Indoor physical exertion that's not boring

The Game Room
1

Odd request. I need examples (if there are any) of activities which:

-involve a lot of physical exertion
-can be done in the house, with a partner present or co-participating
-are not boring.

“Are not boring?” Here’s why I hate working out–it’s both boring and painful. Painful is okay, boring I simply can not handle. I used to fence. That was painful, but it wasn’t boring. Boring means I’m not using my head at all. There’s no mental challenge. That’s boring. I can not stand to be bored.

My wife seems to get a kick out of physical exertion itself, a kick which I simply do not get. There’s no “rush,” no pleasurable sensation at all for me when it comes to exercise. It just hurts. It makes me want to give up much too quickly.

We used to go to a gym when we could meet during the day. I confess I quickly gave up on doing anything but hard biking–because at least then I could read a book or something and not be completely, depressingly mind-numbingly bored with nothing to concentrate on but the pain I was feeling in all my muscles.

Yes, I’m that guy. Anyway.

I do need to exercise. It is good to be healthy.

But under present circumstances, whatever I do has to be doable in the house (due to this all having to take place past kids’ bedtime and not having funds for babysitting every night). And I would seriously love it if I could find some kind of activity that’s not boring.

I despair of the possibility of there being anything like this for me to do, but who knows. The Dope oft surprises.

Otherwise I will just have to suck it up. But seriously, you gotta realize how frustrating and, yes, I’ll even say depressing, it is to work out alongside someone who obviously gets genuine enjoyment and fulfillment out of the physical activity itself when I just—don’t. I hate it. :frowning:

2

Do you have a gaming console? I bought DDR for my PS2 for that very reason. You can get two pads and make it a competition - which makes it even less boring.

Trust me, 30 minutes at an advanced level and you’re dripping with sweat. But, it doesn’t seem like excercise.

3

Indoor physical exertion that isn’t boring? With a partner?

I say you should fuck your way to fitness!

4

Ah… hmm…

I hate dancing too but it’s not real dancing, and compromises sometimes have to be made…

Wife has actually been hinting that she may be into getting a Wii for some of the more physical games. I assume there are DDR-likes for that console.

(We actually lived in a household that had a Wii for a while a few months ago, and we enjoyed Wii Sports and at first it seemed like we were getting accidental cardio while playing it. But over time we got to where we could get good game results from just flicking our wrists at the right time and, as always of course laziness prevailed. But you couldn’t get away with that in a DDR-like so…)

Interesting idea. I’ll look into it.

Meanwhile, suggestions are still welcome.

5

:wink:

6

Do the hard biking. Get a stationary bike, a trainer that attaches to your existing bike, or even better for keeping your mind/body balance (literally) a set of rollers. Trainers and rollers here on amazon.

Set it up in front of the tv and turn on your favourite movie, tv show, or sports and go for a ride. Riding the rollers while watching a period of hockey is much healthier than crushing three beers per period (or so I’ve been told).

Noise could be an issue depending on where the children are sleeping but mag resist trainers and rollers are pretty quite these days. I don’t know about stationary bikes, but I’m sure they are similar.

Also I heartily agree with Oakminster.

7

I think this is a pretty common complaint, and I’m hardpressed in not directly answering your question because I’m not sure it has a great answer, but rather we can address the underlying issue. I certainly don’t enjoy working out, though I don’t really hate it either, yet I don’t really get bored even though I have a lengthy routine. I think the problem that a lot of people have is that they end up focusing too much on counting time or counting reps or whatever and certainly having a partner can make it a lot easier.

For instance, I used to work out with my brother, and one of the things that made it enjoyable was that we were able to hold a conversation. Really, if it’s someone you can sit around the table and have a conversation with and enjoy it, then you ought to be able to transfer that in a large degree to pretty much any form of exercise. I imagine people at the gym thought we were strange discussing science or politics between sets, but I found it made the workouts enjoyable.

I’m also very much into music, to the point where I can spend hours just sitting there listening to it, so in the same way it translates very well to making my workouts enjoyable by simply having an mp3 with my sizable collection. So, basically, it’s something I could very well do at home sitting around doing nothing, but instead I’m getting a work out in while doing it. And along similar lines to having a discussion, I also like to take the time to work out things that I would normally spend a lot of time thinking about, like personal philosophy, various issues; hell, I’ve even developed some of my best algorithms between sets at the gym.
Back to the original question though, it really all boils down to what you do and don’t find boring. Do you enjoy music? You mentioned reading, which you can do during some cardio. What about TV or a movie? It’s not difficult at all to do cardio and many forms of resistance training while watching TV. Sure, you can’t pay 100% attention, but few shows or movies really require that to be enjoyable anyway. Also, as mentioned upthread, Wii is potentially a good solution too, though I really think if you’re going to be playing Wii tennis or whatever for exercise purposes, you might as well just do the real thing, or something similar, and get a much better workout.

8

I recently discovered treadmills and am thinking of buying one. I hate walking/running normally, but on a treadmill I can watch TV and still keep a good pace. Or wander off into my head. If I had my own, I’m sure I could rig up a book stand, which would be awesome.

It also has the advantage of being without tripping obstacles, something that is a huge benefit for klutzy me.

They make some spiffy ones that fold up easily for storage. You can get some great deals on craigslist.

9

Okay, thanks for the help everyone.

I think I am now looking for a deal on a Wii w/ Wii Sports (and Resort hopefully) as well as Wii Fit. $350 total at Amazon (if I get a second controller w/ nunchuck) but do you think I can do better?

10

The OP fits me perfectly, and I’m still looking for the magic bullet of being able to work out at home without soul-crushing boredom.

WiiFit is close but doesn’t really work me–it really needs a nightmare difficulty level as if I was doing DDR with ankle and wrist weights.

11

heh. Not long ago, my wife and I tried the canoeing in Wii Sports Resort. If your wife is as ultra-competitive as mine, you’ll work up a good sweat in no time. Don’t forget that if you get Resort, you’ll need another one of those “Motion Plus” add-ons for the second remote, as well, or make sure that the bundle you get includes a second one. The game itself is packaged with one.

Edited to add: Lately I’ve been diddling around with some of those resistance-band thingies. They cost $10-15 at Wal-Mart, take next to no space to store, and you can do flyes and presses and more while you’re sitting down watching TV. Just something to think about.

12

I do a lot of indoor exercise in the late fall and spring, when my normal outdoor activities (biking/running/skiing) can’t be done because of the weather.

The trick I’ve found is that no one activity, no matter how fun, stays fun forever. So I have a few things I rotate through:

  • Wii Fit/Wii Sports Resort. High on the fun level, but I don’t think they’re that great of a workout.

  • DDR: Good workout/Good fun. No reason this doesn’t work except I can’t do it every day without getting bored.

  • Indoor Spin bike and Tivo: I do this more than anything else, because there’s certain shows that I only record on the Tivo that’s in the room with the spin bike. In other words - I don’t get to watch my shows unless my ass is on the bike. It works pretty well.

  • Free weights/Tivo: same as the spin bike/tivo, though not aerobic exercise. I actually should do the weights way more than I do, but they’re really not fun. Plus it’s hard to count reps and watch TV at the same time.

Those usually get me through the 4-8 weeks of no outdoor activity, but I’m pretty bored with all of them by the end.