How can I ENJOY exercise?

(shawnk) #21

Adopt an active breed dog. And maybe a less active one, too. My dogs get me out of bed in the very early morning. My 13 year old Scottish terrier, Durin, is my warm up partner. I take him out first for a brisk walk, and then switch to my high energy, field Setter, Mr Crowley, for a run. I can ignore a treadmill, but they whine, moan and nudge me out the door. And, seriously, it does make it fun, and a great for bonding with them.

I also lift weights at home, and it takes loud Metal for me to want to do it. Amon Amarth my favorite. They’re a Viking Death Metal band… I feel like I’m getting ready for battle. It brings out my inner D&D geek.

And I’ve been belly dancing for over 20 years, and totally recommend it. It’s addicting, fun, empowering, and a great community to belong to. Both of my teachers are in their upper 60’s now, and are inspiring roll models in that they both very active and youthful. So, it keeps you young. There are classes available at most city parks and recreation centers.

(Doug) #22

Watch other people doing it? :smile:

(Little Miss Scare-All) #23

Nice picks. I’m down with the viking death, but prefer black, i.e. Emperor, Mayhem, Dark Funeral etc. I like my death metal more along the Cannibal Corpse (Corpsegrinder era, not a Barnes fan), Cryptopsy and some of the more new fangled death metal like Black Dahlia Murder.

Sorry. Im a music nerd and as soon as I hear someone who listens to heavier obscurer music, I must butt in

(Karim Wassef) #24

For me, it’s always been competition.

I like mirrors because I can watch myself and compete with the image of what I want to do. - no, not vanity… competition. I’m my own drill sergeant… “Is that all you’re made of? Give me one more rep!”

I like working out with other people - take turns as drill sergeant… It’s fun and social.

I like watching vids of athletes pushing themselves… it shows me what my body can do too, if I push it hard and long enough.

I like working out with my kids… that just crazy fun.

I do not like working out with my wife… she makes fun of the noises I make and that throws off my concentration and focus. LOL!

Don’t know if any of those help.

(shawnk) #25

Black Metal’s my favorite, but not for weight lifting. Most of the concerts I go to tend to be Black Metal. I was power walking to Behemoth’s latest two albums this week. And I just did a belly dance choreography to a Rotting Christ song. I always get in the mood for Emperor in the winter. :smiling_imp:

(Little Miss Scare-All) #26

Anthem to the welkin at dusk is def a winter album. And in the nightside eclipse.

Yeah I missed Behemoth on tour with slayer, but theyre playing my neck of the woods in May, at a really mixed bag festival. Behemoth…breaking benjamin… i dont think I can sit through breaking benjamin…

(shawnk) #27

We just saw Behemoth a few months ago, but not with Slayer. At the Gates and Wolves in the Throne Room were opening for them. We also just saw Septic Flesh and Caracas Angren pretty recently. And we saw Cradle of Filth for the first time in quite a few years.

(shawnk) #28

Behemoths playing at one of the big outdoor festivals here, too. They’re opening for Gojira and a few other bands that are pretty mainstream, so it will be a very small set. I’d rather see them at a smaller venue with other black metal bands to get all of that black mass energy. We’re probably scaring people here. Lol

(Little Miss Scare-All) #29

Yeah I think the gojira gig is the same festival I was talking about. Not a gojira fan, its pretty formulaic. Theres a bunch of bands playing that festival that really suck like Bad Wolves :face_vomiting:

Awwww nice Ive not gotten to see carcass live, ever. Bet it was a good show. Funny I was never a cradle fan, I thought they were bubblegummy kinda like children of bodom or something. But I was also really young then and harshly judged things lol. I gave cradle another go recently and it wasnt as bad as I remembered or condemned them to be when I was 16 lol.

Im also into math metal and weird bands like Iwrestledabearonce, carbomb, tony danza tap dance extravoganza. Most ppl would probably consider it noise :metal:

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #30

I know the thread has veered off onto other matters, but I just want to say that (with apologies to Mark Twain), whenever I get the urge to exercise, I just lie down until it passes . . . :grin:

#31

What a great idea for a thread/question. I’m in the same boat, I think. I know my body likes exercise, but my brain does NOT.

(Marius the butter craving dude) #32

I like going with the bike a lot, and walking.
As of going to the gym… Well the pleasure to go and exercise comes after a few days of going to the gym. But if I take a few days of break due to life I feel no pleasure to go.

(less is more, more or less) #33

I thoroughly love this response, as I do @baconmecrazy’s. I’m not sure what mental picture or model you have of exercise, but when you make it yours, it can be bloody awesome.

