I know there are different forms of exercise so I’d say cardio is the worst for me. I’ve never gotten the so called runners high no matter how hard I tried even jogging for 35+ minutes.
A few months ago, my friend recommended I try some over the counter codeine and I was surprised by how it numbed the anguish of exercise. I run unbeliavably long on a treadmill in the gym and lifted weights without feeling much (though I’ve heard a lack of any pain during exercise is bad because you can damage your body without knowing it).
Anyone try any supplement boosters or even anabolic steroids when exercising? Does it work? I’m not sure I want to go the steroid route as I’m a bit afraid of steroid induced psychosis.
I hate all exercise that isn’t an actual sport I’m playing. So I get the most “bang for the buck” by only using weights. Kind of sucks during the quarantine era, as I have no weights at home.
I know Schwarzenegger says, “No pain, no gain”, but running or lifting weights is not supposed to be so painful you need opiates or steroids to get through it. Think more like a whey protein shake afterwards, and exercise at a normal level of intensity.
I generally find exercise feels better when it’s at a higher exertion level. I often get bored working out at lower levels. I’ll enjoy an hour-long workout where I’m totally drenched in sweat, but a 15 minute jog on a treadmill will seem like forever and I’ll be wanting to quit.
But I don’t think you should be trying to achieve that high from exercise. That happens from the endorphins that are released from the high exertion, but it doesn’t happen all the time and it’s not going to be enough to motivate you to exercise on a regular basis. Instead, find some kind of exercise which you generally enjoy and are likely to keep doing on a regular basis.
For example, I personally find jogging boring. That makes it not a good activity for me regardless of the benefits. But other people love jogging, so they have no problem doing it on a regular basis. What works for me is exercising in group classes, like kickboxing, spin, and Zumba. I find it very enjoyable to work out in that environment and have no problem completing the full hour. I think the reason it works for me is that there is an instructor saying what to do and I just follow along. I can turn off my brain and do the exercises and the class is over before I know it. When I do solo workouts like jogging or weightlifting, I’m thinking of excuses to stop working out. I find the group classes “fun” in some sense and that makes it very easy to keep doing them.
I’m one of those people who don’t enjoy exercise and have never gotten the endorphin response. But I have rheumatoid arthritis and movement of most of my joints can range from mildly tender to feeling like there’s sand in there. There’s no working past it (don’t think in 56 years I haven’t tried) and exercise actually intensifies mild discomfort into actual pain. Pain is an incredible disincentive.
I have had a very few occasions where I had no pain at all and once or twice on a prednisone taper and felt like superman. I assume that’s what normal people feel like on a daily basis and it must be amazing.
I think people’s reaction to exercise has a lot to do with sensitivity to stimulus. As someone with Asperger’s, exercise has always been anathema because it just feels terrible. During exercise you get sweaty, your pulse echos in your ears, your muscles protest, your joints feel every impact, etc.
Everyone has a different response to stimuli of different sorts. I think people who actually enjoy exercise simply have a very high tolerance to unpleasant stimulus.
The meds you are referring to suppress your perception of stimulus making exercise less odious.
I think it’s a bad idea to be taking any kind of medication as part of an exercise routine unless it’s at the recommendation of a medical professional.
What anguish are you experiencing while running or jogging? I ask because I’m wondering if it is specific to running or if it’s related to exercise in general.
I personally do not enjoy running and find it … not painful, but just unpleasant. I like cycling a lot more and am pretty active with that. Part of the reason is that the movement is just more agreeable but I do also like being out and exploring and having the scenery change and the bike makes that happen relatively quickly compared to running.
I tend to strongly dislike any indoor exercise in a gym, even stationary bikes. I’m very easily bored, and find it very easy to give into “well, that’s good enough for today, lets call it done”. On the bike I have the opposite problem, namely I give into “well, lets just explore this trail or neighborhood a little further” and still have to get home which means I’m out later than I’ve implied to my wife
When I was in the Navy, I ran regularly, and while I didn’t love it, I didn’t hate it either. At various times since, we’ve belonged to gyms and I’ve used assorted machines, but I never really enjoyed it.
I do like to walk - I think if I had a treadmill, I’d use it. On the other hand, I live in a really nice neighborhood with a 1.25 mile loop that makes for a pleasant walk. I really should harness up the dog and walk it daily. Or just walk it myself. Establishing the habit is the hard part.
The only exercise I’ve ever truly loved was walking/hiking. Now, for physical reasons, I can’t do that much. I can’t even use my stationary bike. So now, the only exercise I get is when I go to the supermarket and use the shopping cart as a walker. Plus sex, of course.
No; people who actually enjoy exercise find it pleasant, not unpleasant.
I hate “exercising” as a group or competitive activity. But I really like moving around.
Watch little kids running around for the fun of it. They’re not tolerating something unpleasant; they’re enjoying themselves. In this society, most adults seem to lose that, somehow. (You may have been an exception in the first place, and not enjoyed moving even as a small child; people do vary a lot.)
Exercise is never something I would do for “fun”. But I prefer to walk for errands, up to a mile, and I look for stairs rather than elevator, as a principle.
When I needed PT for sciatica for a few months, the daily exercises were mild, and I didn’t mind the hour a day. It really worked, BTW.
Thank God nobody expects me to exercise any more, being over 90 now. Back when I did exercise (and I did quite a bit, too), it always bored me out of my skull. Hated it! And I found that no matter how many reps of anything that I did, I could never see any corresponding benefit. I finally decided that I had an immunity to exercise, and decided “to Hell with it”. Best decision I ever made.
