be a chore or a workout. It’s just fun, with benefits.
I do a lot of power yoga, and have been surprised to find that a lot of type A personalities thrive doing it. Something about following a constant stream of commands makes me forget everything else and focus on what I’m doing at that instant. There’s always a challenge and always something new to try, and it’s super satisfying to accomplish something new. Never boring.
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I used to find swimming very boring. It's good exercise. When I'd swim, I'd see that black line at the bottom of the pool and joke, "OH! Look! There's a Black Line! Oh! Look! A Line!" Over and over. It was tedious. I did it, but not that often, because it's good exercise.
I have no idea why, but at some point I realized that I could sort of "zen out" on that black line, and it became my friend. I swim with a mask and snorkel most of the time. When I put my face in the water and started swimming, anything going on above the surface was outside my little world for however long I would swim. It was an hour of just meditative movement. I began to really enjoy it. I could even focus on technique. Then when I would swim with just goggles, my technique was better, and I even enjoy THAT now.
Running is kind of the same thing. I used to be bored to tears. I ran a bit anyway to improve my fitness for a sport I played called Ultimate. It was sprinting, but doing longer runs still helped. I never ran very long distances. I remember one day thinking to myself, "Oh, I feel slow and my feet feel heavy." Something in my head clicked, and I said to myself, "NO! Your feet are light as feathers." I picked up the pace and started to actually smile. It can happen.
When I think of "working out," though, I think of strength training. I still find it kind of boring, but it doesn't take that long. I'm in and out of the workout floor in an hour. What helps me is to focus on technique and trying to be better at it. I'm not as focused on increasing weight or reps, although that is for sure a goal. I wonder if shifting your focus could help it become more suited to how your brain works. Make it more intellectual than physical. Think about all the specific muscles that are engaged and how to work towards perfecting the actual movements.6 -
I can understand that this takes some thought, analysis, problem-solving. I also think the answers will be very individual.
Generally, I prefer exercise that's technical, so there's a continuing challenge to learn more in order to improve. For me, the big one in that realm is on-water rowing, which I've been doing regularly and often for 20+ years. I used to do Chinese martial arts, which had a similar technical demand.
The other thing I like is exercise with what I'd call inherent entertainment value. That will vary individually because we're all entertained by different things, but I'd put bicycling in this category. I enjoy being outdoors, seeing the change of seasons, people watching; and I enjoy fresh air and sunshine.
We have Winter, like serious cold, ice & snow, so I can't do those things all Winter. I do indoor exercise instead. There, I use distraction.
I do machine row, and that does have quite a lot of technical content, but I also listen to something (usually information sources like NPR or podcasts, sometimes music). I can't watch TV/videos while machine rowing or my technique suffers. I also stationary bike, and in that case I either play games on my tablet, or watch video.
What you might like will depend on your tastes and interests, and that's unpredictable to me.Harriet9748 wrote: »Resistance training will maintain your muscle mass while dieting. Otherwise up to a quarter of your weight loss will be muscle. Also it's challenging. Technique is everything..and there is quite a science to it. Cardio is boring. Unless you challenge yourself. For liss I read a book. Watch the net or zone out. For a challenge i walk up a fake hill..try and get my heart rate way up. Listen to loud music..
Boy, is that not universally true!
As an aside, it amuses me when people speak as if cardio were all one thing. There are dozens of kinds of activity that include cardiovascular challenge, and they have very widely varying characteristics. Dancing is not cross country skiing is not cycling is not swimming. Dramatically different physical (and intellectual/emotional) demands across the spectrum of cardio.
If you're bored by all of them, okey dokey. They're still not all one thing.
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I used to find swimming very boring. It's good exercise. When I'd swim, I'd see that black line at the bottom of the pool and joke, "OH! Look! There's a Black Line! Oh! Look! A Line!" Over and over. It was tedious. I did it, but not that often, because it's good exercise.
I have no idea why, but at some point I realized that I could sort of "zen out" on that black line, and it became my friend. I swim with a mask and snorkel most of the time. When I put my face in the water and started swimming, anything going on above the surface was outside my little world for however long I would swim. It was an hour of just meditative movement. I began to really enjoy it. I could even focus on technique. Then when I would swim with just goggles, my technique was better, and I even enjoy THAT now.
