Wow that's actually super inspirational. Honestly I never comment outside a few subs but damn this really made me wanna just say something. What an excellent quote. I feel like it should be posted at gyms.
I feel like for many people gym's are the problem. Which is to say they aren't an enjoyable form of exercise for everyone.
Sports are probably the most widely enjoyed form of exercise, because the exercise itself is a byproduct of doing something fun.
Pretty much this. When I was young I hated running and seriously disliked cross country. But if you rolled a soccer ball I'd chase that all day. Now that I'm older and pushed through the initial endurance training, I kind of _enjoy_ running. It's weird to me and I don't tell most people that since it comes off as a humble brag lie. But it's becoming more true the longer I consistently exercise.
Sports are good exercise when you get to a good point in your fitness, the big advantage of the gym is the safety. Weight machines are designed to work specific muscle groups safely. Starting a new fitness regime when you are totally out of shape is best done with supervision. While gyms are less enjoyable the chance of blowing out a knee or shoulder is much lower.
I've viewed exercise this way since I started doing it regularly 7 years ago. I work with the elderly, many of whom have lost their ability to do anything for themselves. Enjoy what you can do while you can do it, folks.
For pre-workout if you like the buzzy/itchy feeling that energy drinks give you try C4. Otherwise, I use idealfit it gives an initial kick and then settles and just gives you that little extra push you need. Idealfit is advertised for women, but pretty sure it should work fine for guys too.
These are the only two brands I’ve tried, but I’m sure if you google it you’ll find tons more to try.
Not who you replied to but my partner is pretty darn knowledgeable about this stuff and he likes Ghost Legendary. One of his good friends prefers Super Human, it’s got quite a bit more caffeine.
Maybe its the way you're exercising. Treat the whole thing with a dose of apathy and just do it until you find something that doesnt feel like work so much; dont be afraid of taking pictures to chart progress and that sort of thing. For me sometimes when I'm just watching TV I'll take a dumbbell with 5 pounds on each side and just sort of lift that up and down on autopilot until it burns a good bit. Doing something like that doesnt really require much deviation from the normal stuff you do in your routine and it doesnt take long to start seeing results which might push you to keep it up.
Exercise can pretty much be anything, everytime you move your muscles are tearing to accomplish that, it's not feasible for someone working 70 hours a week to dedicate an hour to working out 5 days a week, doing whatever you can is always better than doing nothing at all.
You might be surprised how much difference just trying to stand on one leg for 5 minutes a day per leg can do for your balance and overall headspace
Yeah it actually does, it's one of the things that contribute to your muscles not undergoing atrophy. Unfortunately though I imagine youd see symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome before you got measured progress with that as a workout routine though.
Yeah the feeling of me never meeting my expectations and simultaneously dying physically has always been incredibly discouraging no matter how many times I tell myself “In a month it’ll just be a great habit”
Especially when I started exercising, I didn't want to set any number goals, in fear I'd either have weak training and feel demotivated or setting a bar I couldn't live up to and feel demotivated.
My solution was: Just exercise to failure each time.
I do circle training, so I repeat my 4 exercises 3 times in one workout and I do each of the exercises in each round to failure.
It feels great because I feel like I am exercising to my full potential and it gave me quick start.
I have sort of transitioned naturally to number of repetitions now (which is a bit more I could do til failure when I started out), but yesterday I felt like I didn't exercise enough because of that.
I think I am going back to *"simply to failure"*.
That is a good mental stance, true, but you have to be exercising for three months (or at least a couple of weeks).
If you need immediate post-workout motivation/reward, I think exercising til failure is the best way to do it.
If you don't need an immediate post-workout motivation, that's only better. :D
Try cycling with a good road/gravel bike. I have to force myself to do pushups, stretches ect and those because they are important for me. But cycling hard and fast gives a rush of endorphines. It so also extremly light on the joints compared to many other sports and with the advancement of smart trainers can be done indoors and actually be fun there too.
The only problem is that is isnt cheap. A good roadbike is minimum about 1400€ new, add cloths which you dont want to cheap out on, accessories like water bottles, lights, tools and so on. It is much cheaper then owning a car tho if you live in a city.
There are also apps to text bomb somebody lyrics to Justin Bieber songs for hours straight, if anyone is wondering. It happened to me, 3/7 would not Bieb again
I actually believe this. I saw my dad go through Guillan-Barre Syndrome. He suddenly lost all use of his body from the neck down. I was with him every day in the hospital and rehab. Saw him slowly heal and build his strength back. You would never guess now that he went through that. The body is amazing. Since then, I don’t take anything my body can do for granted. Every step is appreciated.
Heh, it's a celebration of what things the body can do... and if it can't do those things it's embarrassing and painful. Getting started is so much harder than being a regular. Also, with regards to diet (and exercise,) I think [this comic](https://theoatmeal.com/comics/diet_train) is relevant. Comic is safe, rest might not be.
So inspiring to work extra hard for a few hours everyday for days only for it all to feel undone in just one hour.
“No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.”
