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

[catscurledupbythefire]

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?

Shatners my point was why are you saying sorry for not exercising? No one else cares if you do or not. If there are going to be any ill effects, it'll be you who suffers them.

your genes might make you more prone to certain things

Yes they might. But exercise can make your quality of life vastly better, the main purpose is not to extend life.

I know where you're coming from OP. I should really go to some exercise classes but don't think I could keep up as I'm so unfit plus I'm at that age that I can easily pull a muscle and end up having to take days or weeks to recover from the injury

Shatner just because she didn't do 'exercise' doesn't mean she wasn't physically active. I'm pretty sure daily activities 60 years ago were much more physical than today. She probably walked a lot more, used more energy cleaning the house, etc. My grandparents and even my parents wouldn't have exercised, but they did a hell of a lot more physical activity than me on a daily basis. Even my 70 year old Mum does more in a typical day, she's not sitting behind a computer for most of the day, she'll walk more than drive, etc.
Although I walk much more than drive, but that's mostly because I dislike driving!
We all know someone who was very fit and died young and someone who was the opposite and held out till old age, but realistically we know that these are the exceptions, not the rules.

I suppose it could be argued that one ought to exercise so as to reduce the chances of being a burden through I'll health
and to set a good example to others

I think the problem is for some people is that they are seeing Exercise as going to classes or the gym, or doing a sport, when in fact it's just moving about. What did you enjoy doing as a kid, OP?

Genetics does play a part but we all have capacity to respond to it, it's just a case of finding the right type of exercise. Then you gain positive feedback which makes you want to keep it up.
Exercise has a massively positive effect on life particularly in old age. Your post surgical outcomes are far better if you are fitter. The incidence of falls is less if you have greater muscle strength and the damage you do is also less.
We live in a society that wants for instant gratification and a quick fix but sometimes you just have to get on with it.
I go to the gym which I don't particularly enjoy but I like the results - I am stronger and look and feel better. I also play a sport which to me is "free" exercise because I love it. If you can find that sort of activity then it make exercising much easier.

It's confirmed it to me that all the people who are addicted to the gym never fucking shut up about it. It's the ONLY interesting thing about them. I'm convinced the gym is for people too boring to have an actual active hobby.
Sorry, where did this come from? I haven't seen anyone on this thread banging on about gym addiction, just a lot of suggestions about what works for them in the hope that it might be helpful to the op who seems happy to consider herself beyond help. Good for you for discovering ballroom dancing; but not having 'an actual active hobby' doesn't automatically make anyone boring.
I suppose in a way this correlates to smoking; we all know or have heard of someone who smoked 80 a day from the age of fifteen and lived to 90 in perfect health; I know of a woman my mother's age who smoked heavily throughout her six pregnancies and had six 'healthy' babies. Doesn't make it a good idea.

I was like you for many years, OP. I tries running. I tried cycling. I tried walking, and so on. Always hated it.
Then I realised that I was trying to find mild / gentle forms of exercise, because I was inactive and overweight. And one day I tried fitness training. I loved it. It was hard, and occasionally painful, and challenging - which was, in fact, exactly what I needed.
Today I exercise between 2 and a half and 5 hours a week - cardio, strength training, kettlebell, kickboxing... I have never set foot in a gym, I do everything in my living room.
Today I look forward to my daily session. It is not a chore.

What I mean is that you have to find something you love doing, or you will never stick to it. Good luck!

Your posts stand out to me as I genuinely don't understand why you post. This is exactly like your thread about being overweight - you post about a problem and how you can't address it, people give you loads of ideas, advice, support and encouragement and your whole threads are just full of "yes but no but". Seriously. If you want to whinge I get that, but maybe you should make it clearer you don't actually want to hear any ideas or advice?

I appreciate I may be feeling a bit arsey because I am disabled and would bloody love to be able to run again and this is a sore subject (especially around Marathon time), but to me, you seem to actually enjoy wasting peoples' time or possibly winding them up.

You don't like any forms of exercise and don't want to do it - fair enough. It's not compulsory. It's good for you but not compulsory and some people don't do it - surely as an adult you do actually know this? You don't want any advice, so what do you actually want from your threads? It's a genuine question.

Don't do any then, no one else cares, it only affects you

Clearly you care enough to comment.

I was agreeing with the OP, not looking for advice.

I found I needed to creep up on exercise. Started getting fitter when I moved into town but the town centre has shit parking so it's quicker if you just walk to get whatever you need. Then had baby so needing milk meant getting baby in car seat, fighting traffic and parking then getting baby out, buying stuff, back to car, feed/nappy so again just stuffing baby in sling was easier than driving. I then tried running and could do 20 minutes without stopping (no baby attached!) which I thought would never be possible. From that point exercise videos became acceptable uses of 10 minutes because they're good for me.

I don't really like walking for the sake of it but will happily walk for a purpose. Can be convinced to do hikes that are in a book or up a particular hill/mountain, especially on a clear day!

I need an aim and I need some form of visible gain - so running is good because my time gets faster or I feel less like death. Weights less good because feedback is so slow.

Fencing suited my personality - 1 on 1, adversarial, not too much fitness required - racquet sports I like the idea of but suck beyond belief.

Dream, I asked her that and she got quite cross!

Lots have offered advice but she doesn't seem to want it, as you say. It just wastes people's time who are trying to share their experiences to help her!

I think she wants to be told it's OK to stay the way she is. Which it is of course. Except why post here if she doesn't see it as a problem.