Running is kind of the same thing. I used to be bored to tears. I ran a bit anyway to improve my fitness for a sport I played called Ultimate. It was sprinting, but doing longer runs still helped. I never ran very long distances. I remember one day thinking to myself, "Oh, I feel slow and my feet feel heavy." Something in my head clicked, and I said to myself, "NO! Your feet are light as feathers." I picked up the pace and started to actually smile. It can happen.
When I think of "working out," though, I think of strength training. I still find it kind of boring, but it doesn't take that long. I'm in and out of the workout floor in an hour. What helps me is to focus on technique and trying to be better at it. I'm not as focused on increasing weight or reps, although that is for sure a goal. I wonder if shifting your focus could help it become more suited to how your brain works. Make it more intellectual than physical. Think about all the specific muscles that are engaged and how to work towards perfecting the actual movements.
Thanks for sharing. Your post, actually your mindset, is very interesting and what I need to ...do something about my workout.
Like many, I also struggle with it, but there were a few times where I experienced that zen feeling and could keep going.
Write more about your experience if you could.0 -
An earlier version of Sony's waterproof MP3 player keeps me interested during longer swims: https://www.amazon.com/Sony-Waterproof-dustproof-Bluetooth-Technology/dp/B071NTXYNY/1
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smokieriver wrote: »I used to find swimming very boring. It's good exercise. When I'd swim, I'd see that black line at the bottom of the pool and joke, "OH! Look! There's a Black Line! Oh! Look! A Line!" Over and over. It was tedious. I did it, but not that often, because it's good exercise.
I have no idea why, but at some point I realized that I could sort of "zen out" on that black line, and it became my friend. I swim with a mask and snorkel most of the time. When I put my face in the water and started swimming, anything going on above the surface was outside my little world for however long I would swim. It was an hour of just meditative movement. I began to really enjoy it. I could even focus on technique. Then when I would swim with just goggles, my technique was better, and I even enjoy THAT now.
Running is kind of the same thing. I used to be bored to tears. I ran a bit anyway to improve my fitness for a sport I played called Ultimate. It was sprinting, but doing longer runs still helped. I never ran very long distances. I remember one day thinking to myself, "Oh, I feel slow and my feet feel heavy." Something in my head clicked, and I said to myself, "NO! Your feet are light as feathers." I picked up the pace and started to actually smile. It can happen.
When I think of "working out," though, I think of strength training. I still find it kind of boring, but it doesn't take that long. I'm in and out of the workout floor in an hour. What helps me is to focus on technique and trying to be better at it. I'm not as focused on increasing weight or reps, although that is for sure a goal. I wonder if shifting your focus could help it become more suited to how your brain works. Make it more intellectual than physical. Think about all the specific muscles that are engaged and how to work towards perfecting the actual movements.
Thanks for sharing. Your post, actually your mindset, is very interesting and what I need to ...do something about my workout.
Like many, I also struggle with it, but there were a few times where I experienced that zen feeling and could keep going.
Write more about your experience if you could.
I'll add an anecdote from today.
I went to do a strength workout because it had been too long. I planned to skip legs since I ran the past two days. Just torso and arms. Well, I started with deadlifts anyway because I actually think they're kind of fun. I went through the rest of my routine except squats and lunges. Then, just for fun, I decided to try a pull-up. I don't remember the last time I tried. I did one. I didn't try another. Then, also just for fun, I tried some bench presses. I don't know the last time I did them. I added a little weight at a time to come up with a good starting place for adding them.
I noticed three open lanes in the pool, so I got dressed and hopped in. I went farther than I planned, and it felt really good. I thought about going a bit farther, but I realized I was getting tired. I also knew there had just started to be some folks waiting for a lane, so I got out.
My main regret is that it was a beautiful day, and I was inside. That's what usually keeps me away - I'd rather be out in the weather and actually doing activities, but getting in some workout time does support my ability to keep doing those other activities.
I'd do it again, but I think if tomorrow is nice out, I'll go hike. If it's not, maybe I'll go see if the pool has room for another swim, but it will be a rest day for picking things up.
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Just find an activity that you like and do that. That is really the basis for all exercise programs.0
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Thank you all so much for your time and kindness. These comments not only provided very helpful advice, but also encouraged me in ways that I didn’t expect. To clarify and answer some of your questions, I do skate three times a week for a total of 4 hours weekly. I would skate for several hours each day if I could, but that is unfortunately not financially possible. As for hiking, I have a near clinical fear of driving and live in the US, so I’m bound to the schedules of other people when it comes to going places. All that being said, your suggestions and the features of this app are already helping. I have a renewed sense of inspiration, and feel encouraged to try things that I was previously too insecure to attempt. We are all capable of reaching our goals, and I’ll keep you all in my heart while I work towards mine.12
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Since you’re not comfortable driving, are there any city trails near you?
