The Habitual Gym Quitter
After reading wholemom's post "What motivates you to exercise" in the new Fit Group, I began to think more about the importance of exercise in my personal life. I have to be honest and say that I have always been somewhat of an inconsistent, or "fad" exerciser my entire life. Recently I've started to ask myself, am I always going to be like this? Will there ever come a day when working out actually becomes a routine, and habit in my busy life?
Looking back at my "workout regime", I begin to notice somewhat of an embaressing trend. Things would all start when a new gym would open up in my town. I would join it (to see what all the hype was about of course), work out for a month or two, and then slowly stop going until I eventually cancelled my membership. At each gym that I joined, I found that one the biggest hurdles I faced with exercising was actually getting there! A great quote in one exercising article I read said that "80% of success is showing up". Isn't that the truth. All of these years I have never had a problem with the actual "working out" part, but instead with just motivating myself to get there. It's incredible how many excuses I would come up with to justify, and alleviate the guilt for not working out. Some of my most common excuses would be, "How can I work out when it's raining?", or "The gym will be too crowded at this time of day", or the best one, "My favorite movie is on TV" (when I owned the movie on DVD).
Finding motivation for getting to the gym is a challenge many of us face everyday. After exploring a few articles online I was able to find some great tips for exercise motivation. Here are just a few tips that I found to be helpful:
1. Choose a workout you enjoy
2. Find an exercise partner or support group
3. Plan out in advance where and when you will exercise, and have a backup plan if those fall through
4. Keep an exercise log
5. Reward yourself
Although I do admit working out continues to be an upward battle for me, I feel like these tips can help make things just a little bit easier. Working out is a choice you make with yourself. A choice to live a healthier life.
Be sure to check out our newest group, the Fit Group where members can get and give inspiration to work out! We look forward to seeing you there!
Looking back at my "workout regime", I begin to notice somewhat of an embaressing trend. Things would all start when a new gym would open up in my town. I would join it (to see what all the hype was about of course), work out for a month or two, and then slowly stop going until I eventually cancelled my membership. At each gym that I joined, I found that one the biggest hurdles I faced with exercising was actually getting there! A great quote in one exercising article I read said that "80% of success is showing up". Isn't that the truth. All of these years I have never had a problem with the actual "working out" part, but instead with just motivating myself to get there. It's incredible how many excuses I would come up with to justify, and alleviate the guilt for not working out. Some of my most common excuses would be, "How can I work out when it's raining?", or "The gym will be too crowded at this time of day", or the best one, "My favorite movie is on TV" (when I owned the movie on DVD).
Finding motivation for getting to the gym is a challenge many of us face everyday. After exploring a few articles online I was able to find some great tips for exercise motivation. Here are just a few tips that I found to be helpful:
1. Choose a workout you enjoy
2. Find an exercise partner or support group
3. Plan out in advance where and when you will exercise, and have a backup plan if those fall through
4. Keep an exercise log
5. Reward yourself
Although I do admit working out continues to be an upward battle for me, I feel like these tips can help make things just a little bit easier. Working out is a choice you make with yourself. A choice to live a healthier life.
Be sure to check out our newest group, the Fit Group where members can get and give inspiration to work out! We look forward to seeing you there!
Tags: exercise, fit, fitness, group, motivation
Add a Comment
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Comment by Sarah on February 12, 2009 at 4:36pm -
I, too, am a habitual exercise quitter! I exercise until I don't need to (lost the weight, fit into those pants, work isn't competing anymore) and then I don't. I used to run long distance ... like 70+ miles a week ... and then my junior year of college started (this was back in 03) and I haven't run more than 3 or 4 miles at a time since then.
Lately, though, even though my pants are fitting a-okay (yay!) I've been feeling the exercise bug. I brought my gear to work today and plan on heading downstairs to work out ... because otherwise I have to tell Janeen and Shannan that I didn't. LOL They're keeping me motivated because I don't want to have to tell them!
Marie - your mom is crazy, totally crazy. EIGHT minutes? I lasted all of 30 seconds the last plank I did. I hate those things, too.
Janeen - I love lunges and squats! I do those in my living room while watching television! I still am jealous of your Wii Fit setup though. Hula hoop for me, kay?
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Comment by Janeen on February 11, 2009 at 3:03pm - 8 minutes! I did 1 min 30 sec and was swearing that that virtual trainer on the Wii. I need to get me some Bon Jovi....
