If you don't exercise...

[BakerMorning]

Please post here! I've just seen another thread asking how much people exercise per week and everyone's replies are about 8 hours, with 9 mile runs, daily weight sessions etc. I thought I was doing quite well doing 2 runs a week and now feel quite disheartened!

None here.
it is just not for me. I can’t afford the gym etc, live on a bad road for walking or running. I do lots of cleaning and gardening. I think I could get on with Pilates but my house is really over looked and I’d feel a twat in my living room doing it.

I walk most days for about an hour very briskly (I use the active 10 app which counts how many minutes of brisk walking you do). That’s enough for me. I don’t enjoy exercise as in terms of running, classes etc. Walking with my headphones in or when I’m out and about doing stuff is enough. I’m not going to slave away trying to add 5 years to my life spending 5 years doing something I hate. Pointless. (Or however many random years it might add).

I go swimming once a week, twice on a good week. I'm a slow plodder, not many lengths but the water is good for my arthritis. I do a nordic walk once a week and usually a walk at the weekend. On a goss week. Some weeks life gets in the way. I can't run as knackered joints and it flares me up. Too much exercise gives me migraines and renders me useless for days. I do what I can.

I live in first floor flat. I walk down my stairs and get in my car. That's my exercise done! Never done any sort of proper exercise. Never gone for a "walk" just because. When I've had dogs in the past I'd walk them but never been for a walk for the sake of it. Never been for a run or gone the gym or done anything like that

"exercise" might more helpfully be thought of as "physical activity" and furthermore "physical activity appropriate to your personal abilities". Many people are describing active lives already who probably don't need to add in extra gym sessions or runs. But although the tone of another PP is sanctimonious, she's not wrong that a sedentary lifestyle - in an otherwise able person - can be lethal. It is very important for people to keep active in line with their specific circumstances.

Quite! 🙄

I can only exercise in school hours, as my child wants constant attention (I do try playing in the park with child after school) , but school hours I have to work. So exercise is when I can get my child to play ball, frisbee, or tag with me after school or at weekends!

I posted on that thread , I do 6-8 hours a week as I love food

I walk the dog for 30 mins a day. That's it, and I'm quite pleased with that! Moved even less before getting the hound!

Don't worry, OP, I do absolutely nothing!

A medium pace walk for twenty minutes a day has something like 85-90% of the health benefits of being a hardcore runner. I find this comforting.

I don't, I always mean to but never quite get around to it (probably doesn't help that I've never found a type of exercise I truly enjoy)

Nope, no exercise going on here. Mainly sedentary, have chronic fatigue and back problems, so it's difficult to find something that works for me. I did go on a daily walk a few years back, but stopped that over the past year. I should try to do it again, once Spring starts.

I also saw that post and thought some routines were a bit obsessive. I exercise 3 times a week at the gym, which is enough for me. I find exercise helps my mental health, so I stick with it.

Too much exercise can cause joint problems further down the line, mainly if you run a lot.

The recommended amount of exercise is at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity per week, along with muscle-strengthening activities, at least two days per week.

I do nothing other than walk the children to school. Don’t know where I would fit it in.

But you do exercise. I don't do ANY exercise, apart from walking between the fridge and the sofa every day. I hate exercise. I hate the feeling of being out of breath. Makes me feel ill.

If you don't exercise...

...I don't

Other than walking the dog. DH gets really miserable when he doesn't but I'm the other way round - it's a chore

I don't walk, I don't run, I don't exercise full stop. I'm lazy because I don't enjoy it. I'm probably not very healthy but at 33 I'm not feeling the effects too much yet. I'm 5ft 6inch and a size 12. Happy enough in myself, don't sweat it.

I only exercise as a by product if doing something else. So I walk to get my shopping as it’s quicker than taking the car! My work is fairly physical 8 hours on my feet, but only 3 days a week, working in a hotel.
I no longer have any dogs, and never enjoyed walking/jogging for the sake of just walking/jogging, and it’s not a safe area to walk alone out of 9am- 4pm. Gyms are ridiculously difficult to actually get to. Tried to join our swimming pool on an annual membership, but was totally ignored by the ‘membership team’. So have given up and ordered an elliptical to use (as a clothes horse most likely) at home. At least it’ll be a nod in the right direction.

@BigButtons I hear you and hopefully some posters have taken on board your helpful and vitally important advice, while some have been spectacularly rude to their own detriment. Everyone has limitations, I get that too.

I last exercised in 1998 when school wouldn't accept my "Please excuse BadNomad from PE as she has bad cramps" note from my "mother".

Some of them add up to like 15 hours a week, with a job and children, how?

I have children in their 20s and don’t work full time, so can choose spend my spare time doing exercise, it’s something I enjoy.

when the D.C. were younger I had to preplan much more, but still managed by getting it in at 6am or when they were at clubs I’d have an hour to myself

I have just started reading ' Atomic Habits " by James Clear . Such an interesting book which is base around the idea that small , regular habits over time , will amount to change. That exercise thread was nuts. Start with small habits and they will add up rather than setting crazy goals . Joe Wicks on YouTube for 15 mons , 4 times a week and you will see gains

That’s how it starts, small habits & then you get addicted, find yourself gradually doing more & more cause you can. Before you know it you’re exercising everyday & signing up for challenges to train for

going all out at the beginning ends up being to much and you drop out

I don't 'exercise' as such, very occasionally go for a walk ... I do work (part time) in a job that is mostly on my feet all the time but that is hardly aerobic exercise. I could exercise if I wanted to ... plenty of time but zero motivation. And yes, I know I am overweight and very unfit - but I am happy with every other aspect of my life ... plenty of friends, hobbies, a job I love ... so many people seem unhappy yet super fit .