There are some things I find hard to understand. For example, I don’t understand why some people are not animal lovers. Similarly with exercise – I find it difficult to relate to the notion of not enjoying exercise. However, last week, when I decided to take a week off to recover from a pretty intense block of training, I must admit to being extremely happy with the notion of turning the alarm clock off and rolling over and enjoying some extra sleep.
Now that I’ve rested and recovered, I’ve been quite keen to get back into the swing of things. Firstly there was the opportunity to teach RPM yesterday morning which turned out to be a real thumper and then this morning Emma, the Lucydog and I went for a run which felt so much better than the previous two occasions. I even ran up most of the hills and had to encourage Miss Lucy to make the return visit up the hill. Needless to say, she was completely tuckered out and spent most of the day sleeping as did I – I was hit with an uncharacteristic migraine! Ugh! Tomorrow, I’m hitting RIDE with John and weights with Emma and really looking forward to it!
The moral of the story is that if you have been training hard and feeling less than enthused, then taking recovery periods is a great way of rekindling the exercise loving fires.
If you haven’t done much exercise before and you’re just beginning to find your way, my advice is as follows.
- Start small – establishing a regular pattern of walking is just as worthwhile as tackling an Ironman triathlon! You see, from walking, comes running – and then if running feels good, possibly cycling and swimming too.
- Be prepared to try a range of activities before you find what you enjoy. Be open to different things – I was really surprised that I enjoyed Zumba, even though it’s not my first choice for an exercise session.
- Expect not to enjoy everything. There are some styles of workout I simply don’t enjoy. You’ll probably never see me in a CX Works class ( not great if you’ve got core issues) or Body Attack (my joints are getting too old for jumping around). However, if I had never tried them, I wouldn’t know my preferences!
- Invest in a good trainer/coach in the areas you want to pursue. I really enjoyed working with Ray (boxing) and Lisa (weightlifting)
- Start young if you can – I’ve got one of my little Lucys coming to Cycle class these days – she’s my number one sidekick and educates me about what music I need to use – and she keeps coming back because she loves a good beat! I’m hoping the exercise habit stays with her for life, but it’s obviously up to her
- Choose to see the positives in establishing an exercise routine. Exercise shouldn’t be just about weight loss, looks or maintaining control – it’s about enjoyment, release and being at one with your body, your spirit and with nature.
It’s time for me to get my kit together ready for an early morning start. I often have my best thoughts of the day before the sun comes up!
What advice would you give to others to help them to learn to love exercise?
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s so easy to love exercising you’ve been bitten by the big! Now that it has become such a major part of my life I don’t know how I lived without it.. Sounds crazy but it’s addictive and it makes me feel like a super strong super woman -Yay
You are a super strong woman, didn’t you know?
PS.. Love sharing it with you, my equally crazed mate Liz x
aw shucks. Though I don’t think I’d be running in the mist if it wasn’t for you!
For me it was turning my sessions into social events. I turned up with some close mates on my run days and we’d rarely miss a day as we’d always be keen to see each other. Same nowadays I’m a mum. My whole mum’s group (well half of them) join the mums n bubs class and we all goss, gasp and giggle together. Make exercise fun and it doesn’t feel like as much of a chore, it just become a habit.
Hi Pip, I cannot believe I forgot to mention the social aspect. Love it!
Yes, being social is really helpful. I got into the swimming training regularly because two friends came and we all had a coffee after. We’re out of the habit now and must get back into it. I like the weights because they just do fab things for the old body. Now then I will go and lay out some exercise clothes and maybe do a little walk/run first thing in the morning, can leave the big kids to look after the little ones.
PS Your start small advice is just the best thing for starters.
Thanks Seana – sounds like I’m not the only one who likes being social (and I didn’t mention it)
Hi Liz…just wanted to let you know that your link to Lisa’s site is incorrect. It should be barbelles.net.au, rather than .com.au. Thought you might want to know.
As for exercise, I’m not me without it. But then I’ve been active all my life and I couldn’t imagine my life without being active. There is so much variety out there now, there is something for everyone! 
Thanks Kerry, fixing now
Mine is to exercise with a group. That can be a group of one or twenty or more. Just having to front up because someone’s waiting for you makes you more accountable and it makes the time fly.
The other trick is to not put off a workout when you’ve planned one. Often if I don’t get my run on in the morning it just doesn’t happen. And then I have at least 24 hours of guilt. Much better to just do it and have 24 hours of feeling smugly virtuous.
Char, I like the idea of feeling smugly virtuous – think the group thing is good too
I don’t love exercise in general, so can understand those that don’t. As I said in my blog post the other day I grew up playing A LOT of sport. So, nearly every day I had some sort of training or game (including rep stuff).
I think I was pushed over a bit of an edge with the training thing around the time I became anorexic and it became fraught with… well, a lot of crap. And then after that when I quit everything I was no longer playing sport so had no need to ‘train’ (ie. exercise).
I still don’t really like exercise for exercise’s sake, but quite enjoy the dance classes I go to and don’t mind Pump etc. I guess I now exercise for health and fitness though – not really for pleasure and definitely for no other ‘training’ purpose.
Hi Deb, can certainly understand why that would play a part. xx