EXACTLY What Do I Hate about Exercising?

[Vivienne]

I am often guilty of very vague and global thinking--"I hate to exercise. It makes me feel worse." While walking this week, I took an inventory of my body sensations and emotions and asked myself exactly why I hate exercising--and what I can do about it.

Do you hate exercise and fitness training? If so, does it help you to define exactly why? Do your shoes fit? Are your clothes perfectly comfortable? Are you exercising at the right level? Are you training in a place that is comfortable or uncomfortable? Are you bored?

Here are some of my answers:

1. My feet hurt. My feet hurt when I was young and when I was slender. No one knows why. Birkenstocks--before they made the footbed narrower (arrgghh)--were the best answer. Athletic shoes are the worst for me. I wear Birkies and knockoff Crocs--real Crocs are too narrow and slippery. Sometimes I change shoes in the middle of my walk so that my feet hurt in different places :)
2. My legs hurt--even though I am muscled. Gotta live with it.
3. My back really hurts. This is in part because I injured my back 10 years ago and in part because I have weak core muscles. So, I have to strengthen my abdominals and "laterals." Is that the right term? I loathe this type of exercising most of all, but I am going to have to do it in order to decrease back pain so that I can walk--and I HAVE to keep walking. I do an exercise that I call the "dead bug" while I watch TV. I cannot describe it!
4. I AM BORED TO TEARS BY EXERCISING. So, I take my mobile and call everyone I know when I exercise outside. I will watch TV or read when I "bike" at home. I WILL commit myself to finding someone to exercise with one or two days a week--or a month.
5. I have to exercise hard for over 30-45 minutes to feel a "rush." 20 minutes--nothing. I will make a commitment that any exercise is better than no exercise. 20 minutes is better than not exercising.
6. I have to exercise for months to feel any better. This was the same when I was younger and thinner. So, I have to stop looking for the reward and view it as my life-style.
7. No matter how long term I exercise, I feel no subjective improvement in my cardio-vascular condition. Again, it is my life-style if I want to be active at 70. And, I do!

[Kathy Barron]

I hate anything that I'm made to feel like I have to do. I have this ridiculous rebellious streak in me.

I've actually had to work at letting go of the rebellious streak so that I can enjoy things that I actually enjoy -- like exercising! I have always loved all kinds of sports. I love to walk and bike and swim. I hate it when I'm walking and I feel like people are judging me (thinking that I should be walking because I'm so fat or that I'm slow or whatever). The thing is: who knows what people think? (And who cares, really?) So, I mostly ignore the voice in my head that wants me to worry about that sort of thing.

I totally relate to all of the things you said, Vivienne. My feet, legs and back all hurt right now when I walk any distance. If I try to walk a mile, it'll hurt to walk across the room later. Golf season is about to start -- and I was hoping to be walking 4 miles by now without a problem so that I could walk 18 holes. I can't even walk a block without pain. In fact, my chiropractor told me not to exercise at all for a while. Let my body heal and balance out. I injured myself repeatedly when I was taking care of my Mom when she was ill. I had to lift her for transfers several times a day -- and that left my pelvis torqued, which is causing all kinds of problems.

If exercise always caused me pain, I'm not sure I would keep trying. I'm just hoping that with the myofascial release therapy and the chiropractor and adding back yoga into my routine as soon as I get the all-clear from the chiro, that I'll get to a place where it doesn't hurt. Like you, I do want to be active when I'm 70! I love to go for long walks and hikes in unusual places -- I WANT that to be an option for me! But you know what? My priorities can change in a hurry when I'm in pain -- when I'm in pain, I just want to be out of pain -- even if I can never walk distances again. We'll see how it goes.

[Krissy D]

I do not like walking. My back gets tweaked unless the surface is absolutely smooth. I annoys me how so many people act like you are supposed to like walking and like it is some great thing.