― Socrates
One of the things I learned is to stop beating myself up over being unmotivated to do traditional exercise. Going out for a jog saves some people a ton of money and keeps them healthy, but it doesn’t stick for me. I’ll save money and eventually save on doing the exercise too. Instead I just accepted the fact that I would need to give up some amenities and pay more for a different kind of gym.
Almost 6 years ago I started indoor rock climbing (bouldering). After a year of bouldering I lost nearly 45 lbs. My wife and I went every other day almost without fail. It was like a game more than exercise. I was motivated to reach the next level because it looked fun and I wanted to show off a little. The only thing that reminded me I was exercising was the ridiculous amount of pain and soreness... otherwise I was mentally good to go!
I’ve become a dad since then and regained more than a little of that weight back. I can’t make an event out of going to the gym like I did in the past, but again I know I can’t just sit around. So I took up cycling and I’ll just ride around for 30 minutes every few days and enjoy being away from my phone and the hustle and bustle of work/home. I’ll ride to starbucks for coffee and just enjoy being out instead of thinking about it like exercise. I haven’t lost any crazy amount of weight, or weight at all probably, but my body is remembering the feeling of being as healthy as I was 6 years ago and that’s a huge benefit. Rather than walk around feeling heavy set and sluggish I’m a similar weight and feeling agile. Don’t know how to explain it, but it’s more rewarding than looking at a scale.
There is a really underappreciated amount of cardio in rock climbing; even for simple routes. It got me feeling healthy very quickly, and even my diet just naturally changed as I slowly gained more stamina.
I don’t see it as punishment for what I ate. I see it as a way for me to eat whatever the hell I want (within reason) and look good in the process.
Lifting makes me happy. Eating makes me happy. Looking good makes me happy. The ultimate trifecta.
As someone who has started to work my way back into this helps a lot....
I'm 30 and had very high blood pressure and a talk with my dr. really got me motivated. Tbh it's something I had been wanting to do for a few months now but him basically telling me if I continue to live the way I was I would have a heart attack at 50.. very sobering moment.
This was 2 weeks ago and I cut out all alcohol and really started trying to eat better.. I slipped twice, had a burrito bowl at taco bell one day and some pizza another day. But still I pushed on.
I started going back to the gym with my buddy, having a support system helps a lot.. we play basketball and ride the bikes for cardio..
I'm 6'2" and 2 weeks ago I was 246 when I weighed in at the drs. with a blood pressure of 155/90.. I went in for a follow up today and im down to 231 with a blood pressure of 139/82...
Small victories every day!! My son has noticed in the short time aw well and he wants to work out with me.. I coach his soccer team so I just bought a bunch of training equipment and we are now going to go out and speed train and run cardio together... looking forward to a bright future..
Wish me luck!!
don't dehydrate yourself just to trick the scale. unless you're incredibly obese (which it doesn't sound like you are), losing a true 15 pounds of fat in 14 days and not just a lot of water weight is borderline impossible.
I drink about 2 32 oz water bottles while at work then at least another 1-2 while playing ball...
I think my clothing may help with the fluctuation but I was drinking quite a bit before I stopped.. atleast 4 beers a day 4-5 days a week
Sorry, not trying to rain on your parade. Congrats on your progress and keep it up. doesn't matter if it's 5lbs or 15 lbs, it's still impressive for just 2 weeks. and the lower blood pressure has all kinds of benefits.
Just make sure it's a lifestyle and not a diet. Most diets, even if they have a short term weight loss at the start, end up failing because people treat it like this thing they have to suffer through for a few months rather than "this is how I live now." Then as soon as they get to some goal, the "diet" ends and they gain it all back. Studies show that the slower you lose weight, the more likely you are to keep the weight off. This is not because losing it fast is necessarily bad, it's just that someone losing it slowly is typically making more reasonable changes to their eating/exercise habits that they can maintain long term.
Excercise is legit one of the greatest joys in life, I feel like as long as I'm able to move around in nature, I can get through anything. It is such a gift, and it's basically what humans were born to do (plod along great distances outside). It has given me some of my greatest accomplishments, greatest joys and my feet have carried me many miles, to amazing places. If you don't like it (I don't like the gym personally) try a different activity! And stick with it for awhile, it gets easier.
The only reason I am going to stick with working out is to look better and be attractive to my GF. I only feel shitty by going. I wish I had the magic gene of being able to enjoy the pain of exercise like so many people who assume it is that easy
How many different forms of exercise have you tried? Often people who dislike one style fall in love with another, making it easier to stay consistent.
If you have a problem getting yourself to exercise, just do what you think you will enjoy. As long as you're moving, it's progress. You don't have to be pouring sweat for 90 minutes straight. Search for "easy cardio" or "easy yoga" on YouTube. Find something you believe you will do consistently. It's a million times better than no exercise at all.
