Are You Bored With Your Workouts?

When I go to the gym to workout I talk to a lot of people and lately I’ve been hearing so many of these folks complaining about having to workout. When I ask them if they enjoy training or have fun during their workouts most people look at me like I have three heads.

During the honeymoon phase of working out many people enjoy the idea of getting themselves into shape but really don’t love exercising. Then once the sameness of their training routine sets in, people start to lose interest in their program and working out becomes all work and little, if any, play.

People get bored with their workouts because, quite frankly, they don’t know what they are doing and most trainers, especially in big box gym, haven’t a clue either. Machine-based exercise programs are the most boring kind of activity imaginable, and since most people and personal trainers gravitate to this style of training, it’s no mystery people get bored with their routines.

If you are one of the denizens of the gym who get on a treadmill, tune in to your iPod and hunker down for a long run or walk you are no doubt bored to tears at some point. You also aren’t getting too much bang for your exercise buck/effort either, but that’s a different story. It doesn’t matter which machine you use, they are all boring and do not come close to providing a challenge.

This is why people think exercise is boring and why many folks bail on their regular exercise routines after a relatively short period of time. The prescription of treadmill (or any other piece of cardio equipment), leg press, leg extension, leg curl, calf raise, pull downs, endless biceps and triceps work and all kinds of seated and lying exercises results in a boring, ineffective workout program.

The cure for a boring workout routine is to find a personal trainer – I use the term “fitness development coach” – who knows how to design and implement a workout using ground-based, compound movements. This kind of fitness professional will teach you how to move properly¸ will improve flexibility, stability and core strength. Because these kinds of workouts are challenging they are effective and fun.

We don’t go through life seated in a machine and unless you’re involved in crew there aren’t any sports that are played lying down, so you shouldn’t exercise this way. And the word routine should be limited to describing the days and times you workout, and not be a reflection of doing the same handful of exercise programs over and over.