To not get why people refuse to exercise?

[JumpingJacky]

Exercise near enough saved my life, literally, and I am evangelical about it but still people make so many excuses as to why they can’t do just a small amount, and don’t realise that they are suffering for it!

I have a relative who suffers from back pain. He spends a large majority of his day sitting. I have suggested various low impact exercises that I know through experience will help but he won’t do them while continuing whingeing and moaning about being in pain!

A friend who is overweight complains that she has pain in her knees and ankles and is finding walking hard which is stopping her doing stuff. I know weight loss is hard so I suggest she joins the gym (she can afford it and has time) to use the low impact machines to at least build some strength into her legs and get a bit fitter but she’s just not interested whilst continuing to whinge and moan!

I get it that exercise is hard and can make you uncomfortable and sweaty but for the benefits to your body that’s a small price to pay surely?

Our local pools are all still shut.

Congratulations.

Body shaming?
Of you are overweight and start jogging you often trigger some joint pain. Pain?
Urinary incontinence?
Faecal incontinence?
A million other reasons people don't want to share with you?

@Cinnamon12345

Exercise is great fun, I struggle to understand why more people don’t do it.

It is but I only discovered this aged about 25. It really was evil for me before then so I sympathise with everyone else that hates it.

OP I agree with you but I doubt others will want to listen to you. They need to figure it out for themselves. Aged 25 I accidentally ended up on a ski holiday (someone else cancelled)- I was useless but loved the slightly sore thighs afterwards and the exhilarated feeling.
I started getting fit when I got home and never looked back. Now run several times a week. I think people have to have their own eureka moment to get fit.

I'm going to exercise my arm later, with a pint of vodka and redbull.

You really have a lot of self believe OP. Self belief isn't the same as self insight and I say that someone who is an exercise fan.

People have to make up their own minds and have to desire to do it. Unfortunately you only realise how much better you feel once you start doing it. A year ago I was 4.5 stone heavier and just tipping into the obese category. I ate and drank too much and didn’t exercise. I’m now a healthy bmi and run 8-10K most days, longer at the weekends. If you had told me a year ago I would be getting up at 5am to run each day, I would have thought you were crazy! Now I feel terrible if I haven’t started the day with a run. I feel like I’m alive, not just existing.

It’s hard to get it across without appearing preachy, so I don’t try. I do tell people if they ask though. Having been there fairly recently, I understand where both sides are coming from.

I think exercise is important and I do it everyday (walk, yoga, circuits) but I wouldn’t preach to others. It can be very hard to find the motivation to start exercising, it’s not something everyone finds easy to do. Some days I really don’t want to do it but always feel better afterwards. I suffered from lower back pain years ago and was told I had thinning of my lumber, since doing the correct exercises and keeping my weight down I rarely get any issues.

It can be frustrating knowing it could help others but I’m sure they have already been told and have chosen not to do anything about it.

Also childcare

@bridgetreilly

Quite a lot of us are still recovering from the literal trauma of school PE.

Yes! ^ This.

I hated exercise thanks to school PE teachers. On my 40th birthday I managed to run a 10k in under an hour thanks to a fab friend who trained me, encouraged me, and ran the race with me. This was followed by 15 years of happy racing before arthritis got me. Then I switched to pilates on the advice of the physiotherapist. I was doing that once a week, but had to give in to a total hip replacement at the end of 2019. Since then, lockdown has meant pilates has gone on-line, so I'm doing it more - every other day. The difference in my mobility has been amazing. I can now put off my 2nd hip replacement by 18 months and no longer suffer that awful grinding lower back pain.

@JumpingJacky

The pool reopened on the 12th same as the gym here. It was also open between July and until the beginning of November, then reopened at the beginning of December for a few weeks same as national guidelines afaik so was open almost half of the last year! I only know as I do 40 lengths as a cool down after my 2 hour gym session which I cycle there and back to. Excuses, excuses.

Can I just say to people saying exercise hurts to try low impact exercise like the crosstrainer and light weights to start. We are not designed to run long distances. It’s supposed to be in short spurts to get away from predators or annoying exercise bores.

So many rude people on here 🥑.

It's absolutely astounding that you've asked AIBU and when everyone says yes you continue to do it. NO ONE WANTS YOUR ADVICE UNLESS THEY ASK FOR IT. You're not smarter than everyone else, you're not more informed. You're not better than everyone else. Jesus! You desperately need to address your compulsive need to be better than everyone else.

Astonishing that you have such an uninformed perspective on mental health: not only is it often impossible for people suffering from issues like depression to exercise, but after a point - exercise can actually worsen your mental health. It's belittling to suggest mental health problems disappear when you go for a job, for many people it's not so simple -- and comments like yours are extremely harmful. Not to mention the number of EDs which can be triggered by reengaging in exercise.

In addition, I cannot tell you how sick I am of people who suggest exercise to me to help with 'back pain,' despite the fact my surgeons advise engaging in none, even limiting standing to short periods. If I took your terrible advice, I'd be paralysed or dead. Your experience is yours, mine is mine -- and you need to respect that difference, and understand that what is appropriate and healthy for you isn't for other people.

No one has took action based on your transformation, because while your physical health has improved - your personality has apparently worsened significantly.

So many rude people on here

Ha! Bit like yourself possibly?

