To not exercise

I have a personal reason for doing it which started out as a chore to recover from an injury and now became my number one way of improving my MH. Never been so empowered, feeling strong, motivated and happy to be honest with you. It’s changed my life! I am riding those endorphins/dopamine and also gaining strength and mobility. I am a happier more resilient person who struggled with my MH all my life but since taking up exercise it’s changed my whole outlook

It’s my time to invest in my future self, escape real life too.

I didn’t feel this way when I started but it came over time through repetition

Personally hear me out from a science standpoint I don’t believe cleaning is exercise though, it’s movement.

Unless people are doing industrial cleans and lugging around heavy equipment it’s not going to improve your cardiovascular health or build muscle long term if that’s your goal. You will not see any noticeable improvement in your health once you reach a certain level, this is why when you exercise you have to increase the weight/load/time/speeds/distances to get fitter, as you get fitter you need to push more as they become easy

Your body is very adaptable and will improve quicker than you think but if you aren’t out of breath or having a raise in your HR, you are not exercising you are moving. Moving is also good for mobility. But it’s not the same thing as functional exercise. You won’t likely be doing more and more laundry and more housework over weeks or months, or walking further or faster with your dog, it’s often the same level.

I don’t work out every day but I do it with purpose and function and it’s not to be thin.

It’s to get up off the toilet when I am 80 and not fall over and get eaten by cats

I get up early or go after work. I don’t really watch much TV

But if you’re walking The dog, up on your feet much of the day , doing chores, carrying bags doing a twice daily school run etc that’s a heck of a lot more exercise than most. I was the same 10 years ago, but a change to working from home in a sedentary job & not doing the school run, Suddenly, the need for exercise is more pressing.

I work full time and have 1 DC but exercise is what keeps me sane! I go to classes 3x a week and generally run twice a week with a couple of long walks thrown in too. My DP pulls his weight around the house and with childcare so we both have time to exercise. I’m 52 and staying fit and strong so I can be around for as long as possible for DS10 is extremely important to me, so I find time. I have built friendships around my exercise and honestly love it. You need to find what you love and then it’s not a chore or something to squeeze in.

You’ve got it!!! 💯 I exercised yesterday 10:30-11PM after a full day of work, kid pick up, cooking dinner, tidy up. I sleep and feel so much better. My exercise was burpees, yoga, plank, weights. Slept like a baby

Yes it's hard to fit it in but for most people it is possible to exercise every day. They just choose not to.

Ok, there will be exceptions such as single parents who work 60+ hr weeks... but this isn't most people. In my experience, my friends who don't exercise don't exercise because they choose not to carve out the time and do other things instead.

I work full time in a demanding job and have two kids. I've exercised every day throughout and have done it through a combination of:

• getting up early and running before the rest of the house is up. Home by 7am to sort the kids for school; home by 9am on a Sunday long run to get on with our weekend

• the above didn't work so well when I was still breastfeeding, so at that stage I would run part of my commute; getting off the bus a few miles away from the office and running the rest

• cycling to/from work

• lunchtime runs - taking 45 mins for lunch is enough for a 5k and a shower

• running with the buggy when the kids were still very little; running alongside their bikes and scooters now they're older

• Caroline Girvans and Yoga with Adrienne at home on Youtube when DH is away and I can't get out

For me exercising has always been a priority so I've found ways to fit it in. It means being a bit more organised (especially with the run commuting) and getting up earlier than I'd like, but the benefits outweigh the negatives.

Walking is still exercise.

My creaking joints have put paid to the type of exercise I used to do, but I tend to walk now (briskly) and do yoga (when I'm not at risk of getting stuck in some awkward position).

Many people live such sedentary lifestyles day-to-day, which is when exercising is more important. Lots of jobs are desk-bound and people are reliant on cars than ever.

I exercise because I enjoy my sport (I wouldn't do it otherwise). Sadly I'm way past the stage of getting better at it but at least I can slow down my decline in performance as I get older.

Those activities count as exercise. (I'm far too exhausted to do them when I get home from work, though.)

I don’t think it’s that unusual to not exercise while you’re in the throes of raising small kids. Especially if you’re working as it’s just hard to fit it all in.

ive always been generally active, had an active job, ran around with the kids, enjoyed walking etc. but taking part in actual exercise was very sporadic for me throughout my 20s and early 30s while my kids were young.

the last 5 years I have done a lot more. It started with c25k and I’m now at a point where I either run or do some form of exercise every day (not this week as I’m a bit inured and it’s killing me). But now I have the time to dedicate to it in a way I never have before. I’m not an early morning person and would never have been one of those people who got up and went to the gym or for a run at 5am (hats off to those who do) and so for years I didn’t really have the time to myself to do it.

I am enjoying being the fittest I’ve ever been at 40!!

I thought the exact same! I just started back at yoga but mostly I don't specifically "do exercise"

I used to be a runner, I showered a lot more then.

Dedication is what keeps most people exercising, not motivation, and people who are dedicated will find a way to fit exercise into their lives (if they are able). It doesn't have to be everyday, but anything is better than doing nothing.

I work full time but luckily in a hybrid role so try to fit my exercise in during the day as I have little to no motivation to go early in the morning or after work. This strategy has worked pretty well. I found a gym in walking distance and I attend lunchtime workout classes on the days I work from home. And I manage a pilates class too weekly. The workouts are only 30 minutes so enough time to squeeze in a quick shower as needed.

PE at school ruins sport and exercise for a lot of women I think. For me it was competitive, humiliating and hard.