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Comment by Marie on February 11, 2009 at 2:43pm -
Janeen, I had to comment because I too, hate the plank.
Also because I have a ridiculous story about the plank. My mother can do the plank for over eight minutes. Yeah, sometimes I wonder if we're really related.
She says her trick is listening to Bon Jovi. I'm not sure that would really help me...
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Comment by Janeen on February 11, 2009 at 2:37pm
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I hate, hate, hate exercise! I am not one of those people that love it and I avoided it completely until my 30's (although I do admit to doing the Jane Fonda aerobics tapes in the 80's). Now if I don't exercise, the pounds creep on and I'm in trouble. I'm rarely motivated to exercise, but sometimes I exercise more than others. We have a treadmill and elliptical in the basement, but there is no TV down there so it is REALLY boring. We have the Wii Fit and I like doing it, but because I like doing it I'm afraid it's not "optimum" exercise. I have numerous exercise DVD's (from Leslie Sansone, Gilad, Yoga, etc) and I do those but I get bored with them. But I try to pick SOMETHING 3-4 days a week (I try 4-5 but usually 4 days is all I end up doing).
I ran out of time to do much today so I did the Wii Fit and picked a few things that I absolutely hate to do like ab work (like the plank pose) and lunges (HATE those) and tried to work areas that I usually try to avoid so I may not have worked out long, but I felt productive.
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Comment by Marie on February 11, 2009 at 2:15pm
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Hmm, I accidentally deleted the first part of my comment, but I see now that Shannan and Ellen have made very similar points! I know it sounds cliche, but I think the best kind of exercise is the exercise you actually do.
When I was having problems with my hip, it was really hard to work out, for *so* many reasons. I didn't know if I was going to make things worse, I didn't have any energy because I was just trying to function while being in pain, and I felt like if I went to the gym and didn't do cardio, it didn't really count.
Once I started going to physical therapy, I had a bunch of stretches I had to do every day, so I would just go to the gym and do my stretches and exercises. That was really what got be back in the habit of going to the gym on a regular basis again!
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Comment by Marie on February 11, 2009 at 2:03pm
- As far as the motivation to get to your work out, that can be just as tricky. My own tip is to find a gym that offers classes. Go to a few, find one or two that you like and that fit in with your schedule. Classes are great because you can't put them off, they start when they start. Plus, all you have to do is show up, and do as much of the work out as you can. The instructor has already done the hard work of coming up with a routine.
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Comment by wholemom on February 11, 2009 at 1:55pm -
Wow, great post Lisa! 80% of it is showing up.
My advice, take baby steps and at least get to the gym a couple times a week. Anything you do there is going to be of some benefit, so whether you are walking, jogging, doing a few bicep curls, whatever, it is better than nothing at all. I actually used to hate running and would sort of power walk on the track. Eventually, I got to know an older gentleman (about 80) that always walked too and we ended up having the most interesting conversations about travel, good restaurants, our kids/his grandkids. Before I knew it an hour had passed.
I have since learned to like (not love) running and try to catching him on my cool down laps around the track. If you show up around the same time on the same days, you might even make a few new friends!
I look forward to more conversation!
Shannan
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Comment by Ellen S on February 11, 2009 at 1:44pm -
Such excellent tips! Until Dystonia, exercise was incorporated into my daily life from the age of 7. Except for aerobics (ick), I was an exercise junkie! I also worked at a gym as a personal trainer. Even though I was only there a short time (before pregnancy put a halt to anything more strenuous than fixing dinner) I saw soooo many people come in with such happy faces, excited to begin, and then get in the habit of breaking their resolve. Usually this ended in embarrassment over their lack of resolve and self-discipline that was so strong it would actually keep them from returning! Having a partner and support group is perhaps the best thing to have... in my experience. Partners make exercise fun, and a support system will help to keep you accountable and encourage you on those days when you can't do it for yourself.
Dystonia makes exercising a challenge. I now fall into the category of the people I saw walking in and out of that gym every day. I have trouble knowing what I can do each day, and then finding time for it. There is fear involved too... fear that I will overdo, as I am prone to. Maybe I'll have to delve deeper into the Fit Group and see if I can pick up some motivation there!
© 2009 Created by Marie
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