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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think you can't enjoy exercise if you just ... don't?

382 replies

catscurledupbythefire · 09/04/2017 12:28

I would be interested if anybody ever has because I. Hate. It.

I hate - classes (am a bit thick slow to pick things up, so can take keep up. Plus can see myself in the mirror) the gym generally as I just get bored and it hurts and I can't focus on anything like music or a film because all I can think is 'ow this hurts, ow, ow, ow' walks (get bored on my own) running (no chance) cycling (hurts my backside) swimming (I just can't be doing with all the faff.)

So - any ideas? Or should I just write off exercise and moderate my food intake RIGHT down?

OP posts:
Havanaclub · 09/04/2017 22:11

Does no one here have a dog?

Just think of dog owners who have to walk their dogs twice a day. For miles it seems!

I would absolutely hate that routine. I do my own thing in my own time at the time that suits me. On my own.

Walking is great. It really is.

Original poster
catscurledupbythefire · 09/04/2017 22:12

It's different with a dog though because they enjoy it, so you get secondary pleasure!

OP posts:
Havanaclub · 09/04/2017 22:15

But with a dog you have to go out whether you want to or not. It's all about doggie!

That would wreck my head. I walk when I want to for myself. Selfish I know.

I have done two stages of the Camino de Santiago. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

Will do the rest as I get the time. It's about me, not anyone else human or doggie.

TooExtraImmatureCheddar · 09/04/2017 22:35

What sort of exercise did you like when you were young and enjoyed PE? Hockey, tennis, rounders?

What about climbing or fencing or silks or wild swimming? Something fun and unusual? Or would martial arts float your boat?

I've taken up trampoline (proper trampoline like in the Olympics, but at beginner level) and I love it. It's off for Easter and I'm missing it and counting down the days until it starts up again.

Original poster
catscurledupbythefire · 09/04/2017 22:40

Hated rounders as I used to start talking when on field duty and then get yelled at by the sporty girls Grin I liked hockey and netball but it was more just being out charging around, not being stuck in a classroom. But I was FEARLESS then. People used to constantly shout at me to slow down as I ran everywhere, not in a jogging way but it was like I was permanently on fast-forward. Teachers who liked me would write down that I had 'zest" and 'enthusiasm" and 'energy.' Teachers who got annoyed with me would say I was 'restless' Shock

OP posts:
SingaSong12 · 09/04/2017 22:44

What sort of things do you do with your DC? How will you keep up with them as toddlers?

Original poster
catscurledupbythefire · 09/04/2017 22:50

They are toddlers, well the younger two are. Mostly I just buckle them in their car seats and take them to McDonald's. Occasionally we go to the park and they try to take off but I call them back by bribing them with ice cream.

Wink

I'm fat conceded but not THAT fat!

OP posts:
2rebecca · 09/04/2017 22:50

Cycling doesn't hurt your backside if you wear shorts with a chamois and buy a decent women's saddle. I cycled over 100km yesterday and got no sore bum. All serious cyclists wear padded shorts though, you can get baggy ones if you don't like the clingy lycra.
I think you have to find a sport you enjoy and people you enjoy doing it with.
You don't have to walk alone if you fancy walking, join a group.

Athenajm80 · 09/04/2017 22:51

Lilicat - I LOVE zombies run! I hate exercise and have always avoided it since leaving uni, but have recently decided I need to lose weight so have started walking more. At first it was so boring and something I forced myself to do, but since getting a fitbit and downloading Zombiesrun, I kind of enjoy it. Not so much that I manage to do it on the weekends all the time, but every weekday and usually at least once on the weekend. I get engrossed in what is happening with the radio broadcast on the zombiesrun app and almost forget what I'm doing. Yesterday I did a 6k walk, was out of the house for about an hour, but didn't feel like I'd been out for more than 10 minutes.

I'm still much more of a stay at home with a book kind of person, than a go for a long run and then gym afterwards, but I almost enjoy it now. It's taken a few months and this is the first time I've really stuck to anything, but seeing my weight drop and feeling better in myself has helped, as well as building my township and rescuing people for the bad zoms :)

SingaSong12 · 09/04/2017 22:57

Sorry that might have come across a bit rude maybe Blush.

Original poster
catscurledupbythefire · 09/04/2017 22:58

No it didn't! It was funny :)

OP posts:
IvorHughJarrs · 09/04/2017 23:01

I have found my people! I hate exercise and have tried time and time again to find one to change my mind. I am too heavy to run or do anything high impact like that, have already tried walking, yoga, pilates, Zumba Gold, aqua aerobics and weights with a personal trainer. I also hate dogs!
I'm watching with interest in case you folks come up with a perfect solution

ShotgunNotDoingThePans · 10/04/2017 00:11

I agree about the dog walking Havana. It's totally spoiled walking for me, especially since she doesn't even want to be doing it either. I have to walk at a snail's pace as she stops and sniffs every fucking five feet, and if I walk at my normsl fast pace she flattens hersrlf to the ground and nearly puts my shoulder out of joint. I can't put her in the car and go for a big country walk as she trembles in tbe car now. Worst thing is, although she's 12 and old already, she could live another 7 or 8 years. Oh joy. And she's not my dog, in case anyone's wondering - DH 'always wanted a dog' and I stupidly gave in. Dog walking for me is a complete waste of time and is not exercise in any shape or form.

peaceout · 10/04/2017 00:20

you don't have to exercise if you don't want to
infact I prefer it if you don't, gyms cycle paths and swimming pools are already crowded enough.
Stay home and eat cakes and leave those venues for those of us who enjoy our physical exertions

Mistoffelees · 10/04/2017 00:21

Sorry I haven't read all the way through but I didn't get the endorphins thing until I'd done my first spin class, I was convinced that I wouldn't manage it and when I did I just felt amazing like I could do anything. I haven't had the same rush since the first time but it made me more motivated to go again and try and get that feeling. So maybe try something you're not 100% convinced you can actually do rather than trying to ease your way in to a routine?