@x-Dena-x and @shawnkuplin’s conversation reminded me of way, way back in the day, when I used to jog downtown Philly, with Black Flag, Dead Kennedy’s or Talking Heads on my Sony Walkman. The music would stir me up, for sure. It’s then I came to love what @x-Dena-x calls “urban exploration.” I relish jogging when I travel, now. There’s no better way to get a broader feel for a community than running through it. These days it’s podcasts, low-carb focused, though other topics in the rotation. Less jolting, and far more satisfying.

It sure is.

(John) #34

I don’t particularly enjoy exercise myself. I do enjoy how I feel after having exercised, but not the process itself.

For cardio, I go for walks. Problem is, that takes a while - 45 mins to an hour, and there are only so many routes I can walk in my general neighborhood. So yes, it gets boring after a while.

For weights / bodyweight, I find that having to go to a place to work out, even the fitness room at work, ends up with me finding excuses not to do it. However, I can fit stuff in at home. I have a pair of dumbbells and weight plates, so I can fit in little sets in between other stuff.

I may not be hitting everything, but situps, squats, pushups, planks, bridges just require the floor. I can do biceps curls, overhead military press, bent-over rows, and flat flyes using just the dumbbells and a bench (furniture bench, not a weight bench).

I do the squats in the kitchen while waiting on water to boil for coffee. I do sets with dumbbells in between wasting time on the internet. :slight_smile:

Finding time to fit in a 1 hour walk is the big challenge for me. It is weather dependent and requires me to get up way too early.

(Little Miss Scare-All) #35

In the winter in NJ its hard to get out and do exercise related things for me, tho I dont like the heat, the freezing makes me dread things also.

I need a gym for that reason. Plus apt living isnt good for gardening and farm work lol. I dont live near farms so its hard.

@PetaMarie hows your playlist coming??

(Chris) #36

Expect to hate walking, as a rule (especially on a treadmill).

Mini-goals that you can smash along the way are important for keeping yourself from getting discouraged with “not being there yet”, also known as the Arnold phenomenon.

(Roxanne) #37

Get a walking buddy - it’s a social outlet and helps with accountability - they are counting on you to show up too!

#38

I hate exercise too. And I hate sports. I hate it while I’m doing them, I hate competition, I don’t necessarily feel any better afterwards, except for having accomplished a chore I really didn’t want to do, like going to the dentist. But I do like the results. So, I’m something of a minimalist–how little can I do and get some results?

Right now, that’s alternate days of bodyweight strength training and mat Pilates at home. None of the routines I’m doing take more than 15 minutes. I find putting on some enthusiastic and silly pop music helps keep me going. And it’s fast enough that it’s over and done with before I start feeling like I’m wasting time.

(KetoQ) #39

Hi Peta Marie –

I’m one of those who enjoys exercise. But if it is something you really are not motivated to do, then don’t. Devote that time to something you enjoy doing, like a hobby such as art or music or reading. Life is too short to waste.

Or, you may also need to think about your “WHY.” If you get clear about that, you might have a better motivation to exercise.

But even I have to motivate myself sometimes, actually a lot of times. I’m always playing games with myself, for example, I had access to a nice rowing machine at my gym. So I put a map of Lake Michigan on my office wall and rowed everyday and logged my mileage across the lake from Chicago to Mackinac Island. Having the map to chart my progress was a cool way to motivate myself.

Also, I’ve been logging my walking for the past 11 years, and I’m up to over 5,000 miles. I don’t have a goal in mind, but its a lot of walking and activity.

Also, as you know I’ve been doing the bodyweight squat challenge, and I hit my goal of 15,000 over 120 days, and am now extending the challenge for a full year and 50,000. So making something public and holding yourself accountable is another strategy.

Hope you can find some ideas here.

Good luck,
Q

(charlie3) #40

I don’t “enjoy” exercise. It gives me satisfaction. I usually procrastinate but get into the groove quickly once I start. I’m still working at 70 because before retiring I want a credible program for being healthy and staying that way. So 6-7 hours a week of brisk walking, 3 hours a week of lifting, 3-5 hours a week of moderate intensity cardio.

This time around I know how to get lean. I did nutrient tracking back in the day but now I can also track micro nutrients and I have a bio impedence scale that is proving to be very useful and encouraging. At the start of lifting my goal was to gain 1 pound of lean muscle per month. According to the bio impediance software that is happening. It’s cool that an old geezer like me can have his highschool waist line and enough muscle to be noticable.

A lot of people spend hours polishing and perfecting their classic car or home. Why not put that effort into your own body?