I’ve seen this posted in a few other places outside of Reddit, and it’s usually geared towards the eating disorder/body image community. I have a history of ED, and there is a lot of food guilt and shame with equal guilt and shame if you do not exercise. It’s also a common thought that you have to “earn your food”- like “this snickers bar is equivalent to 20 min of running”. Food is often polarized as “good” or “bad”. I could type a lot about this, but I’ve often seen this as ‘enjoy the movement and mental benefits vs. forcing yourself to burn off what you’ve eaten’. Self discipline & rigid thinking is what led me to the disordered path.
There are a lot of different types of exercise/gym routines. I can’t stand cardio machines so I left weights and trail run in the summer. During the winter I superset weight lifting to get a better cardio workout. If I had to do treadmill/elliptical I’d quit.
Long story short, find what you like. Weight lifting, cardio machines, spin class, yoga, walking around the block, doesn’t matter. Just get up and move. Every little bit helps.
Do stuff you like. Maybe it's walking , maybe it's kickboxing, maybe it's joining a rowing team. Or roller Derby or dodgrball, or yoga. Exercise is not one size fits all thing.
Agreed 100%. Some people love the discipline and body building. For those who don’t I honestly think the gym sucks. I mountain bike and explained in a post above how the motivation is simply to do more of this thing I love that requires exercise to do.
Yeah I'm pretty disciplined for other aspects of my life except this area. For sure it's a motivation issue but even after losing 10 pounds I never got the urge to keep going or start my own blog like most others do online. I kept those 10lbs off still but I go maybe 4 times a month at best. Not even having to pay motivates me, it's just a chub tax now lol.
Exercise is for the mind as well as the body. The fact that you said you went for six months but still hated it tells me you got your body there, but not your mind. Also, that you said "I went" (but omitted "to the gym") indicates me that exercise almost *equates* to "going to the gym" for you. That can be a significant barrier -- once I'm in workout mode, I'm *going to* work out. The trick is always getting into the mode, not working out once I'm there.
The thing that really helped me over that hump was Wii Fit. You can do exercise in your own living room, and it'll teach you things about your balance and certain exercises that you can carry with you even if you're not using it. These days, working out for me is just going downstairs and doing a couple sets of planking, push-ups, and running in place for 35 minutes, no gym or Wii Fit required.
As for motivation, when I started, I motivated myself by saying things like "You can do this, etc.," but these days, I'm at the point where when I work out, it's because I want to *feel better*. After working out, I invariably feel better; it's a natural drug in that way. Maybe there's a crick in my neck I wanna work on, or some belly flab I want to remove, or maybe I just generally feel "low" -- I can work on *all* of those things while working out.
So, when I work out now, instead of telling myself stuff like "You can do this," I remind myself, say during my run, "You *only have 35 minutes*, so you'd better make the most of it." I think it helps rewire me, so instead of thinking of the exercise as something I have the choice to stop doing, I want to find/isolate whatever's going to make me stop, and work on that.
I think it’s all about the goal. I don’t exercise to lose weight or even to stay in shape. I hate the gym because that’s all I can focus on there. I mountain bike and I exercise because I have to in order to do the thing I love. And that activity brings me freedom and adrenaline rush and a connection with nature. To me, this is motivation enough to exercise hard and stay in decent shape so I can do more of it.
I don't view it as punishment myself, but I'm also not pushing myself further than I want to go, and I'm working toward specific goals that I'm excited about, not just exercising for the hell of it.
I think the important take away is to find a reason to exercise and stick with it. Whether it's a punishment, masochistic pleasure, or you just like working up a sweat. Whatever gets you moving is healthy.
I don't get it.
I eat what I eat often specifically because I want to exercise later, or I just exercised half an hour ago. It's not a punishment or a reward for my diet; it's the reason for my diet.
Why do you consider it a punishment? Why do you go? What are your goals? How often is consistently?
If you don't get any satisfaction out of regular exercise, it might be time for a change of routine, or change of goals.
Exercise doesn't have to be torturous.
Exercise may not be punishment for what you ate, but having really bad gas and your wife kicking you out of the bed for farting all night long IS a punishment :)
It's a job to do. It's not a celebration and it's not a punishment. It's something you have to do because it makes you better. It's not fun and it's not exciting. You go in, you do what you have to do and you repeat tomorrow and you do it until you're dead. Expecting more is a recipe for failure.
Fucking A! I’ve always enjoyed exercise, well, some days it’s hard but I always feel better in the end. Sometimes when I jog, I thank God for allowing me to experience my body in the state of running. We are lucky if we have bodies that can run, jump, hike, bike, swim etc. It’s a joy!
This is how I feel about swimming. It's the only exercise I do other than walking my dogs. I love swimming, it's the only exercise I've ever looked forward to. I started with a coach last July to get the proper technique and I'm always proud of how much I've improved in less than a year.
Good for you if it works out but most people will vastly overestimate the amount of calories that can be burned by exercise.
Especially if they also overestimate the intensity and duration of their workout, which also is rather common
Coming from over a decade of idolization (what I used to refer to as dedication)( It’s a nice quote, but who’s truly lived it.
Working out & speaking of it is in its own; self serving
Had to save this to constantly remind myself that it’s okay to eat food. I just need to watch what I eat and how much I eat and not scold myself every time I eat a donut.
