Enjoy Your Workouts

One of the keys to having a successful workout regimen is to enjoy what you do.  Workouts and exercise should be as fun as possible, or it just becomes another form of work.

So many people that I talk to – both socially and professionally – describe their workouts using terms usually associated with chores and work-related tasks.  Not my clients, of course.  Well, actually I take that back.  From time to time my clients resort to using such phrases in our conversations and say things like, “I have to workout this weekend,” or “I can’t miss training when I go on vacation.”  The siren song of so-called fitness experts the media chooses to promote is a very difficult power to overcome.

Rather than cultivate or encourage this type of behavior I let people I come in contact with know that it’s nonsense, and it’s the times you think you can’t miss a workout – because you mustmustmust workout – when you need to miss a workout. 

Time off from exercise, when you’re 100% healthy, is one of the most valuable aspects of an effective overall health and fitness program.  Mentally and physically. When you force yourself to exercise – whether going to the gym or heading out on a run through the neighborhood – you set up negative associations that can take hold and affect your overall program.

Isolated incidents occur more frequently and before you know it your workouts become work. Ignoring the signals provided by the brain and the body, regardless of the endeavor, usually leads to trouble. I see it all the time at the large, franchised gym that I belong to, rows of people slaving away on cardiovascular equipment, looking like they’re at work.  Whether on a Stairmaster or treadmill or sitting in an office cubicle, drudgery is drudgery.

People have been sold a bill of goods that regular exercise, and over-exercise, is somehow a reflection of character – good character.  More nonsense.  There are going to be times when you don’t feel like working out, and if you don’t, this doesn’t mean your lazy, a bad person, going to die from cardiovascular disease or gain 10-pounds.  And if you do workout when you don’t want to, you’re not necessarily of strong character, don’t possess more will power than the average person nor are you more likely to be healthier and live longer. So find a form of exercise and make in a regular, complimentary, part of your life, not your life.  And enjoy.