Up until a couple years ago I hated exercise. Hated it. But I’ve come to enjoy–dare I say love–it and make it a regular part of my life. I do yoga 2 or 3 times a week, strength train 1 or 2 times a week, and recently started running at least 3 miles a week (in addition to all the walking I do around the city). I’m convinced that if you want to live a happy, healthy life, you need to move your damn body.
Everyone knows that exercise is good for you, but a lot of people claim to hate it, or at the very least don’t get enough of it. So how did I make that shift?
Let’s start with where I was. Like many, I had tried a few times in my life to pick up a regular exercise routine and failed. Yoga was the one form of exercise I would consistently come back to, but I would only do it every once in a while, or do it consistently for a bit and then fall off. I trained for and ran a 5k once, but failed afterward to make running a regular thing for me.
One thing that definitely pushed (still pushes me) to exercise more regularly was to better manage my mental health. I’ve mentioned my issues with anxiety, and that can dip into depression from time to time. Exercise is essential not only for your physical health but also plays a huge role in maintaining mental health.
But when it comes to behavior change, mere motivation generally isn’t enough. Looking back, there were a few things that really helped me make exercise a regular part of my lifestyle
- Community. Steve has always been pretty active and encouraged me to be active as well. But more importantly, we joined a gym, Urban Athletic, when we lived in Waynesville, NC (just outside of Asheville). The staff there is amazing. They go out of their way to make you feel welcome and create a supportive environment for everyone, no matter their fitness level. We participated in their Urban Training program which is kind of like a class or small-group training, so it was easier for us to meet people and made working out a more social experience (I talk more about the importance of community in “Find your Tribe(s)“).
- Trying new things. You have to be willing to try out different things to find what is right for you. Urban Training was particularly good for this. First, because the coaches planned the routines, meaning I didn’t have to think about what to do. Secondly, because it’s based on High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), the gist of which is to do exercises for 30 or so seconds with short breaks in between. It’s much easier to try an intimidating exercise like lifting a heavy weight when you know you only have to do it for a short time. More recently, I tried running on a treadmill for the first time, and even though I’ve avoided them because so many people say they hate them, I’ve found that I actually like it and it helps me stay consistent with my running.
- Consistency. I made exercise a priority and put it into my schedule (see “Plan it out“). Urban Training was hard at first. I was out of shape and self-conscious, and even as I got better at it and gained more confidence there were days I didn’t want to go. But I committed to going to Urban Training at least two times a week and their “Centergy” class (yoga/pilates) once a week. I knew that I just had to show up. Once there I’d just have do what they told me to do, and I’d definitely feel better afterward. Sure, there were weeks that life got in the way and I didn’t make it all three times, but I would just try again the next week. Plus, exercising indoors helps eliminate the excuse of it being too hot/cold/rainy/etc.
- Getting comfortable with discomfort. Not all forms of exercise are uncomfortable. You may prefer to have more fun and get your exercise through dancing or some sport, or you may find walking or gardening to be enough exercise for you. But I wanted to push myself, and that required getting used to discomfort, both physical soreness as well as mental discomfort.
I’m going to talk more about this last point, because it not only was a barrier to my previous attempts to make exercise a part of my life, I think it’s also the most important lesson pushing my fitness has taught me. As I mentioned, I was really self-conscious at first. Not only was I out of shape, but I also get really red when I exercise, and this is something I’ve always been self-conscious about. But showing up and exercising anyway has taught me to a) accept that I can’t really do anything about how red my face gets and b) focus more on how accomplished I feel as I get into better shape. Very few of us are instagram models who look perfect at the gym. Case in point, here’s a picture of me after my run yesterday in all of my red-faced, messy-hair, bad-gym-locker-room-lighting glory:
There is incredible power in doing something you care about no matter how ugly or awkward or silly you look doing it. If you want to grow and flourish, whether that means getting into better shape, or focusing on some other aspect of your life or the world, then you’re going to have to embrace this power. Focus on what you care about, what makes you feel good, and not only will you get better at that thing, the other stuff will eventually fall to the wayside.
Exercise is important. You don’t have to run or join a gym like I did if those don’t work for you, but you do need to move your body regularly. That’s simply part of taking care of yourself. If you need a better idea of how much “regularly” means, here are some guidelines from the Mayo Clinic. Hopefully some of the things I learned will help you make exercise a more regular part of your life. And if you have your own tips for sticking to exercise, tell me in the comments!
Flourishing 