Posted: December 9, 2004

Health and Fitness: Exercise for Fun First, and Fitness will Follow Naturally

By Cheri Ellsworth

If you have ever begun an 'exercise program' with the intention of losing weight or improving a health condition and then had difficulty sticking with the program, there is a likely reason for that. Your determination didn't last because the motivation was mis-aligned. Rather than exercising for its built-in pleasures, in your mind the exercise was a chore that would lead to some expected result.

You're human, and the payoff of doing 'chores' has to be fairly immediate for humans to continue. Otherwise, we generally avoid challenges that aren't inherently rewarding. So, if you hope to stick with it when it comes to exercise, you'll need to find a method that is inherently pleasurable to you. Then let the additional benefits of fitness and weight loss accrue.

I first took a serious interest in getting fit when I switched to a sedentary job and started gaining weight. I knew that I would have to get moving, so I tried some exercise videos. These work for many people, but they didn't work for me. The pacing, the repetition~ I just couldn't get into it. Next, I bought a rowing machine, thinking that the bigger investment would guilt me into working out. Not so. I played uplifting music and had a nice view out the window of my daylight basement, but it just seemed strange to me to be rowing continuously and going nowhere.

I wasn't giving up. I really did want to lose the weight, and I knew that exercise and activity were absolutely necessary, that dieting by itself wouldn't produce the results I wanted. I kept checking out new things. I bought membership in a gym and decided it was too much hassle and drive time. Next, I took yoga classes, but the schedules never seemed to fit with the rest of my life. If these sound like excuses - they are. We make excuses when faced with things we really don't want to do. Some people love going to the gym and doing yoga. I didn't. But I knew that there was exercise I wouldn't dread. I just had to find it. My suggestion is that you also keep checking out new things until you find what works for you.

What finally got me in the groove was so obvious and easy in retrospect. Walking. I read that the best exercise for changing our metabolism is that which uses the large muscles, rhythmically and continuously. Walking, jogging, bicycling, swimming laps. I enjoyed walking once I found good trails to use. By walking every day for 45 to 60 minutes, I began to get fit. Once I was more in condition, it was fun to ride bicycle and do other things like playing racquetball and volleyball. These activities are exercise, and a lot more fun to me than a daily workout video or time on the rowing machine. That's why I continue doing them - to me they are play, not chores, inherently pleasurable, and that's my motivation.

Here is the mental shift that will help you stay motivated until you discover the right exercise that inspires you. In your mind, focus on the process of finding pleasure rather than on enduring a daily task. Yes, there will be times when you have to push yourself a bit to keep going. Habit and routine can help you there: if it is your routine to do something physically active each day, you will feel strange when you miss it. When you do find the physical activities that you gladly stick with doing, they will most likely involve a pleasurable sense of accomplishment and play. That's primarily why you keep doing them. The added bonus of losing weight and getting fit comes second.

Cheri Ellsworth is a contributing writer for News from Atec Exercise, your resource for a world of exercise information. Find Cheri's archive of articles at www.atecexercise.com.