Training Archives - Page 20 of 20

Why You Hate Exercise—And How You Can Change That

For many people (and you might count yourself as one of them), exercise is a chore.

But here’s the truth: it doesn’t have to be.

I used to feel the same way. I’d go to the gym, waste an hour or so on the treadmill or elliptical machine… use a resistance machine or two… maybe do a few crunches.

Not only did it make me gloomy, my body never transformed the way I wanted it to.

But once I found something I loved, it completely transformed my idea of exercise.

Because here’s the thing…

Exercise doesn’t have to be torture

In fact, for many people (and I now include myself as one of them, after years of dreading it), exercise is a release. It makes people happy. It changes their lives and bodies for the better.

The key is to find something you enjoy.

Everybody can like some form of exercise. Our bodies were made to move. We were not designed to be couch potatoes.

How to Take an Active Rest Day

Does this sound like you?

You work out as hard as you can five or six days a week, making sure to include all the good stuff—intervals, squats, pull ups, push ups, and other good-for-you whole body exercises.

You make sure and walk or bike when you can, and if you don’t live in a city, you make a special effort to walk your dog or go for a stroll in the outdoors at least a couple of times a week.

Basically, you’re pretty active.

But what do you do on your off days?

My First Push Up (And Finding the Will to Do Anything You Put Your Mind to)

1…2…3.

I still remember that day. The day I did my first real push up. Actually, the day I did my first three real push ups, to be exact.

I was visiting my parents, so I must have still been in college. And though I’ve always acted strong and tough… In reality, I had a pretty weak upper body my entire youth.

How weak?

I didn’t get an excellent on my Presidential Physical Fitness Test in grade school because I couldn’t do a single pull up (my good friend and athletic arch rival Renee did two).

I definitely couldn’t do a push up.

And until about three years ago, my brother called me “spaghetti arms.”

Now, to be fair, I have a build somewhat like my Dad’s—we’re both tall and lanky, with long, stringy arms.

We’ve both always had a hard time getting long sleeved shirts that would cover our entire arms. In fact, my arms are so long my high school basketball coach asked me if they ever drug on the floor (I was not amused at the time).

“Crack.”

That was the sound of my neck one evening.

Now I’ll be the first one to tell you that cracking bones is no abnormal occurance for me. I’m a regular snap-crackle-and-pop machine (it creeps the hell out of my sister).

But this crack… this one wasn’t normal.

The pain started soon after. I lost the ability to turn my head to the right, and shooting knife-like sensations started firing into the back of my neck any time I tried to move it like a normal human neck is supposed to move.

I tried to sleep, hoping the night’s rest would make the pain go away, but I had no such luck. I called up my chiropractor the next morning and she agreed to meet me within a few hours.

Turns out, the knife-like pain in my neck was nothing serious. The chiropractor gave me a very painful massage and a few adjustments, then sent me on my way, telling me to rest, rest, rest!

But the whole episode got me thinking. This weird can’t-move-my-neck experience has actually happened to me once before. I’ve also knocked a rib out of place a couple of times—an incredibly painful experience.

What did all these painful experiences have in common? I’d been training a lot, doing something heart poundingly hard nearly every single day… but each time, had forgotten to take any time to recover.

In short, I was overtraining.

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Seven Ways to Motivate Yourself to Exercise

How do you motivate yourself to exercise when there are dozens of things you’d rather be doing?

You know it’s good for you. Exercise helps you reach and maintain a healthy body weight, lowers blood pressure, gets rid of bad cholesterol, strengthens bones, lowers your risk for cancer, and decreases stress.

But we all know the truth: finding the time and motivation to get off the couch and work out isn’t always easy.

Here are seven ways to get—and keep—the motivation to exercise regularly:

1. Find something you enjoy doing.

Many gym-goers spend hours on the treadmill even though they hate it (this used to be me).

Yet there are plenty of other forms of exercise that can be just as (or more!) beneficial for weight loss and cardiovascular health.

Try a new class, substitute long cardio sessions with interval training, join a friendly sports team with your buddies—anything that will help you look forward to exercising, rather than dread it.

2. Keep track of your progress.

Using a journal to track measurements like weight and body fat percentage as well as progress made in your workouts will keep you much more motivated than looking in the mirror every day.

Just being able to see in print (or on the screen) that all your hard work has paid off can be the motivator you need to keep you working out on a regular basis.

3. Notice how you feel after exercise.

If you’re like most people, you may be tired and unmotivated before your workout, but feel nothing short of amazing afterwards.

The Easiest Way to Get Through a Tough Workout

It happens to all of us.

We plan our workouts for the week, fully intending on completing all of them.

We have the time carved out in our schedule. But sometimes, when the time comes to actually do the workout…

It just sounds so… hard.

Sound familiar?

Maybe you’ve had a tough, stressful day.

Maybe you’re still sore from the previous day’s workout.

Or maybe you didn’t get enough sleep the night before.

Whatever the reason, there’s something in you that is completely resistant to the workout ahead of you.

So what can you do about it?

How can you push past that resistance and complete your workout?

There are many different ways to approach it, but here are the steps I follow: