Wanting to not totally fall apart physically as I age, I got myself a simple four day weightlifting routine a few years ago. I added cardio to it later on, eventually adjusting the time so I could get at least 20 minutes of vigorous heart rate per session. My doctor especially liked this part, as he advocated cardiovascular health as being of greater concern.
I managed to follow the routine for a while. It was disrupted seriously by the lockdowns and didn’t really recover fully until two Novembers ago, when I randomly decided one night to get started again at my new condo’s gym. The doors lock at 10 pm, so I try to get in right before so I’m most likely to have the room to myself.
My main problem is, as is common, motivation. I do not particularly like exercise, but I do it because I should. (This makes the common advice of, “find some kind of exercise that you enjoy!” feel useless to the point of hilarity.) So when I had to take Christmas break off from my usual routine, I knew it’d be hard to get back into, and it has, especially since not doing the entire four session cycle in a week feels like failure. This also makes factors like cold weather a lot more likely to make me skip when I don’t have to.
For a while, I tried doing only the cardio, which cuts my gym time by a lot and made it more bearable and likely that I’d actually do something, but the fact that I wasn’t doing important strength training haunted me, making me feel like my effort was incomplete.
How do you all deal with this rather common issue of self discipline (which I’m generally not good at)?
In my case, I learned pretty quickly that I am such an indolent slug that the only thing that gets me exercising is something social and/or a sport. I have to play something like soccer, ultimate frisbee, go jogging with a friends running group, or something that involves other people. On my own, I’d never be motivated enough to exercise in any way. Associating exercise with = socializing, competitive sports, was the only hack that worked for me.
I know you said “find the exercise you enjoy” to be a joke, totally understandable. But is there any form of exercise that at least gives some sort of meaning other than “you need to do it for your body?” If not, then at least pair it with something enjoyable so your brain begins to mate the two together and associate exercise with something else that’s good. If you like movies, for instance, you can set up a treadmill and watch movies while walking/jogging, but there needs to be some sort of rewards hack in the brain.
I have difficulty self-motivating for exercise, so I joined a dojo. Somehow it’s easier to have a routine when other people are sharing the experience. I now enjoy martial arts (and even teach it) but I don’t think I would participate if there were not fitness benefits.
You have to choose the right sort of dojo of course, one that is friendly to those above, say, 30.
Hm, the replies so far have made me realize that if I do find another way to exercise, I’m hoping to find one that has the same or better impact as my current routine, or it’ll feel like a failure or step back as I described in the original post.
Hiking is nice, but it’s not something I can really engage in year round comfortably and conveniently with the regularity required. Martial arts sounds interesting, but I run into the issue above.
The most convenient thing would be to figure out a way to make myself do what I need to, but I realize it may be even more difficult.
I square dance, which can be okay mild cardio exercise. I do it because it’s fun. Contra dancing is usually good cardio. A lot of other social dance forms can be okay. They are also all good for balance.
I also take the expensive route and hire a personal trainer for strength exercises. This creates a social obligation for me to about up to my appointment. I’m much more responsive to “someone is waiting for me” than to “this is good for me”.
If you buy a dog, you have to walk it. Walking is excellent exercise, and having a dog has other rewards.
I like the gym, but not everyone does. Doing things with other people may motivate, or at least obligate you to follow through. Sports are fun, and accommodate most skill levels. But if the idea of enjoyable sport is hilarious, many do well in group classes - which these days often involve strength training. Things like CrossFit have a strong focus on strength and will get you in shape. Having a trainer does the same thing - teaches you the basics while forcing you to keep appointments. Suffering is easier if shared.
I read while on the treadmill. But I just realized that this may actually be another reason why I seem more motivated to do cardio than the weightlifting. Interesting.
Only you know where your dopamine lies. Maybe it’s walking to the coffee shop afterwards, or listening to funny podcasts only during your workout. Whatever it is, you have to pair it with the workout exclusively IME.
It also helps to have a fall back position. If it’s too icy to go out, I do Tai chi on youtube. That is still a win. YT has every type of exercise imaginable, free for the taking. Try searching on your favorite music, plus workout. I found some women in Kinshasa who workout together in their backyard and on my good days I love sweating along to their beats.
It doesn’t have to be like this; find your joy. For me, that almost always means adding music, but again, only you know where your dopamine lies.
My exercise routine for years involved cardio, but not much else. A few years ago, when I began researching longevity and blue zones, I learned how important losing weight and staying fit and active was. By working out regularly, and increasing my cardio, I could extend my lifespan by 5 to 10 years. That was just the motivation I needed. I lost 40 pounds and now do cardio and resistance training daily. I eat healthy, and feel better than I have in 30 years. Yet another reason to keep it up.
If it is just running on a treadmill or something, I like music, but it has to be the right music. Lifting weights, you do not have to, nor are you supposed to, ruin through the exact same routine every single time. Also, the gym has classes and trainers, as has been mentioned; then all you have to do is what you are told
The best exercise routine is the one you stick with. So don’t set your goals too high. I think it is important to fit it into your routine, and make it an element of routine, not choice. For example, pick a gym on your way home from work and stop off every M-W-F. Or just go for a brisk 30 min walk every day after you sign out of work. Don’t make it a deal where you think, “Should I workout today?” Instead, form the idea, “This is the time that I work out.”
If possible, get a friend to work out with. I bike with my sister 3x/week. It helps that we each encourage the other when we might be tempted to wimp out.
