How to break the exercise inertia ?

whiteguineapig

I find that jogging is better for me than walking because it simply doesn't take as long, it keeps me reasonably fit , but i get it done fairly quickly

gettingtheresometime

ska_lover wrote: »

I don't understand this whole 'make time' thing. It is one of those catch phrase sayings that don't actually offer a solution.

Cutting down on sleep, in order to get up earlier to exercise is not healthy.

But people waste time.....not really watching the TVs for example

parking_question_chap

dixon-bainbridge wrote: »

Excuses, excuses, excuses. Everyone gets the same 24 hours in their day and you can get a decent bit of exercise in 30 to 45 mins, so I always find it amusing when people say there isn't time - make time!

You don't need to go to a gym - get out of bed 30mins earlier then normal and go for a brisk walk, HIIT workout, yoga.. whatever. Your exercise for the day is done and dusted before you even get to work.

Do you need to commute by car? - Walk or cycle?
Are you forced to eat your lunch at your desk? - Get up and go for a walk or run
Be more organised and meal plan - you can cook decent nutritious meals in 15-30 mins (check out Joe Wicks).
Just don't turn the TV on!

If you are stuck in the routine you state then make small steps to change it. The weekend walking is a good start. Start off getting up early one morning, increase that to 2 days etc.

Ultimately, it's your health and you are the only one that can do something about it.

PS. I'm also an office worker who does long hours.

Totally agree with this.

And also in my experience, those that make excuses, also make excuses as to why they make excuses.

Also they try to justify eating junk; "oh I was really good the last two days so I can eat some cake". Well yes you can eat some cake, but if you are trying to lose weight is it really in your best interest?

They fail to see its a long term thing, like saying. "Oh well I washed the last two days so I wont bother today".

boliston

Money_maker wrote: »

I don't think these phrases are addressed to you personally, shrugs.


Having seen many elderly people who have no option but to sit down and watch TV all day, I don't want to get there yet, but horses for courses I guess.


I motivate myself by wanting to get fit, keep healthy and keep my body in as good form as possible. I use classes as I find they motivate me the most, OP. It is time consuming but as they say, you're a long time dead.

when i am elderly i have no intention of buying a tv - i have never owned a tv in my life and have no intention of buying one when im older - can think of no more boring way to pass the time

Gloomendoom

boliston wrote: »

when i am elderly i have no intention of buying a tv - i have never owned a tv in my life and have no intention of buying one when im older - can think of no more boring way to pass the time

Owning a TV?

I have found that you need to actually turn them on and watch them to get the best out of them. It also helps if you are you are selective and choose to watch programmes that interest you.

boliston

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Owning a TV?

I have found that you need to actually turn them on and watch them to get the best out of them. It also helps if you are you are selective and choose to watch programmes that interest you.

There is so much content I can watch online now it would make the idea of a tv redundant for me.

jenniewb

OP I wasn't sure if you'd managed to get around the inertia yet, I wanted to reply because I hate exercise so much and always have done. I rarely did any exercise as a child beyond walking places and although wasn't overweight was likely as unhealthy as if I was. I walked but anything that made me sweat out of the question!


I took up going to the gym when I got older, initially to socialise more as I used to freelance and working at home alone was not doing a lot for my mental health. I hated it. But I forced myself to keep going even though I didn't do much.


But then I changed gyms and that was where my going to the gym changed. I was going to the gym more but for different reasons.
The gym I joined was really plush and I was paying a lot for it. The facilities were amazing- plush towels, power showers, a steam room and sauna with all the machines being up to date. It felt really welcoming and friendly and a place I wanted to be at- I really think this is a very simple but overlooked part of exercise- make sure you are exercising in an environment you don't mind being in. It's not going to make you exercise but it's one fewer thing to put you off going.


