5 Ways to Help If You Don’t Like Exercise

I know I’m lucky. I like to exercise. I love it, in fact. I love it so much I made a career out of helping other people do it. Having said that, I know lots of people don’t exactly feel this way. I’d have to hide my head pretty deep in the sand not to realize that many people don’t like exercise at all, including some of the people I work with right now! I’ve got to say that sometimes I kind of feel like the vegetables that are pushed to the side of someone’s dinner plate.

don't like exercise


Having said that, I really do believe that everyone can benefit from appropriate exercise and I’ve yet to hear someone tell me they regret coming in after a workout, no matter how they felt beforehand.

Today I’d like to give you a few hints on how to get your exercise in even if it’s not your favorite thing to do.

  1. Schedule it. This is number one for a reason. Put it on your calendar and don’t let anything get in the way. Sure, things happen from time to time but deep down you know when you’re just using outside things as an excuse. One of our members Sue, just told me that she looks at her sessions the same way she looks at her job. You don’t skip work because you just don’t feel like it do you?
  2. Find people. At our gym we do everything in groups. We use personalized programs but people are just doing “their program” with other people there at the same time. The best thing about this is that our members get to know each other. They become friends and that makes their workouts more of a fun get-together. That way even if someone doesn’t exactly like exercise all that much, the community makes it a nice place to be and that makes the exercise more fun and effective!
  3. Understand the benefits. As much as you don’t like exercise I’m pretty sure you understand the benefits of it. Better, strength, flexibility, mobility, decreased pain, increased bone density, improves immune system function, better confidence, etc.
  4. Do something you like. OK. Like may be overstating it, but if you absolutely hate lifting weights or running or body pump classes than try to find something else. There are a ton of options!
  5. Forget motivation. This clip says it way better than I can. Take 4 minutes and watch.

If you don’t want to watch it essentially she essentially says that we are hard-wired to avoid things that are difficult and scary. The more we wait for “motivation” the more this hard-wiring kicks in and that means WE DON’T DO ANYTHING! In other words you’ve got to just suck it up and do what you need to do.

I’ve worked with hundreds of people over the past 8 years and I know these five tips have helped many of them, including the ones that don’t like exercise. I think they can help you, too. Have a great day!

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