Most of us know about all the amazing benefits of exercise from reducing risk of chronic disease, promoting higher bone density and improving your mood, nonetheless, we are more sedentary than ever before. Why is that we have a variety of workout programs available all around us, but we are still not choosing to exercise and move our bodies?
Going to the gym has become a norm in our society. We are bombarded with different muscle building programs and workout regimes, promising us ripped bodies. Everyone around us is pushing the gym thing down our throat. But there is a big factor in this, gym is not for everyone! Yes, you heard me right. Just because I love lifting weights and running on a treadmill, does not mean those activities are everyone’s cup of tea. There are about hundreds of different ways to move our bodies and gym might not be yours. Nobody should shame you or push you into doing something, just because they think It‘s the “best” way to workout.
Let‘s be honest, we have been taught that exercising should be hard, exhausting and that we should push ourselves to our the max every single workout. The “no pain, no gain” mentality is the reason why most people are afraid of working out in the first place. I am here to tell you, exercising should be fun and pleasurable. If you feel unhappy and your workout program is making you miserable, you should change what you are doing right now!
Here are some tips to help you fall in love with exercise again:
1. Choose a form of exercise you actually like
This one can be tough if you don‘t know which type of activities you feel compelled to do. But don‘t stress! Explore different options. Try a sport or a fitness class that sounds interesting to you. Maybe, you prefer a more relaxed form of movement? Try yoga or walking. Or why not step out of your comfort zone and sign up for a dance class? The more you enjoy the activity you are doing, the more consistent you will be and the better you will feel in the long run.
2. Stop exercising to lose weight or burn calories
Can‘t think of a better way to worsen your relationship with exercise than this. Most of the time, if weight loss is the only reason someone works out, they choose exercises that they don‘t enjoy, they over exercise and push themselves too hard, which leads to injuries and over training, just for the sake of burning few extra calories. Instead, find different motives like increased mood, better performance, health benefits.
3. No more going over board
I struggled with this one and it ain‘t pretty. If you are exercising too often, not giving your body proper rest time and not having a good muscle split, no wonder you dread your next workout. Over training can cause injuries, heart problems and can decrease mood and performance. Burn up is a serious business, if you feel drained and unmotivated, you should probably dial it down.
4. Don‘t stress about skipping a workout
When exercising is a part of a healthy lifestyle, skipping a workout is totally fine. It won‘t worsen your progress or make you a bad person. Sometimes you have too many things on your plate like a long day at work, extra errands you need to take care of or you are just not in the best mood. Things happen, it‘s okay. What‘s not okay is to feel guilty and to shame yourself about it. When it happens, just move on with your day!
5. Listen to how your body feels
Sometimes your body is too exhausted for a crazy HIIT workout or a 5k run. Other times you have little aches and pains that are telling you to just take a break. Some days though, you will feel so energized that you do a double fitness class. All these scenarios are fine. By tuning into your body, you see which activities feel good or not. By doing this you won‘t dread exercising, cause you know it‘s totally acceptable to stop if something hurts or if you feel too tired or not in the mood.
6. Switch it up
If you are used to doing yoga, try a HIIT cardio class. If you are tired of running all the time, add some weight lifting into the mix. Challenge your body with different styles of movement. The options are endless. The more forms of exercise we incorporate into our life, the less bored we will be, and we‘ll get a more well-rounded physique.
It‘s important that we realize our differences. All of us have different bodies with different needs, preferences and desires. Honor them. And If you start practicing things I mentioned above, exercise will never feel like a chore again.
