I lost 30lbs and doubled my muscle mass by doing a gentle calisthenics routine to failure every night while watching the whole series for King of the Hill. I found it kept me busy enough to not notice how much I hated exercise but it wasn’t distracting enough to need to stop and watch.
What did this routine look like?
20 pushups, 20 crunches, 20 squats, 20 good morning’s, 30-60 second plank, 30 second deep breathing stretch. Repeat this routine until you can’t keep proper form then stop for the day. Takes maybe 15min to do 4 reps
I greatly appreciate your comments and clarification, and I don’t mean this in a rude way but… that’s not gentle for most of us 😅
That’s perfectly cool, I started this whole working at a pretty lift heavy job so I had already had some muscles to work with. Do the same rotation, just do 5 each. When of feels like it’s easy, step it up.
I’m a lifetime noodle armed gamer, if I can pull this off, you can. I believe in you.
Cycling/Spinning
It’s usually low impact on the knees & backs of perrenial beginners like me. If I’m stationary cycling, I can sneak in my favorite entertainment to make the time fly by.
Last time I enjoyed myself doing exercise, I probably played table tennis with a tennis ball and hands as paddles. The hard part is finding people who have time when you do, and who are on a similar skill+fitness level as you (picking silly games like the one I described helps).
So yeah, I’m not getting much exercise, either.
I enjoy the social aspect of running. Parkruns, Strava, meeting friends and getting coffee after etc.
I use a stationary bike in front of a TV. My brain is off anyway, so I might as well put my body to work.
Another alternative is to find a sport that you enjoy, or a social group that makes the activity enjoyable.
Audiobooks.
Music is fine, but I actually find I will make more time to exercise if I’m listening to a good book.
This needs to be at the top. I’ve never been able to stick to a gym until I started hearing audiobooks/podcasts.
In a similar fashion I enjoy listening to podcasts while running. I find music to in a way get filtered out by my brain after a while whereas podcasts keep me engaged. Inversely I can’t really focus on podcasts in the gym where I am switching up exercises.
Over time I’ve also optimized my listening experience by getting a pair of bone conducting headphones and a watch that can store and playback podcasts, so I don’t have to carry around my phone on runs.
Search apartments.com or whatever for places 1-2 hour bike rides from work. Move there.
…not joking, I’m fortunate enough in that that’s what I’ve been doing. Biking/walking to work is the only way I get any exercise (even though I can work from home). In winter months/if it’s too cold or snowy I’ll use the stationary bikes our work building put in to entice people back from COVID.
I have to have a purpose to exercise (other than health I guess?) otherwise I won’t do it.
I discovered I like hitting things a while back so I go boxing regularly. These days I read some Trump news and then go take it out on a heavy bag for an hour.
I’ve speculated that it takes time and discipline of exercising regularly for a long enough time, until you get the psychological reward from it. After which for some including me, makes it an addiction. I literally crave it. And if something happens to where I can’t workout, like an injury or work or whatever, it really sucks and I can’t wait to be able to get back into the routine. I’m talking of a mix of “boring” weights and cardio. I love it.
So my two cents is, muscle through the initial several months of boring suckage but make it count. Eventually, maybe you’ll catch the addiction. But this might not work for everyone.
I hate running, so I don’t do it.
I love hiking and swimming and team sports, so I do them.
Exercising is part of my precious me-time. I put on a good podcast or some nice music and have a good time. No stress, no hanging on the phone, no Netflix - this is my opportunity to dwelve into thoughts or just do nothing. It is super relaxing.
A doctors note telling me I don’t have to. :)
When you have a heart attack, they enroll you in a program called “Cardiac Rehab”, it’s like physical therapy for your heart.
Had the first heart attack, started the program, doing the workouts, felt pretty good. Actually, while using the machine, it felt like I could do it all day.
Then they’d have me stop, cool down, drink some water, my blood pressure would crater and I’d pass out. :(
Doc said “Yeah, I don’t think Cardiac Rehab is productive for you…”
Had the 2nd heart attack. “Well, that was 5 years ago, lets try it again!”
Sure… Same deal.
I have to walk the dog, so I get myself out. Once I’ve started walking doing a little longer than the bare minimum is not too bad. If the weather is nice it’s actually quite enjoyable.
I dont tolerate cardio, its really not feeling good and it seems to take forever to get to a place where its supposed to feel good. If it ever does.
But lifting weights is fun. I enjoy that since body looks better and feels stronger. And there, results show clearly in just 2 months or faster.
Rhythm Games (Samba De Amigo, Fitness Boxing Ft. Hatsune Miku) + needing to walk to bus stop to go to arcade
Ring Fit was also good, but I foolishly left that behind when I moved out x.x
