Exercise for the Fun of ItWriten by Cheri Ellsworth
If you've ever started an 'exercise program' for the
purpose of relieving a health condition or losing weight
and found it very difficult to stick with the program,
there's probably a good reason why your determination
didn't last...
Your motivation failed because its source wasn't directly
connected to the exercise. Simply put, in your mind the
exercise was a chore rather than a pleasure.
For most people, the consequences of doing 'chores' have
to be fairly immediate for us to continue them. Otherwise,
we tend only to do challenging things when they are
inherently rewarding.
If you want to stick with it when it comes to exercise,
you must find a physical activity that is inherently
rewarding for you, and let health and weight loss become
and added benefit.
When I first took an interest in getting fit, losing the
weight that I'd gained during a recent change to sedentary
work, I started with exercise videos. These appeal to some
people, especially if you make the workout part of your
daily routine, but for me, it was just too much dread.
Next, I decided to make a bigger investment, thinking that
would force me to work out. Enter the rowing machine.
I read a statistic somewhere (after I bought mine), that
97% of home exercise equipment purchases get used for less
than one month. I don't know if the statistic is true in
general, but in my case it was right on.
Even with the inspirational music in my ear and my eye on
the view out my daylight basement window, it seemed silly
to me to be rowing madly and going nowhere.
I really did want to lose the weight, and I knew that
exercise and activity were absolutely necessary - diet
alone wouldn't produce long term results. So I kept trying
new things.
Membership in a gym: too much hassle and drive time. Yoga
classes: the schedules never fit with the rest of my life.
If these sound like excuses, they are.
People make excuses when faced with things we really don't
want to do. But exercise doesn't have to be dreaded. And
that's the message here. Keep checking out new things
until you find what works.
What finally got me in the groove was so obvious and easy
in retrospect. Walking. I read that the best exercise for
changing our metabolism is that which uses the large
muscles, rhythmically and continuously. Walking, jogging,
bicycling, swimming laps.
I enjoyed walking once I found good trails to use. By
walking every day for 45 to 60 minutes, I began to get fit.
Once I was in better condition, it was fun to ride bicycle
and do other things like playing racquetball and volleyball.
These activities are exercise, and a lot more fun to me
than a daily workout video or time on the rowing machine.
That's why I continue doing them - to me they are play, not
chores, inherently pleasurable, and that's my motivation.
You will have to stay motivated until something clicks for
you, but here's the mental difference. In your mind, you
are in the process of finding something pleasurable, rather
than in the process of completing an onerous daily task.
This is not to say that there won't be times when you have
to push yourself a little bit to get going. That is where
routine and habit help you. If it is your routine to do
something physically active each day, you will eventually
feel strange when you have to skip it.
Whatever physical activities you end up sticking with
doing, they will likely involve pleasure and a sense of
play and accomplishment. That's why you'll stick with
them, fitness and losing weight are just bonuses.
Cheri Ellsworth is contributing author to Atec Exercise and Acer Bike. Visit to find valuable free information and additional articles by Cheri.