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?

In general, people complaining need a 'Do you want sympathy or solutions?"

Relationships are just as important for health as physical training - there is plenty out there on the damage not having close relationships can do and the protective benefits of them. It's fine if you want to make a boundary that you're not going to listen to them discuss certain topics now if it's really bothering you, but there is little to gain in keeping connections by going on about this just because you think you see the answers they need.

I seriously used to think I’d end up in a mobility scooter. It still blows my mind that I used to worry about that.

I used a mobility scooter to help extend the amount of distance and time I could be out for some years in my twenties. I no more 'ended up' in it than I end up in my shoes to make walking outside more comfortable to do or those who drive 'end up' in cars to go long distances. I get it's a common worry, but it's a tool and ableist attitudes around mobility devices push people to avoid using tools that would increase their quality of life.

Oh, and I was significantly underweight with muscle weakness during this so conserving energy to rebuild was a high priority - advice based on weight loss is harmful for me - and the recommended training work for reconditioning with muscle weakness often involves reclined cardio and resistance training. I'm someone who gets deconditioned easily and has to recondition, a skill sadly not taught to most people.

It's nice you like them, but crosstrainers are really not a cure all if exercise is painful or other issues. It depends on the cause - for those who need to sit down rapidly to prevent falling over/blacking out or have gait issues, then crosstrainers can be dangerous.

Giving advice based only on one's own experience and holy epiphany tends to be the worst and most annoying, especially to those who've dealt with an issue for a long time, even more so from people who use the 'I used to be like you' sort of rhetoric. I certainly wouldn't tell anyone who uses and finds a mobility scooter annoying how I ended up no longer using it, I'm well aware that it's too individual for that.

@BiBabbles Well said

Totally with you. If someone kept moaning about being hungry all the time, but refused to eat, you’d say something.

They aren’t looking after their bodies. It’s not fun for everyone but it is a necessity for a healthy life.

“Boo hoo I don’t enjoy it”. Surely it’s better than dying young?

@BiBabbles 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

I take the dog for walks but don’t exercise in the sense of going to a gym or group. My reason is it’s an additional pressure in an already busy day and I live a fair distance
from everywhere offering them or the times don’t fit my other obligations. I don’t have space for gym equipment in my house or private space to follow a video. I’ve also never got the endorphin boost that people talk about when I have exercised in gyms
in the past so still don’t understand what the fuss is about in regards to it feeling good.

When I was young, sometime in the last century, schools could be very keen on sports (or 'running about aimlessly'). This put me off all forms of exercise, and all sports. Later, in my early 20s, I went through a bad patch and was very depressed. I used to go for long walks at night, when no-one was around. These walks cheered me up a bit (endorphins I guess) and I've been pretty active ever since, walking, cycling and swimming. I enjoy it. i wouldn't do it if I didn't.

I tried a gym once: horrible places, full of sweaty poseurs and complicated machines, and bloody expensive to boot.

Exercise is generally good for you, but it's not for everyone, and you certainly don't need to spend hours in a gym, run marathons, or cycle to John O' Groats. Maybe walk to the postbox, do a bit more housework, be forgetful so you end up going up and down stairs more than you really want ... and don't preach. Folks who blether about how much they go to the gym bring out my homicidal side.

I agree with you. If you don’t use it you lose it. You see it especially happening as (some) people get older. They do less and less then find they can’t do things any more.

But I have an exercise evangelist telling me to go running to lose weight (she runs but is overweight). I know exercise whilst dieting doesn’t work for me, I lose control of eating.

Agree that gentle exercise for bad back etc is good and could be just the thing that’s needed, but when in pain it’s hard to imagine that.

Exercise has near enough saved my life too OP. And I fear I am boring people with it. I am now a completely different body shape and I feel strong. I enjoy working out 6 days a week.
But I had to be ready to do it. I only began this 14 weeks ago. Before then, I had absolutely zero interest and couldn't see the point.
People just want to moan without hearing solutions. You can only try but you may offend some people

People just want to moan without hearing solutions.

Yes. They are telling you how they’re feeling and banging on about how [insert magic solution here] will fix all their problems just dismisses that and often wouldn’t work for reasons you’re not aware of. People are allowed to just want to vent about what they’re finding tough. Friends should understand that.

You can only try but you may offend some people

It’s not necessarily offensive but it is utterly frustrating to keel saying “I’m pleased that worked for you but isn’t appropriate for me”. There are big parallels here with infertility.

These threads are always the same. OP has a view and it doesn't occur to them the alternative options.

There’s also research that shows endorphins — which sometimes trigger euphoria after aerobic exercise — are fickle, Turcotte said. Some people never get a “runner’s high” from working out. And some people get an endorphin rush from less-active pursuits, like nerding out on scientific research, she added.

Says specialist Dr at Uni of California.

Not everyone gets endorphins. I don't. I generally don't like exercise. I've tried many: spinning, boxercise, Pilates. None of it do I enjoy.

@Hellsbells35

Totally with you. If someone kept moaning about being hungry all the time, but refused to eat, you’d say something.

They aren’t looking after their bodies. It’s not fun for everyone but it is a necessity for a healthy life.