I do what I can in terms of exercise but given I only need to move slightly for one joint or another to dislocate, it's minimal and infrequent. Yes building muscle may stabilise some joints but in the context of the pain and damage every dislocation causes, I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't.

You sound quite insufferable to be honest and I'm very grateful to have far more supportive, understanding and emotionally intelligent friends in my life that what I've seen here.

@DifficultPifcultLemonDifficult

You sound absolutely sanctimonious and I would eat a doughnut every time you started going on if I was your friend or relative.

If you were overweight and in pain you'd eat a doughnut in an effort to 'spite' someone encouraging you to be healthy?

Yeah, that'll definitely help you in the longterm

I’ve had the epiphany too but I’ve never evangelised or preached to anyone about it. Lots of people do ask me how I lost so much weight, got fit and stayed that way...but I’m down to earth and brief in my response. I know that people will only tackle it by themselves and when they’re good and ready (like I did) or not at all. I don’t invest too much time in providing details or insight. No one really wants to hear it. They already know.

I think open water swimming is awesome, but suggest to most people to get into a lake in January they’ll tell you your mad and where to stick it. And quite right too if you’re not properly acclimatised you could die. It takes the right frame of mind and the right time to make the commitment.

MENTAL HEALTH IS NOT A JOKE!

And is a direct consequence on physical health for a lot of people!

I walked to collect my Chinese takeaway tonight. And I only ate 5 of the 8 sweet and sour chicken balls. I know it's only little steps but I've decided to post my story in order to inspire others.

Because when your PE teacher at school was a carbon copy of the PE teacher from Kes (youtube it) any form of team or group exercise gives me the absolute horrors. And its boring as fuck as well.

Seriously OP, if you started banging on at me about exercising more and telling me what exercises to do I would tell you promptly to shut up

@WaltzingBetty but it does help in the short term, everyone knows exercise is good for you but it takes hard work and commitment. Whereas eating a doughnut releases the happy endorphins from the sugar which is addictive. As humans we are biologically programmed to search out high calorie food and to conserve energy in order to survive. But moving on from cave man living our biological make up did not anticipate Netflix and the sweet aisle at Tesco.

@JumpingJacky

The pool reopened on the 12th same as the gym here. It was also open between July and until the beginning of November, then reopened at the beginning of December for a few weeks same as national guidelines afaik so was open almost half of the last year! I only know as I do 40 lengths as a cool down after my 2 hour gym session which I cycle there and back to. Excuses, excuses.

Can I just say to people saying exercise hurts to try low impact exercise like the crosstrainer and light weights to start. We are not designed to run long distances. It’s supposed to be in short spurts to get away from predators or annoying exercise bores.

So many rude people on here 🥑.

You're just trying to wind people up, it's a bit pathetic of you but, perhaps part of your own baggage you're still carrying around? You're acting as if you're some sort of pin up for exercise but you're really not and you'd be the very last person I'd listen to, sorry.

I hope your self-esteem can catch up with your bluster; they're eons apart right now. The people who can really motivate don't need to behave as you do, they just don't.

OldLang

So many rude people on here

Ha! Bit like yourself possibly?

Where exactly have I been rude to on here then after being told to fuck off, called a twat etc? I hadn’t even directed my OP to anybody on here but got loads of responses as if I’d personally attacked people why they were attacking me. The point of my OP was if you’re in pain and you know that there’s something that can help you, you can even see how it’s helped someone with your own eyes, why wouldn’t you try it instead of moaning about it.

Obviously touched some raw nerves but I can take it.

@JumpingJacky

The pool reopened on the 12th same as the gym here. It was also open between July and until the beginning of November, then reopened at the beginning of December for a few weeks same as national guidelines afaik so was open almost half of the last year! I only know as I do 40 lengths as a cool down after my 2 hour gym session which I cycle there and back to. Excuses, excuses.

Can I just say to people saying exercise hurts to try low impact exercise like the crosstrainer and light weights to start. We are not designed to run long distances. It’s supposed to be in short spurts to get away from predators or annoying exercise bores.

So many rude people on here 🥑.

Can I just say to people saying exercise hurts to try low impact exercise like the crosstrainer and light weights to start

SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP

Hip bursitis. Dislocating knee. Dislocating shoulder due to shallow cup joint. Intermetatarsal bursitis. Lateral tendinosis. Sacroiliac joint inflammation. Psoriatic arthritis with widespread tendon and bursae involvement. EDS.

You've only been exercising for a short time. There's plenty of time for all of the above, plus thousands of other medical conditions or overuse injuries, such as frozen shoulder from too much swimming/weights/poor technique to catch up with you.

And then you won't appreciate some Johnny Come Lately to the whole not eating your feelings and moving occasionally thing telling you that you should do something that will cause further damage to you because it's just a case of a poor mindset.

The point of my OP was if you’re in pain and you know that there’s something that can help you, you can even see how it’s helped someone with your own eyes, why wouldn’t you try it instead of moaning about it?

Do you honestly think that these people have no idea about exercise until you tell them?

@PurpleDaisies

Our local pools are all still shut.

Congratulations.

I think it's pretty fucking shit, personally. I'd like to be back in there.

Does it matter, though? You do you. I'm anxious and depressed and I know that walking helps lift my mood. But getting on the right frame of mind for a long walk is fucking hard.
So yes, I know it helps, but sometimes I just can not.