I’ve never liked exercise. You know when people go for a 5km run and are just buzzing afterwards? Or they go to the gym and tell you how much better they feel post-sesh? I don’t get it. I never felt like that after working out. So I just resigned myself to not being an “exercise person”. Which was fine when I was in my twenties and was generally more active in day-to-day life. And of course had that wonderful metabolism where I could eat whatever I wanted and still fit into my size 10 jeans.
But lol then I hit my thirties and things weren’t quite the same.
Goodbye wonderful metabolism and hello post-baby body. I mean, sure I hit my thirties and had a baby and now my body’s different, it’s a tale as old as time right? But then I also experienced a global pandemic where I couldn’t leave the house and worked a literal 1 second commute from my bed. So my lifestyle became very much non-active.
I don’t want to focus on weight here either. Like yes, I gained weight over the last couple of years, whatever. But I also just felt like I never moved, y’know? I started feeling tired all the time and just very sluggish. And I don’t know what triggered it but I had a bit of a realisation that as a mum, I had a responsibility to be fit. Not like skinny and abs and protein shakes kind of fit. Just fit enough that I could do all the activities my kid wanted to do and if (touch wood) anything terrible happened, I could protect my daughter. That feels very dark written down but as someone with anxiety, that’s a very common thought.
So all of that combined, I figured I needed to start exercising. Now was the time.
But like I said, I bloody hate it. I just don’t understand how so many people love it. So how the hell was I going to manage to get into it?
Spoiler, I figured it out. I got through it. I started exercising and for the first time in my life have actually been pretty good at maintaining a routine. So although this is very niche indeed, I figured some of you out there might be struggling to exercise and could use some tips of how I did it. So here it is. How I went from a stationary, couch potato, slug, to the kind of person who says “Oh I have an hour free, I’ll just pop to the gym for a quick swim”. Craziness.
How To Get Into Exercise When You Actually Hate It
1) Come to terms with why you hate it.
First things first, I found it really helpful to sit and think about why I had such an aversion to exercise. Because it wasn’t just that it ~wasn’t my thing~, I felt a complete revulsion against the idea of moving my body. And one day I thought, why is that? Why am I so against something that is so good for me?
Well for me personally, I realised that the fact that I was terrible in PE in school probably counted towards it. I remember at Primary School (y’know when you’re young and do all your mental programming) I would get a perfect report, except for PE. Things would be written in there like “can’t throw or catch a ball to save her life”. And as a straight-A student who did not like to fail at things I pretty much rejected exercise as a concept. I couldn’t be great at it so it wasn’t for me.
But here’s the thing. I’m not in PE anymore. I’m not being graded for catching a ball. In fact I don’t need to go near a ball at all, there are so many different options for working out.
That’s just one example, but I urge you to have a little bit of self-reflection and try to pinpoint the first time in your life you felt like you were bad at exercising or exercising wasn’t for you. Maybe it’s PE class like me? Maybe it’s something to do with your upbringing or parents? Either way, something in your subconcious is being a git. You gotta deal with that shit as step 1.
2) Start really, really, really slow.
Ok now you’ve actually got to start. But what I’ve noticed is that “exercise people” will be super pumped about you joining the world of workouts and will want you to go to the gym 3 times a week and they’ll come too and they’ll help you with an exercise plan, etc, etc, etc. But if you’re anything like me, all that will do is put you off. It’s like when people do crash diets, it’s a shock to the system, it’s too hard and you inevitably quit.
My philosophy is to start small. Like really small. Just start moving your body, y’know? I did this with walking.
It almost sounds as though it doesn’t even count. We all walk, right? But I believe you’re getting your body into the rhythm of just MOVING. Of being generally more active without pushing yourself too much. And because it’s quite a nice activity (hello fresh air and nature), you keep it up. You keep doing a nice 30 minute walk at lunch time or after work and it feels maintainable.
(I think what you’re doing here is tricking your body into exercise, but it worked for me so be sneaky and exercise without your body knowing you’re exercising!)
3) Embrace what you like.
