Ask Lemmy

None. I enjoy exercise itself. No music, no tech, no nothing. Just a program and a timer. When I'm running, I get runner's high. When I'm doing calisthenics, I look forward to doing advanced moves.

Exercise bike + watching something on a cheap 2016 tablet

Try different things until you find something that feels good even as an idea. Think about things you like doing and how you like them. For me, I dislike team sports and being surrounded by people in a gym setting. I like doing things on my own, preferably at home while not talking to anyone. I first start thinking about maybe enjoying a spooky story podcast while walking so I start thinking about the temperature and the things I like watching while I'm out, etc. Same for weight lifting, pilates and yoga (Those are my cyclical workouts. I get bored easily) I hype myself up in my head first and then use the "do it for five minutes" method.

I have NEVER said "Well I wish I didn't come to yoga. This class sucked" "That lifting routine was a total waste of time. Not doing it again"

Also, having cute/neat stuff for it helps, just beware of spending habits. Did I need to buy green yoga blocks? No Do they make me Happy everytime I look how they are the exact same shade as my pothos? Yes they do.

Combine with work. Birds and stones.

Personally, I like a treadmill.

For years I planned to get one, and all the runners in my family would talk about how awful they are, how no one ever uses it once they have it, and getting outside is so much better.

I finally got the treadmill a couple months ago, and I use it several times per week. Some weeks I use it every day. It's convenient, I can control the temperature in the room, I can watch something on my phone while I run, and I like being able to set a consistent pace.

Honestly I find it quite enjoyable on it's own. The more I do it, the more I just enjoy the running itself. But I tend to have some music playing and dream away a bit

Find sports that you actually enjoy - try out different things. In my case:

• Cardio: running fucking sucks, swimming is boring as shit. Cycling, on the other hand, is pretty fun. Feels like flying when everything aligns.
• Strength: lifting weights at the gym is doable, but boring. Climbing? Hell yeah, give me more routes where I have to tie myself into a knot while pulling up all my weight with my fingertips.

It can be an exact opposite of it for you. Or you'll find out that team sports are the bees knees because support from other people is what you've been missing.

Work out watch star trek. By the season 4 you'll be made of steel

For me keeping it quick helps alot. No need to be in the gym for 1.5-2 hours, especially if you can wrap up your workout in 50 minutes. I'm just there to get my reps in, no more no less.

To that end either find a split that doesn't target as many muscle groups in 1 session. Like Push Pull Legs. Or super set as much as possible.

For finding motivation to actually do it, I tend to workout after already being productive. So clean up your room/kitchen, or code for a bit. And when that productivity train is going, keep it going. Or go immediately when coming home from work, don't first "relax". Keep the momentum high and tackle things of your todo list; like working out.

I chart my improvements over time and equate them to role playing game experience points

Do 20 crunches? that's +20 xp towards constitution

Really makes it a lot easier to reframe boring tasks

A few variants I like:

• Weight lifting

I like the progression. It's cool to see the numbers go up

• Cycling

It literally just makes me feel like a kid again, just flying around at quite high speeds. I've recently discovered that this is also a lot of fun to do with friends

• Walking

This is the one that helped me the furthest in weight loss back when I was overweight. You can do basically unlimited amounts of it, and with a podcast or audiobook in your headphones, it doesn't really get boring either.

I got a recumbent exercise bike, a pawn shop tv, steam deck, and a steam controller. I play whatever is loaded on my deck while I bike, usually for about 30-45 minutes at a time.

Right now I am playing Fall Guys while I exercise, as it keeps me entertained on survival for ~10 minutes per game.

I've recently taken up swimming. I'm much more inspired to do it if it's an indoor facility, so the city rec center pass is inexpensive and then I'm inspired to go. Even if all I do is fart around on a pool noodle for an hour, I'm still moving, and the water makes the impact on my bad knee go away.

I used to hate exercise. Then, I pushed myself to do it regularly and the benefits surpassed the negative side of it by a lot. For instance, almost all my chronic pain issues are gone, so I'm saving a couple hundreds yearly on healthcare. I also feel better physically (I can move better, I have better endurance) if I'm exercising regularly compared to when I'm not. Because, let's face it, I don't like it, so every now and then I stop for reasons and getting into it back again is very difficult. But it's always worth it.

Bike rides are the only thing that made cardio fun for me. The varied environments and the thrill of exploring massage my brain and I end up not noticing how much it sucks to bike straight up the side of a mountain. Also the alternating grind of ascending and thrilling adrenaline rush of descending keeps things fresh.

Exercise outside (preferably in a natural setting) and with a group. Outdoor bootcamp is the holy grail for me. Reasons:

1. Outside air is easier to breathe than stale gym air

2. There's always something interesting to look at while you slowly die

3. Clumps of grass don't mind if I swear under my breath

4. PEER PRESSURE. IT WORKS.

5. At the end of the training session, ~~trauma~~ bonding with the rest of the group (edit: I misused the term trauma bonding)

I take my canoe out on a lake that's 8 minutes from my house. Relaxing, and the exercise is a side effect.

I'm also delusional enough to think I can box so I hit the punching bag for 40 minutes some days. It's a joke but makes me feel badass.

i learned to love the feeling of muscles getting stretched

Hiking. I don't try to climb mountains,just get out and move. The fact I have to watch my footing and have a chance of seeing (or at least hearing) wildlife helps distract from the fact exercising sucks.

I use mental tricks as well. I had to bribe myself to get started. "Look there's a trail near that takeout place you like, if you hike you can get takeout!" If I run out of breath due to uphill terrain, I'm not stopping because I can't keep going, it's clearly to look at this neat bird/bug/plant. If I have an off day and need to turn back early, I remind myself that I've already won by getting off the couch.

Hiking. I don't try to set speed records climbing mountains, but instead find an easy/moderate trail

Pick up an outdoor hobby like disc golf, tennis, pickleball, golf, something that you can enjoy with other people. You can usually find an amateur league of various sports/games and that'll keep you going when they ask if you're coming or you're signed up to play on a team for the season.

You may even enjoy the company of those people and do other sports/activities together.

Turning it into a game can also help.

Remember, it's more about slowly creating a sustainable habit of moving your body that's important. You don't need to run a 10K tomorrow to be successful.

Maybe you can make a map of the parks around your city and put a fun sticker on each park after you visit for 30 minutes, regardless the activity. Idk, just kinda throwing stuff out there.

I use comfortable earbuds, turn on a podcast, and go outside. I walk as far as I can and loop back around and barely notice because the pod was taking up my mental space preventing me from feeling the pains.

Two ways -

1. Really really long walks in the city and people watching, or
2. Biking like a madman, not measuring anything, only enjoying the wind.

Playing DDR.

Because then the public won't see my red, flailing body as I stumble around to sit after a single song.

That and mowing my lawn. ...except with my lawn, I've had people pull over and ask if I'm okay. Which is embarrassing every time it happens. I'm out of shape and I have a condition!! But I'm not going to explain that to strangers lol

Good, driving music. I have a big list of liked songs on Spotify that I listen to while I'm exercising, but I'm slowly creating another playlist called 'Energy' that I add suitable songs to, with the intention of ultimately building a playlist full of such songs. It's kinda weird though, sometimes I feel like the music gets stale and repetitive, even with 800+ songs on shuffle, and that affects my motivation to exercise.

Find your inner voice and listen to it. Youtube is all crap. Don't listen to parental advice. Teachers are not always right. Listen to your inner voice.

I have to walk the dog, so I get myself out. Once I've started walking doing a little longer than the bare minimum is not too bad. If the weather is nice it's actually quite enjoyable.