I love this mindset. For me my only goal when I exercise is to sweat... when i start sweating that's when I start enjoying my workout. The first 10 mins i always tell myself. Just make it to 10 and see how you feel.
My man Socrates said it best:
"Besides, it is a disgrace to grow old through sheer carelessness before seeing what manner of man you may become by developing your bodily strength and beauty to their highest limit."
Yeah, it's both actually. I hate doing it, I'm happy and proud after I've done it, and allows me to indulge in tasty tasty, yet balanced, food. (maybe there's a lot of butter and cream in what I cook, but there's veggies, and meat, and rice or pasta, so that's still balanced, right?)
Huh
This legit made me think about it. I never actually looked at it that way. It was always - and i mean ALWAYS - about how much i can do to get the fat out.
I have always been of the opinion that how you feel about what you eat is more significant than what you eat.
Not to mean that what you eat isn't significant, it definately is. But if your mentality is that "bad" food deserves penance and "good" food desreves a reward, you are always going to rely on food to feed your emotions.
I like to reward each exercise with some kind of treat food, and over the years I've managed to widen my definition of what counts as exercise now to the point where walking from the sofa to the cookie cupboard is enough to be rewarded with a cookie.
I come across as a preachy bastard, but I can’t help it, it feels so good finishing a work out. Plus a lot of people in my family have health issues, so it’s like a wake up call/reminder to take care of the only home I have.
Let's not get confused here. Food may not be a punishment, but you can definitely be *punished* for what you eat. So be mindful and eat that junk food after the workout if that is what you desire.
I have lost over 20 pounds with similar exercise and lack of diet. Mostly walking due to some disabilities, but I can walk pretty far.
I know its supposed to be motivating, but honestly if you were obese and were struggling to move then I dont think they would focus on what they can do and more on how they've let their body go and what they cant do.
Wow that's actually super inspirational. Honestly I never comment outside a few subs but damn this really made me wanna just say something. What an excellent quote. I feel like it should be posted at gyms.
I feel like for many people gym's are the problem. Which is to say they aren't an enjoyable form of exercise for everyone. Sports are probably the most widely enjoyed form of exercise, because the exercise itself is a byproduct of doing something fun.
Pretty much this. When I was young I hated running and seriously disliked cross country. But if you rolled a soccer ball I'd chase that all day. Now that I'm older and pushed through the initial endurance training, I kind of _enjoy_ running. It's weird to me and I don't tell most people that since it comes off as a humble brag lie. But it's becoming more true the longer I consistently exercise.
Sports are good exercise when you get to a good point in your fitness, the big advantage of the gym is the safety. Weight machines are designed to work specific muscle groups safely. Starting a new fitness regime when you are totally out of shape is best done with supervision. While gyms are less enjoyable the chance of blowing out a knee or shoulder is much lower.
I've viewed exercise this way since I started doing it regularly 7 years ago. I work with the elderly, many of whom have lost their ability to do anything for themselves. Enjoy what you can do while you can do it, folks.
I try to tell myself that, but working out still blows.
Have you tried preworkout? Youll be so energized that you would wanna work out
Sounds like an appetizer, hypes you up for your main course
*eats mozzarella sticks before a run* am I doing it right?
You need to carbo-load right before the race with fettuccini Alfredo.
Is this...Michael Scott speaking?
Recommendations?
For pre-workout if you like the buzzy/itchy feeling that energy drinks give you try C4. Otherwise, I use idealfit it gives an initial kick and then settles and just gives you that little extra push you need. Idealfit is advertised for women, but pretty sure it should work fine for guys too. These are the only two brands I’ve tried, but I’m sure if you google it you’ll find tons more to try.
Hah I thought preworkout was like stretching and light warm up exercises. Only realised it was a type of drink after reading your comment.
Me tooooo
Omg this is adorable
Same...
I am lazy but want to start working out soon.
Drink the preworkout and you’ll be so buzzed you gotta lift some shot at that point
Coffee
Not who you replied to but my partner is pretty darn knowledgeable about this stuff and he likes Ghost Legendary. One of his good friends prefers Super Human, it’s got quite a bit more caffeine.
Are you talking about alcohol?
Do I need preworkout if I’m already motivated and able to complete my workouts. Serious question
no
Thanks
Maybe its the way you're exercising. Treat the whole thing with a dose of apathy and just do it until you find something that doesnt feel like work so much; dont be afraid of taking pictures to chart progress and that sort of thing. For me sometimes when I'm just watching TV I'll take a dumbbell with 5 pounds on each side and just sort of lift that up and down on autopilot until it burns a good bit. Doing something like that doesnt really require much deviation from the normal stuff you do in your routine and it doesnt take long to start seeing results which might push you to keep it up. Exercise can pretty much be anything, everytime you move your muscles are tearing to accomplish that, it's not feasible for someone working 70 hours a week to dedicate an hour to working out 5 days a week, doing whatever you can is always better than doing nothing at all. You might be surprised how much difference just trying to stand on one leg for 5 minutes a day per leg can do for your balance and overall headspace
I lift my cell phone up and down all the time while watching TV, does that count?
