To think exercise has to get easier?

[PostmanPatisacrappostman]

I really want to get fitter and tone up. Need to lose a bit of weight too but not loads. I mainly just want to get fitter to feel better.
I've been really sedentary since my second dc hardly even walking anywhere.

So I'm trying to fit in a few bike rides and brisk walking/jogging. Nothing too strenuous. I reckon I rode 2.5 miles a couple of hills which were unavoidable.

Goodness me I went out on my bike this evening and I could not get up the hill I had to get off and push. I'm all stiff and achey too.. Trying to get up those hills I was sweating, out of breath, felt sick I could have just sat on the floor!

Tell me it gets easier soon?

[revolution909]

It takes anything from a couple of days to a couple of weeks. I think I couldn't move properly for the first 10days... Now I run half marathons ;)

[justilou]

I am starting today. I forced my husband to buy me a gym membership for my birthday. (He works in professional sport, so we get a significant discount). I told him not to let me talk him out of it. I'm off to buy a gym bag, a towel and a drink bottle this morning.

[PostmanPatisacrappostman]

It's hard to imagine ever feeling fitter.

Good luck justlou.

[Nettletheelf]

Two weeks of bleeding lungs, in my experience, after which it gets easier. Stick with it!

[HappyPixie]

It will get easier! Keep a record of what you're doing so you can see the improvement. Good luck!

[MrsTerryPratchett]

It does. But it's not linear. You don't get a little better every time. You get better, then worse, then loads better then better then worse. It's very frustrating.

However a year ago I couldn't run for one minute without panting, red-faced and sweaty. Now I can run 4k without blinking and 10k with the same red-face!

[SomewhatIdiosyncratic]

I'm not sure it gets "easier", but you suddenly notice that you've achieved much more on the same effort

Yes, you will notice progress. With practice, you'll get a bit further up the hill each time.

I agree that the progress isn't linear and there'll be easier days and harder days. But it will on balance go in the right direction.

[RandomWordsandaNumber5]

It does get easier because you get better and fitter. The only thing is that you start to push yourself more so you are improving all the time. In my experience, you'll feel so much better and healthier and will want to keep going because you're enjoying it so much.
You're on a great path - keep going!

[PostmanPatisacrappostman]

Ah thank you all, well my legs aren't aching so much today.

That's brilliant mrsterrypratchett. I'd love to eventually start doing the 5k park runs, that is my goal.

I always find it hard to believe that there's anyone out there as unfit as me.

[MagentaRocks]

Will definitely get easier although as you get fitter you push yourself more so you are still putting in as much effort and energy into it as the first day and getting to the point you can't do anymore so in that respect it isn't 'easier' as you are still putting in a shit load of effort. It is satisfying when you go that little bit further.

[TheSparrowhawk]

If you want to run 5k you should definitely download the couch to 5k app. I did it year before last and I'm still running regularly. It's great because it builds up really slowly and keeps you on track.

Getting started is the really hard bit. Once you get into it you'll probably find that like most people you get addicted and start to miss it if you don't do it.

[TrueBlueYorkshire]

It will get easier, it will take around 6 weeks before you start to feel the difference. The biggest difference will be that you will no longer get sore after couple of weeks and will actually start to look forward to a little walk or cycle here and there!!

If you can include any exercise in your routine that makes it much easier. I walk 1 mile to my train and then 1 mile to my office back and forth each day and it really helps keep my legs strong! Whenever i have to drive i feel a bit sad as it's 4 miles of walking i'm not doing!

[FacelikeaBagofHammers]

Consistency is key to getting fit. Get out, do something, most days.

By the way, is your bike well maintained? Soft tyres and a rusty chain can make what should be an easy cycle, a million times more difficult. Also make sure the saddle is the right height, you'll never get up a hill if it's too low.

[Eolian]

It does get easier, but if you let it stay easy, rather than upping the mileage/speed, you won't continue to get fit!

[Bobbiepin]

Someone once told me it never gets easier you just get quicker. I hated that at the time but its true. One day you'll be able to do that hill at the same pace without feeling so crap but if you do you'll be letting yourself down. Push yourself so you're out of breath and sweating and track your achievements so you can see how far you've come.

If you still look cute after a workout, you've done it wrong!

[ghostyslovesheets]

it will get easier but I don't think it ever get easy!

Mainly because when you get fitter you want to do more - go further or faster or lift bigger weights - so it's always hard but ti stops being horrible!

[arielmanto]

it never gets easier you just get quicker this encapsulates exactly what I've been trying to explain to myself about parkrun. a year ago I couldn't run 0.5k, and now I'm creeping up the rankings at the local parkrun. keep going. you will be astonished at how much further that same amount of effort gets you as time goes by. good luck!

[Namechangetempissue]

It does, but then you have to push yourself harder. Once I find I can lift a certain weight with more ease, its time for the next level. With sprints I'm always pushing harder. Its never easy but you should find something you enjoy and then the achievements become a pleasure and not hell! Good luck

[MaidOfStars]

OP, I'm pretty fit. I run long distances, play sport and weight train. I've been riding a bike for a few months, having eschewed cycling for a decade. Figured it would be a breeze, what with my cardio fitness and my arse and quads being all strong and that. I put the premise that I live in a place that is quite literally a national park named for its hills to the back of mind.

A breeze? Jesus.

Trying to get up those hills I was sweating, out of breath, felt sick I could have just sat on the floor

First run out on my shiny new bike, I couldn't make it up the 400m 12% hill near my house; I stopped after about 10m. On subsequent rides, I started to track how far I could get up, first to That Pub, then to The Launderette, then The Red Shop, and so on.

The first day I made it all the way, I was overjoyed. I was in gear 1.3 or something and going so slow I was nearly falling off, but I didn't care.

Now I test myself on how hard a gear I can get up in on fresh legs. I'm on 3.6 so far, and yes, it makes me want to vomit. This morning, after a weights session, I was back down at 2.3.

So yes, it gets easier. And despite having a decent lower body shape before I started, the biking has added a kind of "length" to my thigh muscles that I'm increasingly pleased with.

[MaidOfStars]

So yes, it gets easier
Oh, but I do agree with the PPs above - while it gets easier for exactly the same exercise, when things get easier you should be shifting up a gear (or a weight, or a speed).

[swingofthings]

Definitely will get easier, but maybe not as soon as you'd like it!

Still, the feeling you get when months later, you easily peddle up a hill you couldn't do at all before give you such a high, it is worth the perseverance!

[PossumInAPearTree]

In Feb i went to a "power walking" class at the gym. Which turned out to be a running class. I was the only one who walked and told the Instructor i would come back but that Id never run. He said fine. Im now running 6k non stop two or three times a week and am Building up to a 10k.

[PostmanPatisacrappostman]

Thanks again, very inspirational posts, love some of the stories.

I want to do the couch to 5k. It sounds achievable.

It would be great to get to a point where I'm doing some proper running and cycling. It would be really great to have a basic level of fitness and to learn to enjoy exercise.

[Ollivander84]

It does
I started years ago doing a team training thing. I thought I was going to pass out or vomit
It got better. Then it got harder again but I started to enjoy the feeling. I'm 9 weeks post op and having to rehab back into exercise and it is SO frustrating but the feeling of lifting weights makes up for it

[Igottastartthinkingbee]

It definitely get easier, but as you get fitter you do more so it still feels hard! But your perspective changes, what once felt difficult suddenly isn't such a big deal. But you have good and bad days along the way. And sometimes it just takes a while to get going. I generally feel rubbish for the first mile running and feel like stopping. But push through that and you get into a rhythm. Swimming is the same, although I have to say I'm finding progression is much slower than with running.