"Whistle while you work!": Enjoying Exercise?

I hate running on the treadmill. I feel like a hamster on a wheel; running and running with no destination in sight. There is nothing to inspire me to keep going. When exercising, I have found I need inspiration. Something needs to compel me to lift my butt off the couch; disturbing my meditation in front of the television watching bad reality shows after a long work day. There needs to be a carrot (or maybe a chocolate bar) waved in front of me to keep me going. I need to have meaning in my exercise.




Many of us hit the gym with a fitness fury for the first weeks of our “diet”, only to pewter out. I know I have countless times. When I was thirteen I decided I wanted to lose 40lbs over the school year. With new gym shorts, a membership to a local gym, and a resolve to lose weight I hit the gym. Each day after school I spent an hour at the gym running on the treadmill, riding the bike, lifting the weights… I sweat off the junior high stress each day. For a month I hit the gym four days a week. There was no “real” progress in my eyes. I wasn’t having fun. I wasn’t inspired. I fostered under the delusion that I would lose 40lbs in a month. As I stood on that scale in the empty gym and saw I only lost 5lbs after four weeks of hard work I became discouraged. Soon the four days slipped into three, two, one, and none. I gave up.



This was a typical pattern for me. Of course, what I didn’t realize at the time was that I was exercising for all the wrong reasons. I was doing it to lose weight. I was using the weight loss as a motivator. It was devoid of any semblance of health. At 13, 16, 20, and 24 I used the idea of losing weight, squeezing into the seemingly unattainable size 8, and fitting in with the girls others deemed pretty as my goals. None of which, despite how long or hard I ran on that treadmill, seemed to occur. So, what changed this time? Why is it that I am sticking with exercising after eleven months? How is it that I see so much more progress? What am I doing differently?



I have motivation; no, not the motivation of losing weight (although, I do enjoy that as a side effect). Health. I want to be healthy. While losing weight is apart of it, the exercising I choose to do is about keeping me active, toning my body, building strength, improving balance, centering me, stress management, and fun. After a long day of work there is nothing better than sweating away the stress. Though I am sticky and smell (I have discovered how bad I smell after an intense work out) there is a sense of relief that sweeps over me causing my body to overflow with happiness and peace. I now enjoy exercise! It brings me a smile to my face either through the activity or the sense of accomplishment.



It’s not that I have suddenly found a deep love for running on the treadmill. I hate it! No, wait, I LOATHE it. In fact, running is torture. Perhaps, I have PTSD from running that dreaded mile in under 12 minutes in high school. A feet I only accomplished once and proceeded to try to convince my medieval torturer of a PE teacher, who we dubbed Jogging Judy, that if I did it once in my high school career that I should be allowed to walk it the remainder of the four years. She didn’t agree with my logic. Whenever I am run I have images of Jogging Judy chasing me, screaming “RUN MELISSA! DON’T WALK!” I HATE running. It isn’t my idea of fun. Since I now approach exercise as a form of fun; a past time to enjoy; therefore, I look to fun activities. Running on the treadmill is not fun, so it’s been scratched off my list (don’t get me wrong I still hit it when away from home at the fitness center of the hotel I find myself in).



I have spent the last eleven months finding activities that promote fitness and fun. During my journey I discovered Yoga, Kick Boxing, and Belly Dancing. Each provides me with an opportunity to sweat, laugh, stress release, burn calories, and tone. The fun fuels my drive. With new motivation behind staying active I have gained an enjoyment that allows me to stay with the practice. Rather than being motivated my losing weight, I engage in the activity for a multitude of reasons, the most important of which is fun. By having fun I am getting more out of my work outs. As a result I work out four days a week and don’t feel like I am forcing myself into something. I feel like I am treating myself. This new motivation has brought me resolve to stick with an exercise regime for the last eleven months and hopefully much longer.



The exercise that I engage in; Yoga, Kick Boxing, and Belly Dancing (really hilarious to watch this nerdy white girl try some of those sexy hip shaking moves) has brought me an opportunity to discover much about myself. Through my practice I have learned that I am stronger than I ever thought, that I can reach farther than I ever dreamt, that I am more flexible than I ever knew, and that I can last longer than I ever hoped. These, of course, our lessons that extend beyond the Yoga mat. Without a new motivation guiding me I would never have been able to learn these lessons, because exercise would have just been something I am doing. Now it is apart of my journey; in fact it is one of the maps I use to navigate it.



I still hate the treadmill. However, I don’t hate exercising. I see the experience as an enriching part of my life. I think of the time a few weeks ago, when I was practicing Yoga in my living room. The curtains were swung open allowing the sun to shine through my patio windows. I inhaled as I swan dived to the ground, as I lowered into plank and swept up into upward dog, my head melting to the sky, I noticed my 88-year-old neighbor staring at me. I smiled thinking what a show I was giving him. As I swooped back into downward dog my eyes gazed down catching my cleavage from the bra (I tend to wear only a bra and sweatpants, when practicing Yoga at home). I really did give him a show. That experience taught me to close the curtains when working out and to laugh at myself. It’s a fun story that I wouldn’t of had, nor truly enjoyed, if I saw exercise as just something to check off my to-do list.



So, if you hate exercise then don’t do it! Jillian Michaels is gasping as I type! Don’t exercise. Have fun! Look at it as having fun. Reframe it! Find new motivation. Call it something else! Find an activity that brings you joy, while you are gaining the rewards of improving fitness levels. Swim. Bike. Play Baseball. Hike. Run (yuck, but yay for you). Power walk. Dance. Karate. Yoga! Whatever brings you the benefits of staying active, developing fitness, and providing you with the emotional enjoyment we need to sustain any practice. After all things we hate to do we often do not stick with and quickly they become what we resent. Exercise shouldn’t be resented. We need it on our life journeys. Find what works for you and sweat it out with a smile! I think of that song, “whistle, while you work.” So, smile while you sweat!