Several municipalities and counties here joined forces and built a walking biking trail that runs from almost downtown in our major metro area, through at least four other adjacent cities. It’s incredible. Part of it runs through a national battlefield park, several legs go through really nice watershed areas, and of course all pass through the smaller, pretty downtowns. A second trail, built on a renovated former RR track, joins it and takes it well into another state.
It staggers me how many people here I mention the trail to who have no idea it even exists. One woman literally lives ON the trail, endured construction while they widened her sidewalk and built a flashing light, brick paved pedestrian crosswalk, and had no idea it was a walking/biking trail. 🧐
It was a lifesaver for me during the pandemic. I could walk for miles and never see another soul, so I walked my way through lockdown.
I’m also able to take advantage of it to ride my bike directly to the gym and part way to the grocery when the weather is nice. Fun, and that counts as exercise, too!
Google and see if you have any hidden gyms like my trail.3 -
Dance and boxing are 2 types of physical fitness that takes thought. It just doesn't have to be repetitive movement, although it is needed to a point to be proficient in whatever movement you're doing.SebasKrolak wrote: »Hello everyone. As the title suggests, I find working out incredibly boring and unfulfilling. I enjoy hiking and am an amateur figure skater, but my everyday life is quite sedentary due to my being an artist and student. Therefore, I’m trying to work out more. I don’t wish to sound pretentious, but I thrive off of intellectual stimulation and find it very difficult to do repetitive tasks that don’t involve thought. As an autistic person who also has ADHD, doing things that I have no interest in and that don’t stimulate my brain is extremely challenging due to differences in executive functioning that come with aforementioned neurodivergence. I also think that it would be misguided to devote so much of my life to something that I hate, and to associate health with misery. If anyone has any advice as to how to make exercise less boring, please share it! Many thanks. - Sebastian
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 35+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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I don’t wish to sound pretentious, but I thrive off of intellectual stimulation and find it very difficult to do repetitive tasks that don’t involve thought.
I’m on the spectrum as well, and I find I do some of my most important work (intellectually and creatively speaking) when I’m engaged in repetitive tasks. For example, when I was in class I would often get yelled at for drawing during lectures. But I could point to any drawing and tell the teacher or professor exactly what they discussed during each image I drew. They never complained again after that. Now that I think about it, I can still remember the lecture when I look at my drawings.
Another more current example is analyzing a clients scope of work for a new build and designing in my mind while walking on the treadmill, washing dishes, sweeping, or doing yard work. I’m having a hard time imagining not having an active mind while engaging in repetitive tasks.
I suppose if I didn’t have anything else I would listen to an audiobook or watch something engaging. My husband is currently learning Italian while he works out or does any repetitive tasks. Yes, they can be boring, but they don’t have to be.4 -
My neurodivergent daughter with ADHD has found lifting to be her favorite form of activity. She found there is a lot to research (e.g. different techniques, methodologies for workouts and diet, etc), that keeps her interested. She loves the science aspect of it.
She started by following along with YouTube workouts, but quickly realized she can't stand any talking - it distracts her. She just muted the sound and played her own music. She now develops her own workouts.
She was already in school to be a dietician, and has now added exercise science and will soon have her personal trainer certification. She found friends and family members were asking her for her advice, and gets a lot of satisfaction in researching each individual's wants and needs and working with them to create their plan.
