Disclosure, I AM an avid exercise person. Have always been very active in daily life but the last 3-4 years have structured my lifestyle to include several days of legit exercise.
I often have read here and heard from other people that they hate to exercise or “watch what they eat” but don’t exercise.
NO JUDGING from me and I hope from no one else…but I’m curious, what don’t you like about exercise???
Is it past bad memories of gym classes? Hate to sweat? Don’t have the right clothes? Too busy to care? Out of shape and don’t know where to begin so just don’t??? Intimidated? Don’t feel you need it?
This is in interesting topic to me. Share a story if you like if you USED to be this way but changed. If you’ve always been fit good for you ( no, GREAT!) , but let’s avoid bragging because if you don’t exercise, that can maybe be a form of judging???
I exercise almost every day, but the first 5 or 10 minutes isn’t so enjoyable.
I used to jog every day, and I hated every single minute of it. It hurt. Even if I slowed down, even after getting into pretty good shape, I hated hated hated jogging. Something always hurt. But I did it for years, because I wasn’t athletic and wasn’t good at anything else. After having so many back and neck issues, I had neck surgery, and quit running for good. I went a few years doing nothing. I think I was intimidated to try anything new because I knew it was going to be tough as I’d gotten so out of shape. And not being athletic, I didn’t really know where to begin.
I finally got inspired to ride a bike after reading the Exercise thread here on CC. I loved it! It’s fun-something I’ve never had before while working out. Last year, I went on hiatus during the winter and lived to regret that. This year, I managed to stay with it, though at half my mileage and only 3 days a week. My goal next year is to stay on task and keep my mileage up even through the winter.
So my long winded answer is I hated exercise before because I was either out of shape or hadn’t found something I enjoyed, that I could do vigorously without being in pain.
Exercise did not become part of our life until we moved to a place where everyone exercises and it is the norm. I think environment and social expectations of life style have to do with it. When we moved here people ask ‘What do you do?’ when they meet you and they mean activities not occupation as before. It was then that we tried various activities. Some we did not like and kept trying other exercises. Variety of exercises helped with the season changes.
So we did not NOT like to exercise, it just was not on the radar or a priority. I was bad at downhill skiing and did not like it. So tried cross country, not so good. Love snowshoeing.
Well I have been trying very hard to learn to like exercise. I love to walk…and I walk pretty fast, but don’t get a day where there is daylight/ time for a one hour walk more than twice a week or do. So I’ve been trying interval training with weights etc, that I can do inside for half hour. But I have yet to make it a habit, or a priority! My day starts at 7, first thing is walking the dogs (half hour) then ready for work, leaving at 8:15. I get home from work about 6:30-7:00. If hubby makes dinner, I can work out then. But very hard to choose that over sitting down with my wine and the newspaper! I feel like exercise isn’t “me” time, enough.
I have an issue with proprioception (where my body is in space), so growing up I was just “nonathletic” and “uncoordinated”. It was not helped by a lack of opportunities to learn how to do anything athletic. Being thin actually made it worse as that I never need to exercise to lose weight.
A few years ago I decided I wanted to age well and physical activity needed to be part of it. I started practicing yoga. It was a struggle at first, but I have improved a lot, have seen the changes in my body and really love it. I have always enjoyed walking so I have increased that and am starting to run. Physical activity has become a part of my life and I don’t feel right if I do not get some activity every day.
But I still get why some people struggle. And it is still hard for me.
I prefer sports to straight up “exercise”. That is, I’m happy to go play tennis for a couple hours, but would rather do almost anything else than run on a treadmill. Same with walking. When I’m in our SF office I love walking the 20 minutes to work from my hotel, but just walking 20 minutes around the block when I’m home for no reason is about the most boring thing I can imagine.
I guess I just need my “exercise” to have a purpose (e.g. a game/sport, walking to work) rather than just exercise for exercise’s sake. My W and D aren’t like me at all though. D is heavily into yoga and W loves going to the gym.