There are no rules with this stuff. This isn’t PE, you don’t have to do what people tell you to do. So I say lean in to what you like doing. When I told Josh I was going to start being more active, he was very excited about me downloading an app that would teach me what weights to use and how many reps to do, or something like that. But that just didn’t feel right to me. Again, it felt like jumping in at the deep end and I know that just makes me quit. So. The next step on my fitness journey… was 90s dance workouts on YouTube! (Big fan of the MadFit ones.)
I know, I know, is that even exercise? YES HUN. And they’re pretty hard too. But also very fun so I liked doing them. Again this felt like doing things my way and tricking my body into exercising by doing something fun. I also loved doing YouTube yoga classes and felt like I was actually enjoying this whole getting fit thing. It doesn’t need to be gruelling to make a difference!
If you don’t like something, don’t make yourself do it. That’s a sure fire way to get you to quit altogether.
4) Exercise around your schedule.
Have you ever heard people tell you they get up at 5am for a run and you’re just like NOPE. That’s fine. That’s not for you. But what I’m trying to point out is that we are all different and have different commitments and routines. For example, I know lots of people I work with go to the gym after work. I can’t do that. I have the mad rush to get my kid from childcare, make her dinner, bath her and put her to bed. It’s chaos. I can’t add a workout into the mix. But there are other pockets of time I can use to my advantage.
I was guilty of being one of those people who were all like “Ahhh but I just don’t have any TIME to work out”. But babes, that’s an excuse. We all have time for the things we prioritise. I have a full time job and a kid so my life is busy, but there is still time I can use for fitness (instead of Netflix). Whilst working from home I would do the YouTube workouts on my lunch break. Now that’s not gonna fly when I go back to the office, but instead I can use evenings after my daughter goes to bed, as well as weekends, taking turns with my partner.
I essentially just wanted to make a point that you need to figure out the best time for you to exercise, and also what would fit in that time bracket too. 10 minutes of a YouTube work-out before bed is better than nothing.
4) Only join a gym if you want to go.
I feel like when you get yourself into a health kick, you go through a list of all the things you’re going to do to get healthy. I know I do. I download My Fitness Pal, I get better at skincare, I take vitamins… And I join a gym. But what I hope you’re getting from this blog post so far, is that if you’re doing exercise YOUR way, you don’t necessarily need to join a gym. Of course, gyms are actually great when you find a good one, but it’s not essential.
Also, you should only pick a gym if it has what you need. I’ve definitely made this mistake before so I wanted to highlight it. My work has a scheme where gym memberships are subsidised, but only for certain gyms. So I signed up for the gym that I got at a reduced price, next door to my work. But I never enjoyed going there. I soon realised that the things I personally liked doing at the gym were swimming and yoga. And the pool was too small to really enjoy and the yoga classes were never at times I could go. It was a waste of money.
I now go to a gym near my house that has a very big swimming pool with lanes and a sauna. They do yoga classes on Saturday and Sunday mornings when I can actually go. It’s ideal. Just be sure to check these kinds of things out before you sign up.
5) Make exercise a bit of a treat.
And my last tip for enjoying exercise – bribery! Lol. This might not be everyone but I know for me personally, I need to make my pilgramage to the gym a bit of a treat to convince myself to go. So I go to an exercise class and will hit up the rowing machine maybe if I’m feeling adventurous, but then I reward myself with a coffee in the gym cafe. Now I know that can get spenny, so it’s not for every time. But if my will power feels pretty low, I try and find a way to make it worth my time.
Another alternative is to meet a friend. Although like I said above, I would only do that on your own terms. Like meet up with a pal for a walk. Or specify one of your classes. Don’t get roped into their routine!
That’s all of my wisdom for today, and now that I read it back I understand I have been basically tricking myself into exercise… But honestly, now it feels so much easier than it did. I don’t think I’ll be running a 10km any time soon, but I feel healthier and fitter and that’s really all I wanted. I can hold my own chasing after a toddler in soft play, and if you know how hard that is, I think you’ll agree I’m doing alright.
Do you have any more tips for getting into exercise when it feels like a chore? Let me know in the comments below or hit me up on my Instagram, lads.