My trainer used to tell me that everyone has a physical capacity for exertion. So Olympic athletes have an unnatural (and frankly, non-human) threshold. The average person can probably run at least 1 mile, right? Well, I have the exertion capacity of a sloth. Not to mention that it is so boring that I find myself watching an episode of Friends, eating a snack or doing anything else but exercising, between each leg lift. I have however found a few ways to make the whole process more bearable.
So the thing is- I really don’t like working out. As in, REALLY don’t like it. At worst, it is the bane of my existence and at best, it’s a chore, and a really awful one. And I’ve had some pretty crappy chores in my day. When I was kid, I was responsible for picking up all of the dog poop in the backyard every week and also had to trade off mowing the lawn, which I could barely even do because I couldn’t push the lawn mower and also refused to wear sneakers. Working out may be a chore on par, or worse than those….
It's so boring. Doing the same exercises for an
allotted number of repetitions, day in and day out is basically my living
nightmare. And nothing seems to alleviate the boredom that ensues when I start
my routine. I listen to music and end up deciding that I hate every song. I've
tried watching episodes of Friends. I’ve even tried snacking while exercising
out of desperation, because you always snack when you’re bored. It’s a thing,
right? I’ve heard of people having “running buddies” to talk to in order to make
it more fun but let’s be honest- if I can’t breath I can’t very well shoot the
shit with someone. What’s a girl to do?
I’m not fitness expert, but it seems like a lot of working
out involves doing each exercise for a specific amount of time. Stairmaster for
20 minutes, squats for 30 seconds, lunges for 30 seconds each side or just
rules like how you must work out for 45 minutes at least 3 days a week. This is
not at all conducive to the fact that time moves slower while you work
out. I will be going at, sweating,
thinking, “yes! 5 more seconds on these lunges!!”, only to realize that it has
only actually been 5 seconds since I started. Or I’ll tell myself, “well, I
only have time for one more exercise because I’ve already been working out for
37 minutes”, when all actuality it has only been 15 minutes. What could be worse? Oh. the fact that I
can’t breathe is worse. Being out of breath is quite possibly on the list of
top 5 worst feelings.
Here’s how:
1. YouTube
fitness videos whose exercise only involve laying on the floor. There are so
many Pilates and Ballet Beautiful exercises that hurt so freaking bad and that
you literally must sit or lay on the floor to do. It’s perfect. Try 3 of my favorites for your legs and butt, full body, and abs.
2. Bookmark a
list of 10 different exercise videos that you like and rotate through them each
day. This definitely helps to change things up so that you are not doing the
same shit every day, telling yourself you would rather be eaten by a shark than
exercising. It’s fun to follow different videos and can actually be quite
humorous too when you are attempting to do exercises way too advanced for you
or listening to yourself yelling at the instructor who is telling you to do “5
more!”. I like it. Go to my Fitness page to find some more awesome videos!
Labels:
Health and Beauty