I agaree with anomander. I hate, just hate, to move for no good reason. Walking is mind numbingly boring as is running. I would rather vacuum the entire house. I eat well and my weight is just fine. I realize I need cardio but it can be obtained by useful movements. I am very active. Will walk around the mall or to the store no problem. But standing in a room and jumping up and down for no reason? Not going to happen.
I’m not sure I should post, because as many of you know, I have been a competitive runner for 40 years and have also done triathlon, yoga and strength training. I run every day. Every single day.
If I did what some people do and never got outside and just walked inside on a treadmill in a stuffy gym, I would hate exercising, too. But- it works for some people! I have to put in my treadmill time due to weather, safety etc, but mainly I’m outside.
One reason a lot of people hate running is because they try to go too fast. You have to go really, really slow when you are a new runner- which is fine!
I see so many people who totally waste time by doing things at such low intensity (talking on the phone while on a cardio machine) that they don’t see results and hate it all.
Sometimes it takes time to figure out what you like.
Thank you for your responses - SOO interesting to me! I think by sharing stories we may hit “home” with another person here - cause I also think that a “not exercising” person can be motivated by someone they see/read that is “just like me” - one who hates running, needs it to be purposeful, etc.
"When we moved here people ask ‘What do you do?’ when they meet you and they mean activities not occupation as before. "
^^^THIS. I want to live in that community! What an interesting outlook - love it!
You know, at 50 years old, I’ve been considering this exact question lately so allow me to ponder a bit. I used to dance professionally, so was in very good condition, that changed when I got knee and back injuries. I didn’t want to seem like a baby so I didn’t get them taken care of properly and they just got worse until eventually I had to stop dancing. I’m sure there are some former athletes who have had the same experience. I halfheartedly went to the gym and took exercise classes but never really took to them. Fortunately I lived in NYC where I walked everywhere so was able to burn quite a few calories at least. After we had children we moved upstate to a rural area where you have to drive to actually get anywhere. Walking is great, but if I don’t have a destination in mind I get kind of bored with it and notice the fatigue sooner. Hence, I have gained weight and gotten so out of shape that I don’t even recognize myself. I guess it’s a combination of some of the things you said abasket, too busy to care, wrong clothes, intimidated, although more of myself than anyone else, don’t know where to start and still kind of looking for my “thing”. I absolutely feel like I need it though, I feel so much better but apparently it’s not motivation enough yet. All excuses I know but I’m trying not to judge.
I did do Pilates and loved it, but it is very expensive so had to give that up once the kids came along. I will probably go back to it in a few years once D1 is out of college, til then though I’m kind of lost. I am entirely open to suggestions from anyone else who’s been there done that.
Nrdsb4, bike riding sounds very appealing and something I could easily do where I live, maybe I will give it a go. Have to see how my arthritic knees like it first .
If I am going to swim I need to go to the place with the pool. I need to take off all my clothes. I need to put on a swimsuit. After swimming, I am all wet, need a shower, need to put on dry clothes, need to deal with the wet stuff, and need to get home.
I live in the Far North Midwest. In the winter I would need to bundle up. Get in my car. Drive to the gym. Park the car. Walk across a frozen parking lot. Enter the gym building. Deal with my winter gear. Put on gym clothes. Go do something sweaty. Take off my clothes. Take a shower. Put on not-gym clothes. Put on winter gear. Walk across the frozen parking lot. Start a frozen car. Drive home. Shlep the gym clothes and myself back into my house.
Yup. For me it is all about the clothes changing thing.
Oh and I hate the loud music that accompanies most gym classes.
That can be another valid reason @morkatmom - expense. Of course there are alternatives but if as you say pilates classes is something you like and they are expensive in your area…that can be a roadblock. So yeah, looking for alternatives.
I will share one inexpensive option - free if you have Amazon Prime and/or a ROKU. There are lots of exercise videos - for free - available. Some are VERY old school - think Richard Simmons be-bopping around! But there is a particular series that has many levels of exercise videos caleed The GymBox. From easy yoga to pilates to strength training with whatever size weights you prefer to treadmill sessions to just plain old 15 minute stretching. Check it out.