“Boo hoo I don’t enjoy it”. Surely it’s better than dying young?

Define young.

The OP lost me at evangelical.

Preaching to people is one way to make them run the opposite direction to where you want them to be.

Similar to the 'celebrating curvy' thread also on the go right now, it's not as simple as:

Preacher: did you know exercise is good for you?
Recipient: oh gosh! Now you have told me, I see the light!
Preacher: you can thank me later

I read your update about the cross trainer OP and think it's great that it worked for you.
I would actually disagree with this though, Cardio based training is good. But actually weight training is better IMO. And I just wanted to throw it out there just to show that we are all different and we all prefer different things. We all have various reasons why we do/do not exercise. And have different preferences to what works for us.
I requested a cross trainer years ago and used it a couple of times. We soon got rid of it.
I also run, but never enjoy it. It's just a quick way to burn calories and increase stamina. I actually don't think running has many benefits and impacts the body hugely. My favourite type is a mix of lots, including cardio and weights and machines if at the gym.

The problem is, everyone knows the benefits, but if you genuinely don’t enjoy it, it’s hard, yes you might go once, you might even keep it going for a few weeks, but if you hate everything about it, it gets harder to make the effort every single time, then when the weather turns nasty it’s even worse.

If once were enough the preachers might have a more valid point.

@Oblomov21

These threads are always the same. OP has a view and it doesn't occur to them the alternative options.

There’s also research that shows endorphins — which sometimes trigger euphoria after aerobic exercise — are fickle, Turcotte said. Some people never get a “runner’s high” from working out. And some people get an endorphin rush from less-active pursuits, like nerding out on scientific research, she added.

Says specialist Dr at Uni of California.

Not everyone gets endorphins. I don't. I generally don't like exercise. I've tried many: spinning, boxercise, Pilates. None of it do I enjoy.

I don't either. If anything it makes me really miserable. Also, as a complete mindfuck, I got quite poorly a few times after trying some things. Pure coincidence obviously, but didn't help.

The only thing I enjoy is swimming, but that's more to do with being in the water rather than exercise. I'll happily float for ages.

@AccidentallyOnPurpose me too, I am in awe of proper open water swimmers but just love being in water pootling about, I do try and do a mile in the pool every now and then but pootling is more fun.

@Oblomov21

These threads are always the same. OP has a view and it doesn't occur to them the alternative options.

There’s also research that shows endorphins — which sometimes trigger euphoria after aerobic exercise — are fickle, Turcotte said. Some people never get a “runner’s high” from working out. And some people get an endorphin rush from less-active pursuits, like nerding out on scientific research, she added.

Says specialist Dr at Uni of California.

Not everyone gets endorphins. I don't. I generally don't like exercise. I've tried many: spinning, boxercise, Pilates. None of it do I enjoy.

It takes me 20 minutes to get it. Which is great for me, as I can tell myself 'just 10 minutes', 'just 10 minutes more and I can stop'. IF I am able to do that without 'bad' pain - meaning there isn't a joint or tendon inflamed or having too much load applied to it in a way that will cause either microinjuries or fullblown ones.

I use specific equipment that I know is unlikely to cause additional stress to joints/tendons (so never the elliptical or upright bikes - or free weights/kettlebells) - but if something hurts or feels wrong, I have to stop immediately. No questions about it, I have to stop. Otherwise I'm back at A&E or I will get floored by an ominously excruciating pinnnngggg before immobility, severe pain, and swelling, whether or not something has fully dislocated or only subluxed, and adhesions start to form (and nobody ever welcomed the sort of massage you have to do to break those fuckers up before they thicken and set hard).

And during flares or injuries, I can't exercise. Been told absolutely, unequivocally, adamantly by medical professionals DO NOT EXERCISE. Let's face it, they're probably getting bored of seeing me with the latest injury of the month. Christ knows I get bored with the injury of the day - at least they only see me for the ones that won't go away by themselves.

None of this has ever stopped arseholes telling me that I should go for a fucking run, use the elliptical, do a spin class, stop using machines 'because you have to lift heavy and free or it's not worth bothering', do a 30 day shred (the name attached to those incidentally, was the cause of some really nasty injuries for participants in The Biggest Loser) or anything that they personally think I should be doing.

It's like genetic diseases and disability don't exist other than as 'proof' that people aren't thinking positively enough - and have likely caused those issues through a flaw in their moral character?

It's fucking ableist and offensive. The original post was ableist and offensive. Subsequent posts from some people have been ableist and offensive.

(You however, weren't being offensive - just in case my post didn't separate my commenting on the endorphins and the generalised rant that followed!)

I'm another who gets no endorphins from exercise. I go through periods of doing regular exercise but find it very hard to maintain as I really don't enjoy it. Time is definitely a factor, working shifts and with 2 children. I know I'm supposed to be healthier for exercising but I don't feel that I am. I have a job where I'm on my feet a lot and I'm fairly fit anyway. I am overweight and find it hard to lose it but that's mainly due to a health condition. I can do 3-4 months of regular exercise before I jack it in and have a 3-4 month break.