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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:
deblet · 09/04/2017 17:08

Is there any yoga that does not involve being on your knees? I weigh 20 stone and my knees always hurt but I would like to go to a class to try it.

MrsTerryPratchett · 09/04/2017 17:19

If that Italian village is Limone, Lake Garda, they actually found genetic reasons and diet (olive oil, lemons, lots of fruit and veg). I know that area quite well and the inhabitants have the calves of 20 year olds from all those hills!

swampytiggaa · 09/04/2017 17:24

Tbh I just read your other thread about losing weight and it really doesn't sound like you actually want to diet or exercise at the moment with all the excuses you are throwing out. Which is fine. You need to be in the right mindset to do it and then both diet and exercise will work for you.

My weight has always been OK but it started creeping up once I got past 40. Plus I felt really unfit. We have a history of cancer in my family - grandad dad brother aunt and 3 cousins all died relatively young. So I decided to get fit so that if I get ill I have a better starting point for treatment.

I hated it. I swam and walked as much as possible. Then I took up running. It's probably only been in the last six months that I have come to love running and that is 100% down to the people I have met doing it.

Not sure if I would have bothered to get fit without the fear of cancer behind me but I am glad that I took the first steps and am where I am now

Good luck with it all when you feel ready to start Flowers

BeautyQueenFromMars · 09/04/2017 19:10

OP, I've had to double-check your user name to make sure I hadn't posted and not realised it! I know exactly how you feel, as I too hate pretty much all kinds of exercise. Think I'll just have to suck it up and get on with it soon though, as 40 fast approaches and I'm not planning to still be fat when it hits. Gah!

lljkk · 09/04/2017 19:13

What do you like to do that isn't completely sedentary, catcurl? Shopping? Going to the races? Must be something.

I need to exercise for my mental health. I would hate to not be able to exercise.

MyGastIsFlabbered · 09/04/2017 19:22

I loathe classes and being at the gym...I always feel fat and unfit. But I've recently rediscovered my love of swimming. I think it's a case of trying different things.

AliceKlar · 09/04/2017 19:24

How old are you op? It's not about being able to run a marathon in your 70s; I want to be able to properly help with my grandchildren - pick them up, rock them for hours when they have colic, keep up with them for little games. Not be stiff, stooped and struggling to get up out of a chair. I appreciate I may end up like that anyway, as many do through ill health, but I intend to try and avoid it as much as I can with exercise.

That is such a good point. As my DGD headed towards toddlerdom it was a real wake-up call to get back to walking more. Taking care of and being around babies and toddlers is really hard physical work. There's so much lifting and carrying, bending and generally keeping up with involved and as they get older/heavier and more active, the harder it gets. You can't predict what you will end up like as the healthiest youngish person can have a totally unexpected heart attack/stroke etc, but I'd like to try my best. Grandchildren aside, I live alone and want to be as independent as possible as long as possible and being sensible with diet and exercise, going along to the GPs invites for mammograms, stool samples, hypertension clinics etc, is all I can do. But to me,it's worth a shot.

disappearingfish · 09/04/2017 19:32

My SIL avoided exercise for most of her 40s - 60s. She should be enjoying her retirement but instead she's being ferried around to an endless stream of medical appointments, taking God knows how many drugs and now can't even lift herself off the sofa without effort. All down to obesity and lack of strength and flexibility. Her only real interest is food.

ShotgunNotDoingThePans · 09/04/2017 19:35

Gosh Aliceklar I hardly ever get quoted - thanks! I also remember how physically hard motherhood was and I dread the the thought of not being able to carry my grandchildren or chase after them if they run in the road. I'm not going to magically get stronger and faster as I get older so need to get working on it now. I'm already strongervthan I've ever been through weight training and now need to work on stamina and fitness. I relish being able to carry a bootload of shopping from the car in one go!

KickAssAngel · 09/04/2017 19:47

So - when you were at your fittest, what meant that you could make yourself do the stepper and rower etc?

I also hate almost all forms of exercise. I have osteoarthritis in my hips and knees so everything hurts, and leaves me stiff and sore for days afterwards, with clicky grinding knees.

BUT - I love kickboxing. I'm totally crap at it, have the coordination of an octopus in a straight jacket, and I'm out of breath within seconds. But I love it!! Everyone at my group is really friendly, and the instructor doesn't care if I can't do stuff do long as I give it a go.

Find something that you do enjoy, and maybe ry some unexpected stuff. I'm an obese 47 year old, hardly the typical 'kickboxing' kind of person.

Truckingalong · 09/04/2017 19:50

You are indeed very self-depreciating. You've said a couple of times that you're 'a bit thick' but your posts are actually very well written and have made me laugh! You're determined to hate everything! Borrow my doggy might be worth looking at. You also haven't responded to the people who've suggested lifting heavy. No coordination needed, you do get out of breath but not in an aerobic-class kind of way, it feels goooooood to be strong and you get quick-ish results.

AliceKlar · 09/04/2017 21:27

Shotgun I spent a few weeks looking after DGD during the day when she was coming up one. I lost 7lbs and was constantly pushing the buggy, lifting, carrying, rocking, getting up and down off the floor and tidying up after her meals. It was like boot camp but in the company of a tiny, cute looking coach instead of very bossy, order shouting one. I'd have missed out on so much special time with her if I'd not been able to do all that. As it was I was an exhausted, aching wreckage when I got home. It really is doing yourself a favour to do whatever you can within any limitations, to keep yourself as supple and strong possible a you say.