Finding exercise options that aren’t boring to me is tough. Exercise videos, machines at the gym – ugh. I did have a rowing machine, and rowed and watched DVDs – until I herniated a disc in my back moving boxes and gave up rowing. Then downsized – no room for equipment. I did a lot of hiking right after I moved – til my IT band (side of knee) started to hurt. Ugh again, doing PT. I walk a lot, and recently started a deep water exercise class at a pool a block from my apartment. Trying to go 3 times per week, it is a good low impact workout while my knee heals. Rented a kayak for an hour last week. But classes & equipment rental cost money, too.
So… boredom, injury, cost all conspire against me – but I keep on adapting.
asthma as I got older. I use to run 3-5 miles easily when I was young. I can knock out a mile but anything over that get difficult. Even when I use an inhaler I still have difficulties running. Injuries are also a problem now as it takes longer to recover.
For boredom, I listen to audiobooks when running or doing any cardio.
My personal issue is the boredom. I feel like I have so little free time, that the benefits of working out don’t seem to be worth the cost of “wasting” an hour just sitting on a stationary bike. My gym has personal TVs on all the equipment so sometimes I’d wait until there was a show I’d really want to watch, then run to the gym so I could at get some exercise in while I watched. I guess I only don’t mind it when I can combine it with something else that I wanted to do anyway.
I did like doing dance videos on the Wii with my kids (one borrowed one from a roommate over Christmas a few yeas ago). Might order one of those, keep forgetting. It would be good for a rainy day in winter here.
I am really struggling to establish a positive relationship with exercise at this point in my life (mid-twenties) because I am thinking to the future and want to be able to set a positive example for my theoretical children. But it’s always been a super big struggle for me. I am extremely uncoordinated, to the point where, as a child, I fell off my bike with training wheels on, and as an adult, I have sprained my ankles collectively around four or five times just by walking (once attempting to ice skate). Also, gym class was absolute hell because I was (and still am) overweight and socially awkward. I would get screamed at for missing kicks and bats. Nobody would pick me for their team. Girls used to point and laugh at me when I was running, and they even had a chant about me having a big butt. The girls in my gym class would go so far as I chuck balls at my head from other courts when we were playing games like volleyball. So my formative associations with sports were being ridiculed mercilessly. I would even go home and practice the sports we were playing in gym class with my little brother whenever I could but I just never got any better.
Aside from being overweight, I don’t think that my body regulates its temperature correctly, so whenever I get strenuous exercise I wind up with my entire face and ears completely fire engine red and throbbing, and it takes almost an hour to subside. Basically, I have awful associations with high intensity exercise and when I do it I look and feel awful for an hour after the fact. I was going to the gym pretty regularly my senior year of college, and it started to get a little better but I always just hated to go.
When I got into grad school, going to the gym became even more of a hassle because the gym on campus is really expensive, and I don’t drive so it’s problematic to go elsewhere that’s more affordable. However, I have always loved to walk while listening to music, and my campus has basically one big road around it that is about a mile and a half loop. So, if the weather is remotely acceptable (above 15 degrees and not pouring) I will go for 2-3 half hour walks a day and listen to music. I recently got a Fitbit watch and in combination with calorie counting, I have been working on losing 1-2 pounds a week for a while, and I’ve lost about 25 pounds so far. So even though I still hate exercise aside from walking, I’m learning to work around this and I am finally working on getting my weight under control. So there’s a happy ending!
I think those who really enjoy exercising should stop and consider why - is it something that you are good at? are you fit enough that you get that endorphin rush? Do you like to play team sports and be a valued member of the team? Do you like to run in races and win? Do you look really good in workout clothes or in any clothes?
Now, pretend for a minute that none of this is true.
It may give you more insight why it is more difficult for the rest of us to get motivated to exercise.
I personally make a point of walking for about an hour each day or using a rowing machine if the weather is bad.
I wouldn’t say that I especially enjoy it. Listening to a podcast helps, but, as others have expressed, I find it rather boring. And I also enjoy walking with a purpose more (so it would be nice to live in a city for that reason).
But there is a particular series that has many levels of exercise videos caleed The GymBox. From easy yoga to pilates to strength training with whatever size weights you prefer to treadmill sessions to just plain old 15 minute stretching. Check it out. 