The next part was the exercises I was doing. I'd gone from a treadmill jog (and I mean jog- I was "running" at 7km/h!!) I changed it up and did more classes. With classes several things change. As you are not in control you don't feel as much effort is spent on creating a plan or forcing you to stick to it. You also get the added boost of the instructor or teacher who if they do their job right, will be excellent for moral and keeping you coming back. Similarly themed style classes can be a real boost. If you have aims on being the next Beyonc! for example, there are classes you can take that work with her music, or if you are on an all out war with your body to tone it into shape, bootcamp style circuit classes can really help you focus more on the theme and less on how really difficult the exercises feel. Exercising with others in a group can really help too. You don't feel alone, you can group-moan and group-support and I always found that if the rest of the group was still going, there was less of an excuse for me to stop (though don't push through injuries obviously) and the sense of being part of a team especially when in a circuit class really made the difference to sticking at something and feeling like I was getting somewhere.


Having kit you feel comfortable in and feel good in for me helps. Its not going to be something that makes me work out for hours on end every day but it is going to help me get to the gym and sometimes just getting to the gym with the mindset that I feel less like I want to hide and more like I have a purpose and reason to get there and be there.


But the most important thing for me- or what made the biggest difference has been the education which came with my being at classes and my own reading about things. I found teachers that knew their stuff, weather it be a Yoga teacher who really knew all about what they were teaching or a boot-camp teacher who came from the army not from a 6th form college NVQ... The science behind what happens to your body, the way our bodies work with muscle and injury, good body fat and bad body fat, nutrition, sleep, all these things that teachers talk about whilst teaching- not that any had ever sat down and ran a lecture through us, it's more information being imparted as we move around and why what we are doing is important and why. This helps you see the bigger picture and gives you more reasons to work out and work harder.


I suppose what I am trying to say is there really isn't any one motivation. It's a little of everything and from different areas and different angles. It's not as if you are always in one mood or that you can always use the same motivations to keep going and plenty of the time you can get bored with the using the same motivations each time. What matters one day doesn't always matter the next.


Keep a diary of what you do, any aims and goals you reach, keep a daily cross-off chart for every day you manage X (X is up to you, weather it be run for 10 minutes, 10 K or 10 miles or just get to the gym/park/class at all). Note when you manage this per month on a graph and focus on making things feel better. It helps if you pick X to be something that matters to you, no matter how irrelevant, vain or small it may seem to someone else, it's your life, it's your call, you pick.

Kantankrus_Mare

Wow Jennie......what an inspirational post!

Well done for finding what works for you and I agree with everything you have said.

Classes work for me and although I have exercised on and off for most of my life.......I have found that now I have entered my fifties,
exercise seems more important and I am sticking with it for good now.
Yoga is a good start point. The yoga teacher at my gym is fantastic and I am hooked!
I have also started step classes again and feel so invigorated after a class.
We have quite a lot of people in their 70's at the gym and their fitness levels are amazing and put some younger people to shame.
I want that for myself when I get to that age. :T

Malthusian

boliston wrote: »

There is so much content I can watch online now it would make the idea of a tv redundant for me.

So you do watch TV, you just do it via a computer (or an iPad or whatever).

Saying you don't watch TV because you watch stuff online is a bit like saying you don't listen to music because you have Spotify - it's a category error. TVs (as in the hardware) are interchangeable with computers now, same as phones. A TV is just a large monitor that sits in the corner of your sitting room and has the advantage of allowing a better picture and more comfortable seating than sitting at your computer desk or balancing your laptop on your knees.

MallyGirl

Kantankrus_Mare wrote: »

Wow Jennie......what an inspirational post!

Well done for finding what works for you and I agree with everything you have said.

Classes work for me and although I have exercised on and off for most of my life.......I have found that now I have entered my fifties,
exercise seems more important and I am sticking with it for good now.
Yoga is a good start point. The yoga teacher at my gym is fantastic and I am hooked!
I have also started step classes again and feel so invigorated after a class.
We have quite a lot of people in their 70's at the gym and their fitness levels are amazing and put some younger people to shame.
I want that for myself when I get to that age. :T

Me too!

Classes appeal to me for many of the reasons above. I am looking forward to DD being able to drive herself to activities so that I can join somewhere with classes. That is still 18 months off though. For now I have asked for the smallest membership of the local spa (3 evening visits a year) as it allows me to PAYG at the gym next door where I can try some classes without a big commitment. This should give me a chance to go when I can and try some new things.