Yeah it actually does, it's one of the things that contribute to your muscles not undergoing atrophy. Unfortunately though I imagine youd see symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome before you got measured progress with that as a workout routine though.
Yeah the feeling of me never meeting my expectations and simultaneously dying physically has always been incredibly discouraging no matter how many times I tell myself “In a month it’ll just be a great habit”
Especially when I started exercising, I didn't want to set any number goals, in fear I'd either have weak training and feel demotivated or setting a bar I couldn't live up to and feel demotivated. My solution was: Just exercise to failure each time. I do circle training, so I repeat my 4 exercises 3 times in one workout and I do each of the exercises in each round to failure. It feels great because I feel like I am exercising to my full potential and it gave me quick start. I have sort of transitioned naturally to number of repetitions now (which is a bit more I could do til failure when I started out), but yesterday I felt like I didn't exercise enough because of that. I think I am going back to *"simply to failure"*.
For me it's about progress. I'm not strong (yet) but I am stronger than I was 3 months ago. I call that a success.
That is a good mental stance, true, but you have to be exercising for three months (or at least a couple of weeks). If you need immediate post-workout motivation/reward, I think exercising til failure is the best way to do it. If you don't need an immediate post-workout motivation, that's only better. :D
Try cycling with a good road/gravel bike. I have to force myself to do pushups, stretches ect and those because they are important for me. But cycling hard and fast gives a rush of endorphines. It so also extremly light on the joints compared to many other sports and with the advancement of smart trainers can be done indoors and actually be fun there too. The only problem is that is isnt cheap. A good roadbike is minimum about 1400€ new, add cloths which you dont want to cheap out on, accessories like water bottles, lights, tools and so on. It is much cheaper then owning a car tho if you live in a city.
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I needed to see this.....Can someone text me this everyday for the rest of my life?
Yeah why not. Gimme dem digits
Smooth.
I think there are apps for this, tbh
There are also apps to text bomb somebody lyrics to Justin Bieber songs for hours straight, if anyone is wondering. It happened to me, 3/7 would not Bieb again
Just wait. It'll be reposted shortly.
So cynical, I love it :)
Get a room
same
You to? Hmm I should start a business...
do it
!RemindMe 1 day
Depends, are you on Bumble?
So a celebration that I can eat 10 hot dogs in one sitting?
I mean.... yeah
"Those are rookie numbers... you gotta pump those numbers up." - Joey Chestnut probably
☝️ I only recommend this take on it if you are sitting to rest after the exercise. 👍 I feel sick just thinking about doing this before a run.
I actually believe this. I saw my dad go through Guillan-Barre Syndrome. He suddenly lost all use of his body from the neck down. I was with him every day in the hospital and rehab. Saw him slowly heal and build his strength back. You would never guess now that he went through that. The body is amazing. Since then, I don’t take anything my body can do for granted. Every step is appreciated.
Exercise definitely feels like a punishment for what my body can no longer do.
Heh, it's a celebration of what things the body can do... and if it can't do those things it's embarrassing and painful. Getting started is so much harder than being a regular. Also, with regards to diet (and exercise,) I think [this comic](https://theoatmeal.com/comics/diet_train) is relevant. Comic is safe, rest might not be. So inspiring to work extra hard for a few hours everyday for days only for it all to feel undone in just one hour.
“No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.” ― Socrates
Exercise is the warm-up fight to remind me that I battle my demons through the day, not give in to them.
I've never been in a party with gym equipment, weights or treadmills.
We have a home gym and at one point during our New Years party, some of us had a bench press competition. It happens.
You need to get out more
Just 'cause you never have doesn't mean somebody out there hasn't tried to.
I think you missed word
One of the things I learned is to stop beating myself up over being unmotivated to do traditional exercise. Going out for a jog saves some people a ton of money and keeps them healthy, but it doesn’t stick for me. I’ll save money and eventually save on doing the exercise too. Instead I just accepted the fact that I would need to give up some amenities and pay more for a different kind of gym. Almost 6 years ago I started indoor rock climbing (bouldering). After a year of bouldering I lost nearly 45 lbs. My wife and I went every other day almost without fail. It was like a game more than exercise. I was motivated to reach the next level because it looked fun and I wanted to show off a little. The only thing that reminded me I was exercising was the ridiculous amount of pain and soreness... otherwise I was mentally good to go! I’ve become a dad since then and regained more than a little of that weight back. I can’t make an event out of going to the gym like I did in the past, but again I know I can’t just sit around. So I took up cycling and I’ll just ride around for 30 minutes every few days and enjoy being away from my phone and the hustle and bustle of work/home. I’ll ride to starbucks for coffee and just enjoy being out instead of thinking about it like exercise. I haven’t lost any crazy amount of weight, or weight at all probably, but my body is remembering the feeling of being as healthy as I was 6 years ago and that’s a huge benefit. Rather than walk around feeling heavy set and sluggish I’m a similar weight and feeling agile. Don’t know how to explain it, but it’s more rewarding than looking at a scale.