I find that I stick with exercise that is easy to do and that I like. I remember reading something Deepak Chopra said once about not pushing yourself in exercise. If you can do 50 laps, do 35. Interesting thought.

I have never felt that high everyone talks about. Sometimes I have felt some highs, but I don't think I have had the rush.

So far what I like best is yoga, water aerobics/some swimming and working out with machines/weights.

I do these very little, all but yoga are kind of a pain to get to/change/ etc.. But, I have been wanting to move more, but am not sure how to go about it.

[Kathy Barron]

Yes. Walking is no fun at all if it causes pain. If I were to be able to walk without pain ... I like walking because I get to be out in nature and that is very healing, meditative and relaxing for me. Floating is the same thing for me, but doesn't exactly qualify as exercise. ;))

Every once in a while, I get in a mood to work out with weights and have fun doing it -- but if I'm not in the mood, that feels like torture. Same with my exercise bike -- with which I have a love/hate relationship. I never force myself to do anything I don't feel like doing.

In good weather, I am nearly always delighted to go for a bike ride. And if I could get my feet/legs/back to stop hurting, I would be delighted to go for a walk (particularly a nice walkon a beautiful day ruined by following around a golf ball, :)) ).

Until very recently, I sort of had it in my mind that I would get back in shape enough to be able to play tennis -- because I love to go out and smack a ball around. That is really FUN! And I always feel happy when I'm doing it. But I also know me -- and it's like I can't control myself -- if there's a ball that I can possibly get to, I'll be going for it even if it puts my body in danger. I've blown out both of my knees on the tennis court several times. So, I'm thinking that it might be wise of me, if I manage to get to a relatively pain-free state -- to not risk it on playing tennis or any other knee-jarring sport. The older I get, the more I want to protect my joints, etc. But golf should be okay til I'm old, old, old. (I hope!)

[Vivienne]

I am back home from picking my daughter up from college and hoping to start exercising again!

It seems to be that one reason my back hurts is that I carry most of my weight in my tummy and I have weak core--abdominal and lateral--muscles. So, I am doing some back and some tummy exercises.

I usually hate all exercise and I have to exercise a long time very vigorously to feel any kind of "rush." My feet and legs almost always hurt. I have found that if I do back exercises first, my back doesn't hurt as much.

I tried modifying Krissy's suggestion from Deepak Chopra--I went on a slow motion walk! It was fun. I am also doing a little less that what I could force myself to do.

I try all kinds of variations when I walk. I do breathing exercises with and without arm movements. I move my arms in a "rowing" movement while breathing in and out. I move them up above my head and back down to my side in time to breathing in and out. I breathe very deeply in and out.

Sometimes I try "10 things" meditations: 10 things I like about myself, my husband, my daughter, life, etc.

Sometimes, I call everyone I know on my cell phone. Sometimes I make "charity" calls--to my mother-in-law or other people that I need to call but don't want to. I feel really virtuous when I return!

[William]

Hi

I like to walk in the park, the grass is more forgiving than pavement and I do not have to worry about cars when listening to my MP3 player. My biggest objection to exercise is that I simply do not have much extra time these days and I am not a "indoors exerciser"

William

[Michael Loewy]

My aversion to exercise goes back to my childhood, too. Along with the many diets my family "tried on me," my Dad thought a rigorous exercise routine would make me lose weight. As always, it did, he/I stopped, I gained the weight back, plus more. At school, the little exercise I was made to do, was focused on weight loss as well. The connection between rigorous physical activity for its own sake (as opposed to work that produces something) and being fat, weight loss, oh, and lets not forget being a muscular, masculine man--an identity I have always resisted/embraced--is very well established in my psyche. This makes exercise not only physically stressful, but extremely psychologically stressful.