ShotgunNotDoingThePans · 09/04/2017 21:30

Have some Flowers Alice - you deserve it! It'll be a few years before I have a tiny, cute-looking coach but I can't wait and I'll do my best to be up to it!

Original poster
catscurledupbythefire · 09/04/2017 21:32

Aw, thanks Trucking that's really made me smile!

I'm slow to pick things up, mostly. I have always been the same! I love the idea of borrowing a dog (ours died not so long ago, we were all heartbroken even though we spent the last seven years or so grumbling about her!) but you need to pay on that website. I adored her despite the grumbling but another ... I don't know! I got her when I thought DS was going to be an only child and then BOOM two babies appeared almost consecutively.

One of the problems is I've never had and never will have a knockout figure. Short legs, long torso, smallish boobs but slightly protruding stomach even when slim! I was never going to make the guys drool Hmm yet I was always okay with that because of the hair, which sounds ridiculous, but I wouldn't have swapped my hair for ANYTHING!

Now ... maybe! :)

OP posts:
NotAMammy · 09/04/2017 21:40

I hate exercise. I'm not fit. I was never fit. I used to come last in ALL the races at school sports day. I'm lazy as fuck. I never get the endorphin thing.

However, I love noticing the difference in myself when I start classes/working out. I got a 6 week pilates class voucher from DH one Christmas and the difference was amazing by the end of it. If you go to a decent class the instructor will normally help modify the moves so you do what you can, but they'll really push you to make sure you go further than you think you can.
I started running recently with one of the These Girls Can groups and I'm noticing a massive difference already.
I'd love to cycle but I can't get past the sore bum thing.

So yanbu to think some people just don't enjoy exercise, yabu to think that you can live a long, healthy life without doing regular exercise, even if you hate it.

AliceKlar · 09/04/2017 21:50

cats please don't worry about having less than a perfect figure. I'm like a small, out-of-proportion hobbit but am buggered if I'm not going to shove on some leggings and take my hobbit body out for a fast walk. And I don't even have your good hair to detract from my Middle-Earth self. I can't do classes as am dyspraxic and cannot follow the instructions. But walking fast for as near to an hour a day got me in the best shape I'd been in since having DD 30 years ago. Could you put an ad in the local shops offering free dog walking? I'm sure there'll be someone who would be glad of someone to take their dog out for a good old walk.

ArialAnna · 09/04/2017 21:50

Perhaps you need something with a bit of fear factor to get your adrenaline going and make you forget that you're exercising?

Is there a climbing or bouldering centre in your area? Or would you consider mountain biking? (You don't need mountains, just some hills) It's harder to feel bored when you are wobbling down a steep vertical on a rough track.

Havanaclub · 09/04/2017 21:50

Walk, walk, walk.

Costs nothing, no planning required, just good footwear.

Stick yer earphones in and podcast your five miles or less, or more.

Pick a nice route and off you go. Circular is best.

You will be glowing afterwards. It is just so good to be out in the fresh air.

Original poster
catscurledupbythefire · 09/04/2017 21:51

But, but

It's boooooooorrrrriiiiinnng :)

(It REALLY is! How do you lot not get bored shitless walking!) Grin

OP posts:
AliceKlar · 09/04/2017 21:52

Shotgun Thanks for the flowers :) I hope you get to be under the thumb of small, cute coach in the not too distant future.

AliceKlar · 09/04/2017 21:53

cats I am bored shitless. I totally hate walking. And I mean HATE it.

buckeejit · 09/04/2017 21:55

I listen to audiobooks when walking-try to get to 10k steps with housework & laps of the car park when I'm waiting for playgroup to open. Every little bit does help. If you have a good audiobook it's great. I keep wanting to get up early to do a 20 minute walk but am as yet too lazy for that though I. Sure it would set me up for the day

Original poster
catscurledupbythefire · 09/04/2017 22:00

My concentration is awful. I'm not great with audiobooks. I used to like reading. Not the most high end of literature admittedly but I did like it. These days I just can't seem to focus. Confused I blame children!

OP posts:
AliceKlar · 09/04/2017 22:04

Dont worry about concentration. Just get out there. As my brother advised - less thinking,more doing. My motivation when I get past the half way point and the joy at it being over at the end!

Lovecat · 09/04/2017 22:10

I hear you. I hated all exercise until I started horse riding, which I loved so much I bought my own horse and between the daily exercising, mucking out and making up hay bags, not to mention the fact that he was a headstrong bugger that I was constantly having to half-halt (great for the bingo wings) this had the happy side effect of getting me very fit very quickly. Then I got pg and had to put my boy out on loan, and finances and time constraints dictated that the loan ended up being permanent :(

I still haven't found anything I love as much and DD is now 12 Blush. We've just got a dog so I'm easing myself back into walking as it's much more fun with a pooch, but I'm horrified at how unfit I've got in the meantime and desperately need to do something. But what?

Having read all the useful advice on this thread, I'm going to see if I can find a pilates class that'll take a stiff-as-a-board 50 yr old (I went to a class at my old gym once and was thoroughly looked down on and ignored by the very up himself instructor so it put me off ever going back). I really don't want to be a creaky old woman!