So, my son, ECjr, has never been big on any form of exercise most of his life (that didn’t involve a game controller). This summer I took him out cycling just about every day for an hour, to teach him to get around in traffic without getting all runned over. (Hint: use the sidewalk whenever possible.)
Since the beginning of school , he’s been riding his bike to school and back (all sidewalks) which is about half an hour of riding over mildly hilly terrain each way.
He’s looking a llittle better but says he doesn’t FEEL any different, that he doesn’t feel stronger or more fit or anything. I’ve been doing an hour of cycling since the June as well, and I feel ENORMOUSLY better and more fit. On the weekends after a ride and a dip in the pool I’ll sit around and feel a complete sense of physical well-being for a couple of hours at a stretch – it’s pretty much a high. And I’ve noticed a lot of increased flexibility.
My son says he’s getting none of that. I’m astounded. I figure the general health associated with youth are drowning out the other messages.
Anybody got any advice on what’s going on here and how I can help ECjr connect with the increased level of well-being his exercise is theoretically generating?
I’ve been fit and I’ve been unfit and I’ve never felt different. Not more energetic or more healthy or more flexible or more better anything. Just fitter.
Some people don’t seem to reap the same rewards other people get. I’d really like to feel better after exercise. Instead, I’m just tired.
Littlebro didn’t feel any better from exercise when he was in school and college. This year he started yoga at a friend’s advice and he’s loving it; I’ve seen people from the class tell him that he probably was the person who gained most from it. Before, he was having a lot of back pains; now his posture is better, he walks better, and hasn’t had any back pain in months.
This isn’t my area of expertise but how old is he? I believe some of the hormones that are involved in muscle tone aren’t really present in sizable amounts in the human body until puberty. This could be one of the reasons he’s not feeling as many of the health benefits as you are. Also, I’d think just the fact that he’s a growing kid his metabolism is probably already pretty high.
When I was a wee lad, I never really noticed when I was in shape or out of shape, until I was in really good shape. One day I suddenly realized, “Balls, I’m ripped and could go for days!”
… and then I went to college, and discovered beer.
I’d just keep encouraging the exercise without emphasizing so much the feelgood benefits. It’s much easier to maintain fitness later in life if you’ve made it a habit early on.
is bad advice. Bicycles do not belong on the sidewalk. They’re vehicles.
Second, I don’t get the “exercise high” either. If anything, I feel a mild depression after some workouts. And I’ve never felt the need to exercise out of habit. Guilt, yes. But even when I’ve done hard work outs 5-6 days/week for months, I could (and did) stop at any time, and only feel bad that I was wasting my gym membership dollars.
While I’ll know I’m fitter (have better endurance or more strength), it’s all academic.
I wonder if this is why some of us (me!) have such a hard time sticking to exercise regimes. Other people say, “Oh, when I exercise I feel so much better!” and I say, “Oh, when I exercise I need a nap.”
When you’re continuously getting negative feedback from your body, it’s really hard to override that with your brain. At least for me. I’ve done it, but calling it “academic” is a good term.
I don’t even necessarily feel fitter. I am fitter, of course, but I feel precisely the same. I sort of have to fight off the slightly paranoid suspicion that people who claim to get the exercise high are lying to me. Regular exercise does not make me feel better. Even when pursued on a religiously-adhered-to schedule over the course of months or years, all it makes me is exhausted and thirstier than usual.
Hell, it’s even stopped helping alleviate my arthritis lately. I think that’s mostly the weather, though. The NYC area hasn’t really had a chance to dry out in better than 6 months, and it’s killing my joints.
When I was a kid I was outside all the time roaming the woods & fields, running around, jumping the creek, riding many miles on my bike. And I don’t remember getting very tired from it.
Is your son out of shape? Maybe he wasn’t feeling bad or lethargic before, which is why he didn’t notice any difference when he exercised. Either that or he wants to quit exercising and told you that as a way out.
I think it also depends on how hard you’re working. After an intense spinning class, I’m on a high for a few hours. But if I’m just lazily riding my bike through the community, I don’t feel anything. So are you riding a lot harder then the son? Or do you both take the same route?
I generally feel terrible when I work out. I get tunnel vision and feel like passing out. And I don’t feel any high afterwards just exhausted. I didn’t feel any different when I was in the best shape of my life as compared to now (not so great shape) except for the fact that I didn’t get as tired as quickly then.
I kind of blame the fact that I didn’t excel in sports on the fact that I feel like crap when working out. I mean how are you supposed to catch and throw a ball while looking around the field for your teammates if you can barely see and comprehend what’s going on.
Trunk, cardio is not the only way to become more fit. An hour’s worth of bike riding a day will burn a good amount of calories and will improve muscle strength.
And as far as the bike on the sidewalk vs. road thing goes, it really all depends on a number of factors like the kid’s age, the local traffic conditions, and the landscape. Yes, generally bikes should be on the road, but sometimes you need to use some common sense about the situation as well.
I’m in my thirties, and I do strength training and moderate cardio five times a week. I wish I could say it makes me feel better, but it doesn’t. I’m doing it to lose weight, and I’m very much looking forward to the day when I reach my target weight and can cut back to exercising three times a week. Well, it does reduce my back and shoulder pains.
In my experience I only felt better when I used to exercise more intensely. When I used to run for over an hour a day almost every day when I was in my twenties, I loved it. It was relaxing, and my legs were strong so I felt like I was flying. But alas, now I get pains in my knees if I run a lot even though I always wore the proper shoes. I just chalk it up to getting older. Sometimes, my body cannot support my energy.
Technically, yes, you’re right. But with there being almost zero pedestrians in most areas of a city and asshole drivers who bump bicyclists for “fun”, sometimes bicycles belong on the sidewalk or assholes belong in jail. When I’m on the bike, I know which is in my control.
Yeah, same here. I only get that “I feel great” feeling after a really intense workout. (I’ve always joked it’s because stopping feels so good.) And, it took a few years of working out until I started to feel it, I think previously I wasn’t in good enough shape to reach the endorphin high.
Part of the problem is that different people define working out in different ways. The receptionist here at work asked me how I kept my weight down and I said I work out a lot. She said “But I walk every night!” There’s a huge difference between walking in the evening and doing an hour and a half anaerobic threshhold oriented workout.
Also, I don’t always notice that working out makes me feel better but I do notice that not working out makes me feel worse. If I go more than two days without a good workout, I start getting reclusive and quiet. I need the workout to keep my moods on an even keel even though it’s not an immediate effect.
So maybe your son can’t say he feels better than his best days prior to exercise but he has fewer days of feeling crappy and doesn’t notice. It’s a subtle thing, I would have had a harder time noticing when I was younger.
I am one of those people who feels no different with or without excersize. I just get tired and hungry if I have been working out, and if I try to work out for the sake of losing weight or getting fit or whatever my body actually fights it and I get ill. Very ill, in fact. It really makes you not want to keep excersizing if you just develop horrible stomach problems.
