What to Do if You Don't Like to Exercise

“The most difficult thing is the decision to act.” — Amelia Earhart

Exercise.

Love it or hate it, most likely we can all agree that it's good for us and that it's something we should do.

So I won't rattle off stats on the benefits of exercise or the risks associated with a sedentary lifestyle.

You've probably heard it all before.

Yet many clients come to me for help because they struggle to fit regular physical activity into their lives, despite being well aware of why doing so would be a good idea.

For some, the barrier is time.

For others, it's lack of motivation.

And then there are the women who "just don't like exercise".

Now I will admit, in my early days as a trainer I probably would have told those women, "you just need to find the type of exercise you love!" or "once you get past the discomfort of starting you'll learn to enjoy it". 🙄🙈

These days my response is a little different.

While I do still believe that it's possible to learn to enjoy exercise over time, I also know from over 13 years of coaching that some people will just never LOVE exercise.

And that is totally OK.

You can hate something and do it anyway.

The whole "only do what you love!" advice is nice in theory...but not very realistic.

Life requires us to do things that we don't love to do all the time.

Things like,

Going to the dentist...don't love it, still do it.

Paying taxes...don't love it, still do it.

Having difficult conversations...don't love it, still do it.

We do these things, even if they are uncomfortable NOW, because they serve a bigger purpose or provide a benefit to us in the future.

And/Or because we are well aware that NOT doing them means the potential for negative consequences later.

No matter how much outsourcing or "optimizing" we do, there are always going to be things we have to do even if we don’t like them or feel like doing them.

So it all boils down to making a choice.

Do you want to have pain now or pain later?

Because, pain is a part of life. You can't avoid it.

If you put off going to the dentist you aren't avoiding pain...you're just delaying it.

And the future pain that will result from this avoidance will most likely be worse than the current pain would have been.

The same can be said for exercise.

You might not like it and it you might think that it totally sucks.

But the future pain of a lifetime without physical activity...

➡ The pain of not dating or being intimate with your partner because you don't feel comfortable in your body.

➡ The pain of not being able to play with your kids or grandkids.

➡ The pain of developing chronic diseases and being forced to take medication.

Is much worse than feeling short of breath or muscle fatigue during a workout. When we face things we don’t want to do, we tend to think of our two choices as:

• experience pain

• avoid pain

But the reality is that most of the time we are faced with choosing between:

• experience pain now, reap the benefit in the future

• avoid pain now, pay the price in the future

So, if you don't like to exercise (or to eat vegetables, or to limit your alcohol intake, or to go to bed at a reasonable hour),

1. Know that it's ok. It doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you and it’s not necessarily something that you need to fix. You can dislike something and do it anyway.

2. Accept it, acknowledge it and don’t worry too much about changing your feelings. Instead put your energy into finding ways to make it easier to do (like starting with the kind of exercise you hate the least, setting small goals and getting support).

Remember, our proudest moments in life are often when we lean into discomfort and do the hard thing.

What pain are you avoiding right now? And what future benefit are you missing out on by not facing it?

Want some help with making exercise a regular part of your life? Let's have a chat to see if my small group training program could be a good fit for you.