As an adult, I have had many of the same aches and pains that several of you have talked about (both thin and fat) and have had the motivation to confront these demons of my childhood. I have been able to find ways to move that feel good (in water) and have healed my nerve pain in my back by strengthening the core. Still, without the pain, the old patterns return. I guess my point is that, for me, acknowledging the psychological damage done to me by "forced exercise" regimes was an important starting point in my journey to healing and loving my body after having abused it for so long.

[Vivienne]

Michael, your experiences as a child sound terrible.

I have a tendency to blame all of my discomfort on being fat and have to remind myself that my feet hurt and I had many of the same issues when I was young and thin! What the heck is that about?

I have a fantasy camp for fat kids (called "Fatasy Camp!") where children are taught to love their bodies and fully inhabit them--something fat kids do not do because they are too embarrassed to do anything uninhibitedly. I would include meditation and joyful eating. There would be lots of work with cameras, videos, mirrors--lovingly and slowly, of course.

If only I ran the world!

[Vivienne]

Conclusion: Walk in slow motion doing something that you love in a setting that you adore.

I am still convinced that I have to make exercising a routine part of my life or I am risking becoming immobilized really soon. So... I am trying everything--no matter how small--to make exercising more palatable to myself. I have exercised 30 out of the last 50 days. Reaching a point where movement is so much a part of my life that I don't have to keep a record is my goal. LOVING to exercise is also a goal.

I am turning myself into a one woman research study--a single subject research study on exercise hatred and how to learn to love it.

I walk on roads near my house that don't have sidewalks. Today I followed William's idea and I walked on the grassy sandy gravelly side of the road so that there was less impact. I usually don't like to walk in the dirt but there is a difference.

Yesterday I walked in slow motion and was never once aware of a jolting impact. Today, I walked the first 0.6 mile as fast as possible (which is about the same for me as walking slowly :) and was very conscious of the jarring impact.

Yesterday I walked in slow motion and listened to meditation tapes that I love. One of the tapes was on body awareness.

I attended very closely to my body sensations and also asked myself to assess how I felt realistically. At no point did I actually feel terrible. I had a back twinge that was tolerable. I compared the sensations that I felt to 2 things: First, I compared how I felt to childbirth labor (my gold standard of hideous suffering)--walking around my neighborhood in slow motion is a day at a spa compared to labor :) And, I compared it to refugees who have walked weeks and months in horrible weather without adequate clothing or shoes on starvation diets. Really, exercising isn't all that bad compared to that!

At the point that I would usually say to myself that I was exhausted and had to return home and would start dreading the walk uphill home (argghh, I live at the top of a small hill) I assessed how my body really felt--my body and not my mood. I really was not all that tired.

Today, I also listened to the meditation tapes and walked in slow mo after the first 0.6 mile. Yesterday--2 hours and 4 miles. Today--1hour 40 min and 3.2 mile.

So...I want to listen to these tapes so badly; I love them so much; And, I hate being in my dirty cluttered house so much that I WANT to walk for the opportunity to be alone listening to my tapes! We are just now have fairly warm sunny spring weather so I am longing to be outside.

[Vivienne]

I have gone dancing about half a dozen times lately--I loerve to dance! Ecstasy! At a wedding reception, I danced so much that my lungs burned afterward. It felt rather good. I realized that I never exercise this hard. So, I also walked the fastest I have ever walked this week (I.2 miles in 25 minutes) which makes my goal of walking 3 miles in an hour seem achievable for me.

I also watched a video of a "fat action" in a park in Canada--I cannot remember by whom or where. A group of young women ran into a public park in 2 piece swim suits and bikinis and what not and did lots of jiggly exercising. It was fantastic! My question: Some of these women were jumping rope--a lot! I cannot jump rope and haven't been able to for years and years. I WANT TO JUMP ROPE!

[Kathy Barron]

That's great Vivienne! :)) I *LOVE* that video of the girls in the park!!! I want to be able to jump rope too -- and to run freely, with excitement and happiness, no fear! I think dancing is one of the funnest things on earth! Yay for dancing! And jumping! And playing!

