6 things I did to start enjoying exercise
The earliest moment I can remember thinking there was something wrong with my body was in elementary school. When I read that sentence back to myself it baffles me. What kind of a society are we living in where first graders already feel like their body isn’t good enough?
There have been many times in my life when I have exercised not because I love my body and want to honor it, but because I didn’t like my body. What a miserable reason to go to the gym. No wonder it didn’t work. My junior/senior year of college I put on 30 pounds, stopped exercising, and couldn’t stop my cycle of emotional eating. I wasn’t taking care of my body and it took me a year to realize something needed to change. Long story short I finally started to prioritize my health and lost all 30 pounds in a healthy, maintainable way that didn’t involve juice cleanses or fad diets. Along the way I’ve learned a thing or two about what gets me excited to move my body and be in the gym, and while I am absolutely no expert, I’d love to tell you about what worked well for me.
I stopped viewing workouts as a punishment or the work I needed to do in order to eat the foods I wanted.
I used to run on the treadmill watching the calories I was burning thinking about what I could eat after I had burned X amount of calories. What I wish I would have recognized sooner is the unhealthy relationship I was creating between me and the treadmill. Your body needs food with or without exercise. On the flip side, on the days I had a little more to eat or satisfied one of my cravings, that didn’t mean I needed to rush to the gym to burn off the calories. It’s amazing how much better I felt about being on the treadmill when I focused on things like reaching new physical fitness goals or just improving my overall physical abilities.
I gave myself rest when I needed it.
How many times have you beat yourself up for missing a workout or not doing your normal exercise routine? The best thing you can do is to listen to your body. There are days when I am really motivated to move my body and exercise and other days when I need to rest or just go for a brisk walk rather than a run. There’s a time to push yourself and a time to recognize that it’s okay take a break. Just like our technology, we need to recharge too!
I started doing a variety of different exercises.
I am the type of person where I can only do the same workout routine for so long. I genuinely enjoy running, but I don’t enjoy doing just that 6 days a week. I like cardio, but not all my cardio has to be with one exercise. And I don’t have to spend my whole workout doing cardio. A typical day in our apartment gym for me looks like this:
Time on the treadmill (usually running a mile for first 9-10 min)
A little bit of biking
Putting my boxing gloves on for the heavy bag
If my husband is with me I practice on the mitts too!
Intervals with the rope resistance machine
Resistance band exercises
The key for me is that I’m not sticking to any of these things for too long so it keeps things interesting for me. Once I discovered all the different things you can do to workout and exercise that changed a lot for me. I can be in the gym doing my typical workout routine, but I can also take a free pilates class on youtube in the comfort of my own home, I can follow along with a dance fitness video in my apartment, I can sign up for boxing classes, I can swim, hike, bike, the possibilities are endless!
I began to view working out as my me time.
When I go to the gym I like to enjoy either listening to my music or watching an episode of Real Housewives while I’m doing my workout. Sometimes it feels like there’s not enough time in the day for me to just hang out and watch some youtube or reality tv, and this is a great time for me to do it! When I go to the gym it’s now my time for me to just focus on me and do what I want to do.
I started getting up early to do it.
Trying to find the motivation to go to the gym after work is like an uphill battle for me. 9 times out of 10 I just can’t do it. By the time work is over, I’m so exhausted I just want to go home to my husband and chill out on the couch. So I started setting my alarm earlier. If you can get over the fact that you might be waking up when the sun is just getting up too, I highly recommend trying to get in the gym first thing in the morning. I usually set my first alarm for 5:30, give myself 30 more minutes for sleep, and then I’m out of bed somewhere between 6:00-6:10, usually in the gym by 6:15. I find that sweating it out first thing in the morning helps me to make better nutritional choices throughout the day and it helps me to clear my mind before I make my way to the office.
I tried something new.
One thing that really changed how I view physical activity was finding something that I really felt like was fun every single time I did it. For me, my all time favorite thing to do to be active is boxing. I originally gave it a try because of how good of a workout it is, but it quickly became a new passion for me. I have an amazing coach that is training me to box so that I can one day enter a competition. It’s a great workout, but it has become about so much more than that for me. If you’re looking to give boxing a try in the Indiana area, let me know and I can get you in touch with my coach for a free lesson!
