Hate Your Workouts? Here’s How to Fix That
Updated: Sep. 01, 2016
It’s one thing to commit to the idea of exercising and another to actually do it. Here are my go-to tips that get me out the door, rain or shine.
Passion
You know that old saying “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”? You can apply it to fitness, too. I used to put off exercising for any number of reasons. My usual laments included:
• I’m too busy
• It’s too cold/windy/hot/cloudy
• I’m too tired
A few years ago, I realized that the reason I had so many excuses was because I hated the types of workouts I was doing. Top of the list? Boot camp. I have lots of friends who swear by it. In fact, the very things I dislike – the yelling, the pressure to perform – are exactly what they need to get moving. Me? I need something that brings me peace, not pain, and that’s what I’ve found in hiking. Bottom line: Fitness is personal. Even if you and your bestie do everything together, you may have to draw the line at exercising side by side.
Purpose
Like every woman on the planet, I multi-task all day long, even when I’m working out. But what’s different is how I use my fitness time. It’s not for planning my grocery list or managing my budget; it’s just for thinking. About me. Who I am, who I want to be, how I feel about stuff. There’s never enough time in the day for such a luxury, but my hikes give me that.
Push
Still, I’m human, so there are days when I need a little push. My motivation? Setting out my clothes ahead of time. I pile them on a chair beside my bed to remind me it’s a workout day when I wake up. If I don’t get dressed and go right away, the guilt builds, compounding every time I walk by that neat pile so patiently waiting for me to put it on and go outside to play.