Mistoffelees · 10/04/2017 00:26

Also regarding walking- I find it much more interesting if I can walk round the block at dusk when people have their lights on but haven't drawn their curtains so I can have a good nosey as to how they've decorated, what they're watching on TV etc Blush

CauliflowerSqueeze · 10/04/2017 00:30

I have to say - this is a massive eye-opener for me. I genuinely thought that people exercising were all enjoying themselves!! It's never crossed my mind that people might hate doing it but do it all the same to be of benefit?!

I hate it too, OP. Hate being hot and sweaty. Hate the feeling when my heart is racing and hurting. Hate trying to keep up in a gym class and just willing the clock to move on. Hate being wet and trying to get myself dry in chlorine-smelling changing rooms with my clothes sticking to me. Just hate the whole thing really.

KoalaDownUnder · 10/04/2017 01:12

Shotgun, you got the wrong kind of dog! Wink

I love walking with my dog. She's a tall, greyhoundy-x thing (unsure of actual parentage as she was a rescue). She goes very fast. We do at least an hour a day, every day, usually covering 6-7 km. It's fab exercise and I love it! Smile

Dogs are an excellent way to force yourself to exercise, IMO. Even when I can think of nothing worse, I have to take my dog walking or it's not fair on her. And once we are ten minutes into a fast walk, I always stop resenting it and start enjoying it.

user1477249785 · 10/04/2017 01:34

This is going to sound rude but: you aren't special in not liking exercise. Lots of us don't. But it's sort of like broccoli isn't it? It's good for you and important to your health. So I always just tell myself to suck it up and do it for the sake of my health.

toomuchtooold · 10/04/2017 05:49

Do something physical that has another use to it? I used to cycle to or from work and that was like, I need to finish this ride to be at home, so I will finish the ride... or gardening, if you're lugging stuff around, or exercising while your kids are exercising? My main workout these days is swimming while the kids are in swimming lessons. And because the kids are there I have to sort of make a decent fist of it and actually swim rather than floating around at the shallow end Grin

JanetBrown2015 · 10/04/2017 07:04

I am afraid I have always disliked dogs, sorry to dog lovers out there!
It is often more to do with just being the sort of person who doesn't like exercise. We can all come up with excuses. I know doing general house and garden work works for me or when I used to have to cycle to the tube as had no car.

I have found if I can get into the habit of something - I was doing Sunday morning bikram earlier in the year - it worked.

I think those of us who don't like it don't think we are special. In fact so many people in the UK do none it's a major UK health issue. It's having the will power to make yourself do it. I suppose we manage the will power to care for children and some of us also turning up at work. My very very very thin son finds it an effort to eat as he says it involves getting up off the chair and making something. I expect many of us on this thread are more than happy to make that effort to make a lovely meal so I suppose it's what motivates us - loads of effort to work because we want or need the money, make the will power to get up to the baby in the night because it needs feeding but not always to do needed exercise. I think walking is a good first step even is just to the post box with an Easter card being posted to a relative. Even that I don't really do as I will say I'm short of time and drive to the post box every day yet I have time to post on MN.

Verticalvenetianblinds · 10/04/2017 07:05

My favourite thread.
I used to be a professional horse rider. Toned, fit, healthy. I drank my body weight in vodka and smoked like a train but could run up a hill and not be out of breath. I've had 2 babies and put on 6 stone.
Riding was great for me, I got paid which was my main motivation. But now if I (can find a big enough horse) ride, I hate it. I wobble and it hurts and I get out if breath. But then I cant run upstairs now without the same problem.
So I know exactly what you mean. I feel depressed after exercise, no endorphins at all.
I want to take a tablet, or be hypnotized or something.
There must be something out there!
But money is a motivator for me so I've started looking at local fundraisers like a 5k walk or something, hoping the financial thing might motivate me, even tho I don't gain!

Original poster
catscurledupbythefire · 10/04/2017 07:23

I do just need to do it. I'll try for every other day at the gym. I just wish it was not so BORING!

OP posts:
Ecureuil · 10/04/2017 07:36

I wish cleaning the house wasn't so boring, but it is and I still have to do that!
Go for it OP, you never know, you might grow to love it WinkGrin

TheTurnOfTheScrew · 10/04/2017 07:44

I hate all exercise as well. Never found a sport I'm good at, never experienced the whole endorphin thing. I think the answer is just to accept that you hate it. Stop the quest to find Your Sport, and get out and do the least bad of them all. A bit like going for a smear test, only 3 times weekly, and in my case with slightly less dignity.