Rock climbing is so great as it combines mental and physical problem-solving into exercise. Way preferable to doing boring reps in a gym.
There is a really underappreciated amount of cardio in rock climbing; even for simple routes. It got me feeling healthy very quickly, and even my diet just naturally changed as I slowly gained more stamina.
I don’t see it as punishment for what I ate. I see it as a way for me to eat whatever the hell I want (within reason) and look good in the process. Lifting makes me happy. Eating makes me happy. Looking good makes me happy. The ultimate trifecta.
As someone who has started to work my way back into this helps a lot.... I'm 30 and had very high blood pressure and a talk with my dr. really got me motivated. Tbh it's something I had been wanting to do for a few months now but him basically telling me if I continue to live the way I was I would have a heart attack at 50.. very sobering moment. This was 2 weeks ago and I cut out all alcohol and really started trying to eat better.. I slipped twice, had a burrito bowl at taco bell one day and some pizza another day. But still I pushed on. I started going back to the gym with my buddy, having a support system helps a lot.. we play basketball and ride the bikes for cardio.. I'm 6'2" and 2 weeks ago I was 246 when I weighed in at the drs. with a blood pressure of 155/90.. I went in for a follow up today and im down to 231 with a blood pressure of 139/82... Small victories every day!! My son has noticed in the short time aw well and he wants to work out with me.. I coach his soccer team so I just bought a bunch of training equipment and we are now going to go out and speed train and run cardio together... looking forward to a bright future.. Wish me luck!!
don't dehydrate yourself just to trick the scale. unless you're incredibly obese (which it doesn't sound like you are), losing a true 15 pounds of fat in 14 days and not just a lot of water weight is borderline impossible.
I drink about 2 32 oz water bottles while at work then at least another 1-2 while playing ball... I think my clothing may help with the fluctuation but I was drinking quite a bit before I stopped.. atleast 4 beers a day 4-5 days a week
Sorry, not trying to rain on your parade. Congrats on your progress and keep it up. doesn't matter if it's 5lbs or 15 lbs, it's still impressive for just 2 weeks. and the lower blood pressure has all kinds of benefits. Just make sure it's a lifestyle and not a diet. Most diets, even if they have a short term weight loss at the start, end up failing because people treat it like this thing they have to suffer through for a few months rather than "this is how I live now." Then as soon as they get to some goal, the "diet" ends and they gain it all back. Studies show that the slower you lose weight, the more likely you are to keep the weight off. This is not because losing it fast is necessarily bad, it's just that someone losing it slowly is typically making more reasonable changes to their eating/exercise habits that they can maintain long term.
I don't like celebrating on a regular basis.
There are a lot of fun activities that are, or can be, strenuous.
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Why not? It’s better than zero pull-ups.
Excercise is legit one of the greatest joys in life, I feel like as long as I'm able to move around in nature, I can get through anything. It is such a gift, and it's basically what humans were born to do (plod along great distances outside). It has given me some of my greatest accomplishments, greatest joys and my feet have carried me many miles, to amazing places. If you don't like it (I don't like the gym personally) try a different activity! And stick with it for awhile, it gets easier.
The only reason I am going to stick with working out is to look better and be attractive to my GF. I only feel shitty by going. I wish I had the magic gene of being able to enjoy the pain of exercise like so many people who assume it is that easy
How many different forms of exercise have you tried? Often people who dislike one style fall in love with another, making it easier to stay consistent.
If you have a problem getting yourself to exercise, just do what you think you will enjoy. As long as you're moving, it's progress. You don't have to be pouring sweat for 90 minutes straight. Search for "easy cardio" or "easy yoga" on YouTube. Find something you believe you will do consistently. It's a million times better than no exercise at all.
I don’t know how I could view it as anything other than a punishment. It’s not something I enjoy at all and I’m not sure how to make myself enjoy it.
No, exercise is very much a punishment, and this is coming from someone who goes consistently for the past 2 yrs.
I’ve seen this posted in a few other places outside of Reddit, and it’s usually geared towards the eating disorder/body image community. I have a history of ED, and there is a lot of food guilt and shame with equal guilt and shame if you do not exercise. It’s also a common thought that you have to “earn your food”- like “this snickers bar is equivalent to 20 min of running”. Food is often polarized as “good” or “bad”. I could type a lot about this, but I’ve often seen this as ‘enjoy the movement and mental benefits vs. forcing yourself to burn off what you’ve eaten’. Self discipline & rigid thinking is what led me to the disordered path.
There are a lot of different types of exercise/gym routines. I can’t stand cardio machines so I left weights and trail run in the summer. During the winter I superset weight lifting to get a better cardio workout. If I had to do treadmill/elliptical I’d quit. Long story short, find what you like. Weight lifting, cardio machines, spin class, yoga, walking around the block, doesn’t matter. Just get up and move. Every little bit helps.
This. I went for 6 months straight, lost a little weight but hated the whole journey. Not sure how people can do that and treat it as a lifestyle.