Maybe a gastric band would be the answer? Lots of celebrities have had one.

I'm with you Op.

I used to run at County Level, I found it effortless almost but did I enjoy it ... no... it was just something I could do.
I haven't run ( except in the extreme circumstances) since my mid twenties.

Have you ever seen a runner look like they are enjoying themselves. No nor me.

When I see runners now I think ' sore knees and ankles' or ' they're not getting any'.

I hate exercising in every form but what I have done was get a cheap smart watch (£20) just to see how many steps I was doing a day. It's a revelation! Yesterday in work I walked ( briskly) over 7 miles. It was over 17000 steps.

That's plenty of exercise for me😃

It does make you push yourself a bit and try to do more steps than the day before.

I'm not into doing anything you need special clothes or equipment for, walking about does just fine.

OP, if you have gym membership, try some more classes/switch gym? I reckon that is the quickest and easiest thing if you have the membership/funds anyway. I doubt they are all full of fit young things. I am 50, started with aqua and a thing called Body Vive and now do more high intensity ones - they only last 30 minutes and each (very simple) movement only lasts seconds or a minute at most. I am sometimes the oldest/fattest/shortest/slowest but usually not.

Haven't read the whole thread but OP if you actually want to do some exercise I'd find a friend who has a similar mentality and fitness level and agree to do a brisk walk for 45 mins once a week - I never walk alone as I agree, it's really boring, but if you have someone to chat to it's not too bad. Then maybe start walking with the kids in a buggy as much as you can when you're going somewhere and it's practical.

Even if you hate all the fitness classes you've ever tried, I'd recommend that you try Body Pump if there's one near you - it is highly addictive and somehow always bearable!

I enjoy exercise more than I used to, probably because I am better at it so it's not (quite) as knackering.

I do running and short home workout videos from YouTube, because it's free, easy to fit into life and you can just do 30 minute bursts. I do 3x30m in a typical week.

I quite enjoy the running sometimes, like yoga videos, don't like other type of workout videos much but I plough on through them. If someone told me it had been discovered that exercise was actually bad for you, I would be quite happy. As it is, I'll continue doing a minimum to keep me fit and healthy.

No, OP, YANBU at all.
The point isn't that you need to try every bloody type of exercise that exists, or that you need to do it with friends/strangers/alone/in a class/in your living room whatever, or listen to music or get the right gear or a fitbit or or or any of those other suggestions - you don't like it, you don't like it. There are loads and loads of things that we don't like that we basically have to do, but exercise really is not one of them.
If you move around a normal amount, eat sensibly, don't drink too much or smoke, then you will be fine. You might be fitter if you did exercise, yes, but if that isn't really important to you, then just don't do it.
I loathe exercise. There is nothing on earth that would get me to join a class of anything at all. It is my idea of hell on earth. I also don't want to jump around my living room while watching an exercise dvd. Or go cycling or running or anything else. I have no interest in any sports or games so I don't do any. I am old enough now to be able to make an accurate guess as to whether I'm going to enjoy a particular activity or not, so I don't need to relentlessly keep trying sports/exercises.
I have never been camping and guess what - I'm never going because I'd fucking hate it.

Clubbacise!!
I fucking love it. I go even if I'm knackered or ill. I look forward to it every week. It's done in the dark with flashing lights and glow sticks!
It's like a night out and I'm sad when it's over (a bit)
It's the only exercise I've stuck to since I was a dancer many many moons ago.

Just do it anyway.

I get up at 445 every morning to run. I have a desk job so realise it's important.

I don't ask myself if I want to do it, I just do it.

Before you know it, it's over.

In her mid 80s my grandmother was told she needed to lose weight and take exercise. She joined a gym and hired a personal trainer.
This genuinely transformed her. She hated every minute of the actual exercise, but she was happier, healthier and able to keep working (an academic) well into her 90s.
As a result of seeing this, I am utterly convinced that it is worth being fit.
You genuinely don't have to enjoy it or be good at it, you just have to do it.
I did find that after I'd been running for about six months, I started to enjoy it, but that wasn't the point. And I'd never win (or even run) a race.
At the moment I cycle or walk everywhere and run after my children and that feels like just barely enough to keep me ticking over. As soon as my kids sleep through the night, I'll start running or swimming again.

If you are fat then running will be really difficult. You need to walk/cycle a lot till you lose weight.

If it hurts at the gym then either you are doing it wrong or you have some kind of injury?

It doesn't sound like you are actually exercising anyway - of course you won't get endorphins from running for 30 seconds and swimming 3 lengths with your head at a funny angle.

Stop worrying about your looks, weight and what others think (honestly they don't care), and get exercise into your daily life. Walk instead of driving for example. Once you've done an hour's brisk walking enough to get out of breath every day for 2 weeks, see if you get any endorphins!

I get up at 445 every morning to run.

Christ!

I get up at 445 every morning to run.

what time do you go to bed!? I am not allergic top exercise, but I need some sleep. I would be snoring at my desk by 2pm if I was doing that.

I got a recumbent trike for my Christmas so I can accompany dh on his bike. Up till now I have HATED cycling. I love my trike and actually look forward to going out for a cycle. It takes me ages but according to his bike computer my 20+ miles are burning off calories. Downside is it was exceedingly expensive - the most expensive thing I am every likely to buy for me alone. But it has been worth it as I have hated other exercise (and dog walking does not do much as our dog has to stop and sniff every second leaf so can't get a decent speed going)