Countries like TheNetherlands that build activity into every day life and Germany where there is an expectation that you are probably doing some form of exercise are getting it right. Building it naturally in to your day, not waiting for motivation but scheduling it so it just happens without fail probably makes it a lot easier.

Exercise doesn’t have to make you sweaty and exhausted every time, walking more, cycling part of commutes and doing five minute pockets of exercise all helps. Squats and lunges while waiting for the kettle to boil, running up and down the stairs until the microwave beeps, keeping some hand weights or resistance bands to use while you are watching tv all count.

I don’t excercise and I have no interest in it either. 34, 1 child, work full time in a bank. Nothing to do with not having enough time etc I simply have no interest.

Alice Roberts describes exercising as fighting off decrepitude.

I don’t at the moment as I’m waiting for surgery. I’m hoping in the new year to go back to Pilates at home and I’ve just bought some yoga blocks to do some light yoga. Also planning on joining a gym for some support with weights. I need all the help I can get due to arthritis, hyper mobility and spine issues.

Exercise is investing in your future mobility. Getting out of a chair or climbing the stairs and other things we take for granted now. Not bothering because of time is the same as not bothering with a pension. You live to regret it.

Current routine is 2x 20min active commute to work most days. (Active job on feet most of time)
Parkrun Sat am
Long run Sun am
2x strength sessions (class mid-week and gym weekend)
I'm struggling with time/ energy for a 30min mid-week run. I'd like to fit one in for some speed work.

On 14.5k steps today with no additional exercise beyond commuting.

I started the running when the DCs were at the baby/ toddler stage because it was flexible, and did my first HM when they were young. It's harder now they're older in that I'm a decade older and there's more mum-taxiing in the evenings, but the flip side is that I don't have to worry about leaving them.

The positive is that I have teenagers who see fitness as a normal part of life and they'll go out for a couple of miles of running independently. They also see walking as normal functional transport.

But I’d be having a shower anyway so it’s really only adding 25 minutes to my day. I watch a YouTube video on my phone with headphones in so no loudness to wake the kids. I’m not saying it’s for everyone at all, and if I started Work at 5 am then I wouldn’t be doing it either!

But then surely you need to have a shower afterwards? I could do this if I was up at 4am (I already start work at 5) and had the tv on silent so as not to wake DC. But then I'd only be getting 5 hours sleep a night. That's ok for a few weeks but it's miserable after a while.

I was thinking exactly this today after reading that shower thread.
The thing is, walking is exercise, cleaning is exercise, and anything active that people do as part of their everyday lives, but you don’t necessarily break into a sweat and need a shower straight after doing these things. That doesn’t mean they’re not exercise 🤷‍♀️
I regularly do short yoga practices that don’t require a shower afterwards, and I do like and have always liked and know the benefits of doing more strenuous exercise like dumbbells, jogging etc, which I would shower after doing, but I currently fit that kind of thing in once a week when daughter is at after school club.
I do think you can overdo exercise - at one point before I was a mum and I was working full time I was doing about 3 strenuous exercise classes a week. like spinning etc, and that was the only time in my life I’ve had irregular results come back from a cervical screening test and had to have cells removed as a result, and I also look back on photos from that time and personally think I look too thin (I’m naturally slim anyway).
Also the majority of people I think of off the top of my head aren’t going to the gym or running every day, if at all, so I was wondering if the responders to that thread were not necessarily representative of, in particular, the majority of parents to children aged 0 to, for example, 11, when kids are less dependent and able to get themselves to school etc, and more time is freed up for the parent.

(Obviously disabilities, chronic illnesses and not having time to exercise are a different matter- I’m talking about people who are capable but choose not to- I don’t understand it).

That’s just good luck isn’t it?! We all know people who smoked like chimneys and lived to 90 something, and many of us know fitness fanatic vegans who died far too young. 🤷

Longevity is not of great interest to me, but I am very interested in quality of life. I want to be able to continue to run up and down stairs easily and get myself up from the floor without using my hands. I also want to attempt to mitigate the worst of the osteoporosis that I’m likely to inherit thanks to my genes, and lifting weights can help with this. It’s honestly incredibly empowering to realise you’re fit and strong for your age when you’re in middle age and you see what is beginning to happen to some of your friends (weight gain, mobility limitations etc…)

It’s obviously up to each individual whether or not they choose to exercise, but I wouldn’t give mine up for anything- it’s life enhancing. We get one life and one body. I can’t understand never wanting to push your body to see what you’re physically capable of.

I didn’t exercise until I was nearly 40. It was hard and boring at first and I did it cause I thought I should and because it was time out of the house away from small children. I ended up loving it so much I made a job out of it. It’s been life-changing in terms of my mental health. Also, my body looks pretty good for a nearly 50 year-old if so do say so myself.

I never exercised.

aged 39 I left my husband and became sole parent to 3 kids. I started couch to 5k to give myself structure and integrate some somatic healing. I kept up the running x3 per week. That is sweaty business! But I do it on a treadmill in my room before my morning shower. 5min warm up walk, 30min run, 5mins cool down walk. On the other days I do about 45mins weights, again in my room. I’m just psyching myself up to do it now (feeling lazy today). The other day I’ll walk or play football with my son or try yoga. I totally hear you - I never understood how people fitted it in or found the motivation before. But now it’s part of my routines and life etc. and I feel a million times better for it. Always worth a try once you find something you enjoy

I mainly go for walks as well. I talk to my DM while I walk to kill two birds with one stone. My DM is fit as a fiddle and just walks, albeit a lot, often with shopping bags as she has no car. I think brisk walking is underrated. Anyway it’s better than nothing.