Vivienne said:

I have gone dancing about half a dozen times lately--I loerve to dance! Ecstasy! At a wedding reception, I danced so much that my lungs burned afterward. It felt rather good. I realized that I never exercise this hard. So, I also walked the fastest I have ever walked this week (I.2 miles in 25 minutes) which makes my goal of walking 3 miles in an hour seem achievable for me.

I also watched a video of a "fat action" in a park in Canada--I cannot remember by whom or where. A group of young women ran into a public park in 2 piece swim suits and bikinis and what not and did lots of jiggly exercising. It was fantastic! My question: Some of these women were jumping rope--a lot! I cannot jump rope and haven't been able to for years and years. I WANT TO JUMP ROPE!

[Vivienne]

My daughter and I have been walking 2.2+ miles in one hour. Acutally, she runs or jobs for 20 minutes and then walks the rest of the way with me :)

I have found a few other ideas that help.

1. It helps me to be less obsessive about "movement" (a much more pleasant term than "exercise!"). I use to only walk when I had time to change into my walking clothes and find the right shoes, had time to walk for a certain amount of time, had time to shower and change when I got back, etc.

Now, I just walk whenever I have the opportunity. My husband and daughter are late for everything so I am frequent dressed and ready to go out the door 30 mins. or more before they are ready. So, I use that time to walk.

I walk in the airport while waiting on my plane.

I walk if I have extra time at an appointment, etc.

2. Walking with my daughter or making phone calls are a tremendous help!

3. Meditating while I walk is really helpful.

I am wondering if I can meet my goal of walking 3 miles in 1 hour!?! I am making very slow progress.

[Kathy Barron]

Hi Vivienne!

I thought we weren't doing goals like speed and distance -- just listening to our bodies! ;)) Seriously, it sounds like you're doing great! Finding ways to be entertained, squeezing in walking here and there. I imagine that even with slow improvement, one day you will be walking 3 miles in an hour. And, if not, you're still walking an hour! And you're still walking 2.2 miles. That's really good!

I'd like to be able to do that without pain! I'm golfing a lot, but mostly carting. Although, we did walk 9 Friday night -- but I was in so much pain the last few holes -- everybody noticed my limping. Ugh! I've found this miracle-working bodyworker -- but he only got to work on me once, and told me to take it easy for 24 hours, but I couldn't because I was signed up already to play golf. So, he had me feeling really good -- and then I did too much and blew it. But I have confidence that he is going to get my pelvis balanced out (he said it was over 2 inches out of alignment and that it must be causing me a lot of pain -- I was like, "um, yeah". LOL) He also said that he'd never felt a woman with such tight muscles everywhere -- I was like, great, I was hoping to be your worst case ever. LOL But I'm going to be the biggest miracle ever! :))

I just bought an i-pod Nano and I'm totally loving it! I'm pretty much a dancing fool -- which is going to get better and better too as my body gets balanced out. I can already notice a big difference in range of motion. Well, that's all the news that's fit to report. Be good to you! :))


Vivienne said:

My daughter and I have been walking 2.2+ miles in one hour. Acutally, she runs or jobs for 20 minutes and then walks the rest of the way with me :)

I have found a few other ideas that help.

1. It helps me to be less obsessive about "movement" (a much more pleasant term than "exercise!"). I use to only walk when I had time to change into my walking clothes and find the right shoes, had time to walk for a certain amount of time, had time to shower and change when I got back, etc.

Now, I just walk whenever I have the opportunity. My husband and daughter are late for everything so I am frequent dressed and ready to go out the door 30 mins. or more before they are ready. So, I use that time to walk.

I walk in the airport while waiting on my plane.

I walk if I have extra time at an appointment, etc.

2. Walking with my daughter or making phone calls are a tremendous help!

3. Meditating while I walk is really helpful.

I am wondering if I can meet my goal of walking 3 miles in 1 hour!?! I am making very slow progress.