My personal preference is exercising at/around home, instead of gym membership. You can get considerable benefit from walking/running/biking, accompanied by yoga/stretching/calisthenics/light weights.
You should give group classes a try. There are many different kinds for different goals and interests. There will be some that will mostly cardio based, like dance and cycling, and some will incorporate strength and cardio, like BodyPump and kickboxing. These classes are often more enjoyable than doing solo exercises like treadmill and weightlifting. If nothing else, go for walks of significant distance. Walks will help keep your body fit and help your mind get in the routine of regular exercise. Carve out specific times to exercise rather than waiting for an hour of free time to magically appear into your day. You’ll be much more likely to exercise regularly if you know that 6pm is when you work out rather than just hoping that you’re not happening to do anything for an hour sometime in the evening.
Consider getting a watch that has fitness modes and goals. The watch can help encourage you to reach a certain activity goal every day.
One thing you’ll probably notice when you get back to exercising is that you’ve regressed somewhat. Don’t let this derail you. Realize that it will take some time to get back to where you were. Use the experience of getting back to where you were to help keep you motivated to exercise regularly. As you get older, the regressing happens quicker and it’s much harder to get the gains back. Stay on track and you’ll have a much easier time of staying healthy as you get older.
I used to be an incurable sports hater. The way to get me to exercise was to make it a path of least possible resistance.
Leaving the house in the dead of winter if I don’t absolutely have to is hard. Being social when I don’t really want to is hard. Finding time to travel to and from a training facility can be hard. Enter the home gym: available 24/7, all the equipment always ready only for you, no questions asked.
When the training opportunity is right there, even looking at you when you do your daily chores, the resistance drops to a minimum. Why shouldn’t I do some pullups, or grab that kettlebell for a set of squats or swings?
Training at home doesn’t have to be light. I have some 400kg of weight plates and the dozen or so bars to go with ‘em, plus pullup bars, rings, dipping apparatus and grippers, and I train hard and heavy, never leaving the house. Others need to leave to house to get any training in, I know.
All my equipment is at home, too, including weights and a treadmill. I find it really easy to ignore them. Why not lift some weights? Because it’s unpleasant and takes time, and right now i want to fetch something from the freezer to defrost, not take time out to lift weights.
It can take almost literally seconds, especially if your goal is to maintain health and functionality, not press for personal records. There are no ways to get training in in less time. Few things in life are so quickly done. So, the time angle doesn’t really fly, IMHO.
I don’t know about “seconds”. Do you not warm up for a few minutes? 20 minutes on the treadmill, 5 minutes of stretching everything out, etc. Each group of sets is going to take a few minutes, too. Plus you will probably want to take a shower when you’re all done…
The type of exercise I’m describing above isn’t a full workout. It is pulling a quick set of chinups, or a quick set of goblet squats, literally as you are doing your chores, and ran up the stairs to put laundry in the closet, and the pullup bar, or the dumbbell / kettlebell is right there for the grabs. I do that all the time, and believe me, taking those jabs at exercise keeps the joints, muscles, and motor running. For someone who wouldn’t do any exercise otherwise, this would make a world of difference. It would also serve to maintain the abilities of a guy who did not have the time to go to a gym, or even do a dedicated workout at home.
When you want to do a full workout (which I do weekly), it obviously includes warmup, a good number of exercises and sets, sweat and fatique, and takes generally somewhere between 30 and 60 minutes.
For me what works best as motivation is gamification. Setting goals and then reaching them (increasing bench press weight to X, decreasing mile run time to X, etc).
Having a friend to workout or run with also helps get me there when I don’t feel like it.
I find it’s helpful to cultivate good habits. I put on my socks and pants while standing, on one for and then the other, because it’s a good little balance exercise that only takes a minute or two each time. When i started, i wasn’t stable enough to do that. And i leaned against my bureau for balance. Now i can when there’s enough light. (Balance is much harder when you can’t see.)
My MIL used to have a pull-up bar in one of her doorways. She has very high ceilings, so it was easy to walk under it. And having it there made it easy to do a quick chin up as she went through her daily routine.
I can’t see myself lifting weights just because they are around. But the idea is sound, and I’m sure it is helpful for many people.
Get a dog that requires a lot of walking. I’m only half-joking. I got a rottweiler-pitbull mix in November 2024, and I’ve been averaging about 5-6 miles of walking a day (according to my fitness watch) since then, and he basically gives me no choice if I want him to be sane throughout the day. So even in my most unmotivated days, I get off my ass.
But, more generally, what I find is that once I start walking or working out, I get in a groove after about 10-15 minutes and feel good about it and often end up doing more than I initially set out to do. There’s a feeling of accomplishment, too, when I’m done that I did the things I needed to do for the day, and now I have some guilt-free time to myself. When I’m procrastinating, I feel like shit with my brain nagging me to do what I was supposed to be doing, and anything I do before when I was supposed to exercise is not as pleasurable.
Also, I find podcasts wonderful. Some days I walk to experience the world, to find interesting things about my neighborhood, its flora and fauna, etc., to keep me mentally engaged. Most times, though, I put in an episode of No Such Thing as a Fish and enjoy the nerdy banter of the facts/trivia-based panel show. I find myself absorbed in the episode. Or I call somebody I haven’t talked to in awhile (but this only happens once every couple of weeks) and that makes the time fly by (especially if you have friends who will talk to you for an hour or more at a time.)
