Ask Lemmy

I've recently taken up swimming. I'm much more inspired to do it if it's an indoor facility, so the city rec center pass is inexpensive and then I'm inspired to go. Even if all I do is fart around on a pool noodle for an hour, I'm still moving, and the water makes the impact on my bad knee go away.

Playing DDR.

Because then the public won't see my red, flailing body as I stumble around to sit after a single song.

That and mowing my lawn. ...except with my lawn, I've had people pull over and ask if I'm okay. Which is embarrassing every time it happens. I'm out of shape and I have a condition!! But I'm not going to explain that to strangers lol

I hate running, so I don't do it.

I love hiking and swimming and team sports, so I do them.

I use a stationary bike in front of a TV. My brain is off anyway, so I might as well put my body to work.

Another alternative is to find a sport that you enjoy, or a social group that makes the activity enjoyable.

I take my canoe out on a lake that's 8 minutes from my house. Relaxing, and the exercise is a side effect.

I'm also delusional enough to think I can box so I hit the punching bag for 40 minutes some days. It's a joke but makes me feel badass.

Exercise outside (preferably in a natural setting) and with a group. Outdoor bootcamp is the holy grail for me. Reasons:

1. Outside air is easier to breathe than stale gym air

2. There's always something interesting to look at while you slowly die

3. Clumps of grass don't mind if I swear under my breath

4. PEER PRESSURE. IT WORKS.

5. At the end of the training session, ~~trauma~~ bonding with the rest of the group (edit: I misused the term trauma bonding)

I chart my improvements over time and equate them to role playing game experience points

Do 20 crunches? that's +20 xp towards constitution

Really makes it a lot easier to reframe boring tasks

I'm trying to do stuff that's quick that I can do every day. I do pushups before my morning shower and some squats whilst I brush my teeth. Do it every day, I feel better for it and it only takes like 3 minutes. You can do extra sets around the house if you have a spare 30-60 seconds too.

Dance

Dance

REVOLUTION!!

(That rhythm game with the arrows on the screen and ground that you stomp on)

i learned to love the feeling of muscles getting stretched

I've always loved sports; so that part's easy, personally. But I've also learned to kind of savor the feeling of using my muscles and getting tired. Whatever I'm doing, or even on days where I didn't have time to "exercise", I make a point to check in on different parts of my body, maybe tense them or stretch; just trying to notice what feels good and then really savor that feeling. I find that building that mental practice helps motivate me to seek out exercise, or power through when I'm not really enjoying a particular activity.

I dont tolerate cardio, its really not feeling good and it seems to take forever to get to a place where its supposed to feel good. If it ever does.

But lifting weights is fun. I enjoy that since body looks better and feels stronger. And there, results show clearly in just 2 months or faster.

Experiencing the benefits of strength training day to day (being able to move heavy shit easily and not struggle with things that I used to) also seeing how I look in the mirror after I do it helps.

Fast speed hike incline on treadmill

Put in earbuds, drum&bass

Disassociate for 1-2 hrs while staring at the food channel

Embrace the Suck.

I use comfortable earbuds, turn on a podcast, and go outside. I walk as far as I can and loop back around and barely notice because the pod was taking up my mental space preventing me from feeling the pains.

I put some vtubers when running.

Last time I enjoyed myself doing exercise, I probably played table tennis with a tennis ball and hands as paddles. The hard part is finding people who have time when you do, and who are on a similar skill+fitness level as you (picking silly games like the one I described helps).

So yeah, I'm not getting much exercise, either.

I've never enjoyed gyms or traditional workouts, but yoga clicks with me.

I enjoy the social aspect of running. Parkruns, Strava, meeting friends and getting coffee after etc.

Honestly I find it quite enjoyable on it's own. The more I do it, the more I just enjoy the running itself. But I tend to have some music playing and dream away a bit

Cycling/Spinning

It's usually low impact on the knees & backs of perrenial beginners like me. If I'm stationary cycling, I can sneak in my favorite entertainment to make the time fly by.

Me personally? Group dance aerobics are joyful fun classes. Group yoga classes are a very supportive and lovely environment. I do also get to work without a car, do yardwork, park far if I take a car, just try to be generally active.

It takes 6 weeks to build a habit. Just choose something you tolerate, commit to 6 weeks, and at that point you should feel better on a day you work out, than on a day you don't.

For me keeping it quick helps alot. No need to be in the gym for 1.5-2 hours, especially if you can wrap up your workout in 50 minutes. I'm just there to get my reps in, no more no less.

To that end either find a split that doesn't target as many muscle groups in 1 session. Like Push Pull Legs. Or super set as much as possible.

For finding motivation to actually do it, I tend to workout after already being productive. So clean up your room/kitchen, or code for a bit. And when that productivity train is going, keep it going. Or go immediately when coming home from work, don't first "relax". Keep the momentum high and tackle things of your todo list; like working out.

Rhythm Games (Samba De Amigo, Fitness Boxing Ft. Hatsune Miku) + needing to walk to bus stop to go to arcade

Ring Fit was also good, but I foolishly left that behind when I moved out x.x

Good, driving music. I have a big list of liked songs on Spotify that I listen to while I'm exercising, but I'm slowly creating another playlist called 'Energy' that I add suitable songs to, with the intention of ultimately building a playlist full of such songs. It's kinda weird though, sometimes I feel like the music gets stale and repetitive, even with 800+ songs on shuffle, and that affects my motivation to exercise.

Exercise bike + watching something on a cheap 2016 tablet

None. I enjoy exercise itself. No music, no tech, no nothing. Just a program and a timer. When I'm running, I get runner's high. When I'm doing calisthenics, I look forward to doing advanced moves.

Exercising is part of my precious me-time. I put on a good podcast or some nice music and have a good time. No stress, no hanging on the phone, no Netflix - this is my opportunity to dwelve into thoughts or just do nothing. It is super relaxing.

Flow arts