This isn't to say you need to settle on lifting as your "thing", but to express my confidence that, like others have said, you'll find an activity or two that you enjoy by tailoring it to how your brain works.8 -
SebasKrolak wrote: »Hello everyone. As the title suggests, I find working out incredibly boring and unfulfilling. I enjoy hiking and am an amateur figure skater, but my everyday life is quite sedentary due to my being an artist and student. Therefore, I’m trying to work out more. I don’t wish to sound pretentious, but I thrive off of intellectual stimulation and find it very difficult to do repetitive tasks that don’t involve thought. As an autistic person who also has ADHD, doing things that I have no interest in and that don’t stimulate my brain is extremely challenging due to differences in executive functioning that come with aforementioned neurodivergence. I also think that it would be misguided to devote so much of my life to something that I hate, and to associate health with misery. If anyone has any advice as to how to make exercise less boring, please share it! Many thanks. - Sebastian
I find listening to upbeat music helpful and always trying to do a little bit better each workout either by adding weight, or increasing reps/sets (weight training) or adding sprints, increasing speed/resistance/ incline (cardio). I keep track of my progress by plotting my workout in a spreadsheet, and every time I do more it gets highlighted in green, but if I stay the same or decrease my activity it gets highlighted in red. The more green, the better and red just gives me an opportunity to go back and do better next time.3 -
SebasKrolak wrote: »Thank you all so much for your time and kindness. These comments not only provided very helpful advice, but also encouraged me in ways that I didn’t expect. To clarify and answer some of your questions, I do skate three times a week for a total of 4 hours weekly. I would skate for several hours each day if I could, but that is unfortunately not financially possible. As for hiking, I have a near clinical fear of driving and live in the US, so I’m bound to the schedules of other people when it comes to going places. All that being said, your suggestions and the features of this app are already helping. I have a renewed sense of inspiration, and feel encouraged to try things that I was previously too insecure to attempt. We are all capable of reaching our goals, and I’ll keep you all in my heart while I work towards mine.
I have a fear of driving too. It's on 3+ lane highways, so not super limiting for me, as in my location I can use two lane highways and secondary roads. As it does interfere with my goals, I am working on it in therapy.5 -
My main sport is indoor rock climbing. There is a big problem solving aspect that many find engaging and it is truly great exercise.
I also enjoy running, power yoga (yea, type A 😂) and can put up with swimming although that one isn’t a favourite right now.
Being a student, and with a fear of driving, I would also assume that you lead a pretty active lifestyle where you walk most places? If so, that in itself is great cardio. No need to change into workout gear in order for your activity to benefit you.3 -
Can you walk to places, take public transport or cycle of driving is not an option? Ditch exercising and work on losing your fear of driving?1
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Can you walk to places, take public transport or cycle of driving is not an option? Ditch exercising and work on losing your fear of driving?
Or is it more a fear of social situations. That’s me. I simply go in, focus on what I’m doing, work out, and leave. Sometimes people are surprised I can actually talk lol.
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Can you walk to places, take public transport or cycle of driving is not an option? Ditch exercising and work on losing your fear of driving?
Well, there is life in general where the removal of certain fears may lead to an improvement!
But in terms of calorie burns? Ditching the car tends to result in larger ones!
And yes walking can be cardio. Maybe not for the kids sprinting up the hill I was walking up (3x by the time I got to the top😝) but for the rest of us...1 -
Can you walk to places, take public transport or cycle of driving is not an option? Ditch exercising and work on losing your fear of driving?
Well, there is life in general where the removal of certain fears may lead to an improvement!
But in terms of calorie burns? Ditching the car tends to result in larger ones!
And yes walking can be cardio. Maybe not for the kids sprinting up the hill I was walking up (3x by the time I got to the top😝) but for the rest of us...
My old gym was on a steep hill with a small paved area on one side. My 72 year old trainer would run sprints up and down the hill, and make faces at the muscle-y guys pushing the loaded sleds in the courtyard because she knew they couldn’t do it. Then she’d challenge them to try, just to listen to them bellyache, and yell at them how good it’d be for them.
Same woman who overheard a new guy saying he’d heard some old woman there could flip 500lb tires and he didn’t beleive it. She set her jaw, marched right out and flipped one several times, leaned it back on the wall, dusted off, and went back into the office.
Good times.7 -
Back in school, our football and cross country teams used to practice on adjacent fields, leading to the inevitable comparison where each side made fun of the other. So every year the coaches would, by agreement, pick the most verbose member of the other team and "invite" them to work out with their team for one day.
The football player would grow humbled realizing he couldn't keep up with even the slowest cross country runner (at least not after 5+ miles).
The cross country runner would grow humbled realizing he/she couldn't keep up with the series of calisthenics exercises performed by every member of the football team while wearing all the extra pads and helmet. (The coaches had the sense to NOT have them to engage in contact drills!)
Good times. (And no, I wasn't chosen...I had the good sense to keep my mouth shut! lol)7 -
I think it might also be a social thing. If you're a student try joining a sports club or society.
After I joint my uni weightlifting society I gained a lot of motivation and direction in my workouts as I could focus on technique and increasing weight as well as socialising and coaching friends and newcomers.
Doing exercise as a group makes it feel a lot less like a chore and keeps your mind busy around the workout.
Also repetitive sets and cardio can be quite boring so I like to change it up by adding challenges and that.
Hope you find something that works for you though 0
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