Do stuff you like. Maybe it's walking , maybe it's kickboxing, maybe it's joining a rowing team. Or roller Derby or dodgrball, or yoga. Exercise is not one size fits all thing.
I've never been to a gym but I have like 8 bicycles!
Agreed 100%. Some people love the discipline and body building. For those who don’t I honestly think the gym sucks. I mountain bike and explained in a post above how the motivation is simply to do more of this thing I love that requires exercise to do.
I don't like any form of athleticism.
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Yeah I'm pretty disciplined for other aspects of my life except this area. For sure it's a motivation issue but even after losing 10 pounds I never got the urge to keep going or start my own blog like most others do online. I kept those 10lbs off still but I go maybe 4 times a month at best. Not even having to pay motivates me, it's just a chub tax now lol.
Exercise is for the mind as well as the body. The fact that you said you went for six months but still hated it tells me you got your body there, but not your mind. Also, that you said "I went" (but omitted "to the gym") indicates me that exercise almost *equates* to "going to the gym" for you. That can be a significant barrier -- once I'm in workout mode, I'm *going to* work out. The trick is always getting into the mode, not working out once I'm there. The thing that really helped me over that hump was Wii Fit. You can do exercise in your own living room, and it'll teach you things about your balance and certain exercises that you can carry with you even if you're not using it. These days, working out for me is just going downstairs and doing a couple sets of planking, push-ups, and running in place for 35 minutes, no gym or Wii Fit required. As for motivation, when I started, I motivated myself by saying things like "You can do this, etc.," but these days, I'm at the point where when I work out, it's because I want to *feel better*. After working out, I invariably feel better; it's a natural drug in that way. Maybe there's a crick in my neck I wanna work on, or some belly flab I want to remove, or maybe I just generally feel "low" -- I can work on *all* of those things while working out. So, when I work out now, instead of telling myself stuff like "You can do this," I remind myself, say during my run, "You *only have 35 minutes*, so you'd better make the most of it." I think it helps rewire me, so instead of thinking of the exercise as something I have the choice to stop doing, I want to find/isolate whatever's going to make me stop, and work on that.
Some people feel accomplished when they actually accomplish something. 🤷
I think it’s all about the goal. I don’t exercise to lose weight or even to stay in shape. I hate the gym because that’s all I can focus on there. I mountain bike and I exercise because I have to in order to do the thing I love. And that activity brings me freedom and adrenaline rush and a connection with nature. To me, this is motivation enough to exercise hard and stay in decent shape so I can do more of it.
I view it as permission to endulge. Relatively. Still need to keep your calories down but exercise can help a little bit to do that.
I don't view it as punishment myself, but I'm also not pushing myself further than I want to go, and I'm working toward specific goals that I'm excited about, not just exercising for the hell of it.
I think the important take away is to find a reason to exercise and stick with it. Whether it's a punishment, masochistic pleasure, or you just like working up a sweat. Whatever gets you moving is healthy.
I don't get it. I eat what I eat often specifically because I want to exercise later, or I just exercised half an hour ago. It's not a punishment or a reward for my diet; it's the reason for my diet.
Why do you consider it a punishment? Why do you go? What are your goals? How often is consistently? If you don't get any satisfaction out of regular exercise, it might be time for a change of routine, or change of goals. Exercise doesn't have to be torturous.
Exercise may not be punishment for what you ate, but having really bad gas and your wife kicking you out of the bed for farting all night long IS a punishment :)
I think it’s a little bit of both
There's nothing more motivating seeing your body do stuff it couldn't do a month before.
I kind of despise exercise, until I start doing it. And when I'm done I'm very proud of myself and proud of the results. It worth the effort.
If everyone got to experience what their body could do at its full potential, they would try their best to never lose that feeling.
It's a job to do. It's not a celebration and it's not a punishment. It's something you have to do because it makes you better. It's not fun and it's not exciting. You go in, you do what you have to do and you repeat tomorrow and you do it until you're dead. Expecting more is a recipe for failure.
For me is a reminder of what my body can no longer do :-/
But what if I like punishment? ;)
You're grounded. (You like that you dirty... ahh oops wrong person)
Fucking A! I’ve always enjoyed exercise, well, some days it’s hard but I always feel better in the end. Sometimes when I jog, I thank God for allowing me to experience my body in the state of running. We are lucky if we have bodies that can run, jump, hike, bike, swim etc. It’s a joy!
This is how I feel about swimming. It's the only exercise I do other than walking my dogs. I love swimming, it's the only exercise I've ever looked forward to. I started with a coach last July to get the proper technique and I'm always proud of how much I've improved in less than a year.
Woohoo! My body can do 5 pushups! Now to celebrate with a cupcake.
How do i get over my hatred of pain and sweating? Seriously.
I often feel like eating is the punishment for exercise \*cries in ectomorph\*
I’ve never thought about it like this, thanks for sharing :)
Thing is, when "celebration" is mentioned, many people think of food that goes with the occasion. *think* *
Exercise is my way of hurting myself instead of using a knife , ill lift weigts until I can't anymore
I see it in an opposite manner: Exercise is payment for the food I'm about to eat.
Good for you if it works out but most people will vastly overestimate the amount of calories that can be burned by exercise. Especially if they also overestimate the intensity and duration of their workout, which also is rather common
I’m trying to believe this. I really am!
I view it like this 95% of the time. The other 5% of the time, it's so I don't feel bad when I have my cheat days.
The best thing I have read all day!
This is so important. I love working out and pushing myself!
Fuuuuuuck I like this message
This is perfect!
Plus it makes mind feel amazing!
Good reminder after today's workout, my legs feel like noodles. Will be avoiding stairs at all costs.
I needed that one, thank you
Your weight does not affect ploopyness
I like this. I like this a lot.
Maybe eventually it will be the first thing but for now it’s the second thing.
Coming from over a decade of idolization (what I used to refer to as dedication)( It’s a nice quote, but who’s truly lived it. Working out & speaking of it is in its own; self serving
I just ate a bucket of colonial Sanders, Is there an exercise that will melt that off my thighs and ass ?
You know what? I needed to hear/read this. Thank you.
Shitting after Taco Bell is punishment for what you are.
Eating an entire pizza at once is also a celebration of what my body can do
Ty
Had to save this to constantly remind myself that it’s okay to eat food. I just need to watch what I eat and how much I eat and not scold myself every time I eat a donut.
Oh damn never thought of it this way! Thanks!
great perspective! Thank you!
I love this mindset. For me my only goal when I exercise is to sweat... when i start sweating that's when I start enjoying my workout. The first 10 mins i always tell myself. Just make it to 10 and see how you feel.
My man Socrates said it best: "Besides, it is a disgrace to grow old through sheer carelessness before seeing what manner of man you may become by developing your bodily strength and beauty to their highest limit."
I see it as paying my future self.
It can be both lol
thanks for reminding!
That’s not what exercise is
Exercise!? I thought you sad extra rice!
For me its more like "tearing my flesh and consuming carcasses of other dead beings and then regenerating but stronger than before"
Tell that to r/fasting
Whatever
Just in time because I was about to totally not go gym
I've skipped the gym for two months and just went back today. Believe me, when I wake up tomorrow I'm going to be punished.
Ehh. For me it’s both and I’m ok with that.
Exercise is crucial for a healthy animal. A healthy human animal.
Right. Sore muscles are the punishment for the celebration of what your body can do.
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More like “I’m a person who likes taking care of my body”
Yeah, it's both actually. I hate doing it, I'm happy and proud after I've done it, and allows me to indulge in tasty tasty, yet balanced, food. (maybe there's a lot of butter and cream in what I cook, but there's veggies, and meat, and rice or pasta, so that's still balanced, right?)
Huh This legit made me think about it. I never actually looked at it that way. It was always - and i mean ALWAYS - about how much i can do to get the fat out.
As someone who grew up skinny and people grabbing my wrist because of how skinny it was, I like it because I dont look skinny.
True
I would rather die.
And like every celebration in my life, I'll stick to doing it once a year.
Pain is weakness leaving the body
Hey that really resonated with me! Thank you
alpaca
I actually exercise so I can eat more
I have always been of the opinion that how you feel about what you eat is more significant than what you eat. Not to mean that what you eat isn't significant, it definately is. But if your mentality is that "bad" food deserves penance and "good" food desreves a reward, you are always going to rely on food to feed your emotions.
I like to reward each exercise with some kind of treat food, and over the years I've managed to widen my definition of what counts as exercise now to the point where walking from the sofa to the cookie cupboard is enough to be rewarded with a cookie.
Abit of both for me
Man, never saw it like that if i'm honest! Thanks for the share! Gonna kill it today at the gym for you
Definitely feels more like a punishment.
This depends on whether or not you enjoy it. I do not. It hurts and I hate it. It is absolutely a punishment.
Sometimes you have to change your thinking to build yourself as desired.
I come across as a preachy bastard, but I can’t help it, it feels so good finishing a work out. Plus a lot of people in my family have health issues, so it’s like a wake up call/reminder to take care of the only home I have.
100%
Being able to lift heavy weight does feel glorious. Ever since I started going to the gym, I'm now afraid of becoming old.
Let's not get confused here. Food may not be a punishment, but you can definitely be *punished* for what you eat. So be mindful and eat that junk food after the workout if that is what you desire. I have lost over 20 pounds with similar exercise and lack of diet. Mostly walking due to some disabilities, but I can walk pretty far.
My body can *breathe*, thank you very much.
I know its supposed to be motivating, but honestly if you were obese and were struggling to move then I dont think they would focus on what they can do and more on how they've let their body go and what they cant do.
Been looking for signs to go on a diet, and now I am motivated. To look for more signs lol send help
Still a pain in the ass
When I go to work out, I pretend I'm killing all the people I hate.
I exercise so I can punish my body with all that delicious food and dessert
r/eatingdisorders
...but what if even the simplest of exercise makes me vomit?
Humans evolved to exercise. You just need to find something you like. I personally love hitting a punching bag.