Ways to make working out fun?

[Robot Number V]

God, treadmills are terrible. I used them for a really long time and only recently began running outside. It's....I can't find the words. It's just so much better, in every conceivable way. Also, running happens to be the only "workout" I ever do, so that's all the advice I can give: Find a place to run outside. Also, if you aren't already, listen to music. I thought this was obvious, but I recently talked about with a friend who's been running for years, and he actually hadn't thought of it until I brought it up, so...Yeah, listen to music. But choose the songs carefully.

 

[RandV80]

When I needed to up my cardio I started doing a bit of jogging, then I said screw this and joined a casual rec soccer league. Way better.

I find that working out, whether doing cardio or weights, is something you either love doing or you don't. Great for a person to be in top physical shape if they love it (lots of my family members are and do), but makes it that much tougher for the rest of us when it's just boring as hell. I don't even get any sort of 'high' from either running or weight lifting, usually I just feel like shit after. Sports are what does it for me though, I play ice hockey and soccer right now, and in the past have done a lot of martial arts.

If you don't like sports either though... well then you're just going to have to find a way to tough it out I guess.

 

[thiosk]

I reccomend a personal trainer to take you through a few sessions, to teach you the proper way to work out.

That will be the best use of your time. The average gym user is wasting their time. Sure, swinging weights around incorrectly is better than nothing, but I too was bored until I worked with a trainer. Now I go in and its fun, makes sense, and is extraordinarily effective.


Alternatively: SPIN classes or TRX classes. Fucking awesome, both of em. TRX makes you ripped and Spin is the hardest workout the average person can do.

captcha:
be careful

you should be. its possible to hurt yourself in the gym if you do things wrong. Think, those guys who scream while pushing way too much weight.

 

[Mirrorknight]

Well, if you live in a decent sized city, and have a bit of extra cash, and you seem to like swords, you should sign up for a fencing class. That's what I ended up doing trying to figure out a way to get exercise and have fun. I'm not just talking about foil fencing. I take Kumdo twice a week. It's Korean swordfighting, a bit like Japanese Kendo (actually it's descended from it. When Japan took over during WWII, they forced Koreans to learn it. When Japan got kicked out, the Koreans basically said the hell with you, we'll take this and do our own thing with it). It's crazy fun. It gets me away from the house, so no distractions, and it's fun dueling other folks in fights. There's some upfront costs, of course, but it's worth it in my opinion. I pay $59 a month for a 6 month membership, and it costs about $50 initially two buy the two swords you use, the recognizable bamboo one, and a wood sword for practicing forms, plus another $50 for the uniform.

It makes a BIG difference. I lost 30 pounds in 6 months, I could run a good mile without getting too winded where I used to be lucky if I could do 300 yards, and my reaction time's gotten a lot faster. I turned out to be really good at fencing, too. Managed to beat a 2nd degree black belt (who was the main instructor at a school in a different town!) in the second round of a tourney, and forced him into a sudden death match in the final round (double elimination tourney. He worked his way back up through the loser's bracket). I ended up losing, but damn it was epic.

You can check around your area and see if its available. Most places will let you try out a single day for free, and most will let you use the school's swords and sweats up until you finish white belt and finish the test for yellow.

 

[suitepee7]

eugh, it's exactly why i stop going to the gym after a few months. i'm restarting again, but not as frequently in the hopes i can keep it up for longer.

personally i listen to fast, loud heavy music if i'm running, will put on an audiobook for cycling, and whatever i feel like at the time (musicwise) for weights. don't know why, but it balances me out a bit if i'm not stuck listening to the same thing for a while.

if i'm exercising at home (free weights/general strength exercises) i'll put something light on to watch, usually family guy or south park. something i don't need to pay full attention to really.

unfortunately there's not a whole lot to do while working out, because it uses up most of your body in the process (constantly moving makes it hard to read for example). if you're lucky enough to own a cycling machine, you could always play games on a controller while absentmindedly pedaling, but other than that your ears and imagination are your best bets. if you have work to do/plans to make, try to form a plan in your head, i often take the time to structure my basic essay ideas when i'm doing cardio as it takes the mind off of the boring exercise.

 

[mindfaQ]

Good music helps a lot, particularly pumping electronic tunes imo.
Normally your body will release endorphins when doing sport once you've overcome the first hurdles.
If you are someone that always needs a quest, maybe think about different kinds of sports. Fitness center courses, learn a self defense technique / martial arts / boxing, sports you can do outside like inline skating, teamsports, stepping music games, dancing ... . Find people to train with if that helps you (so you'll feel bad if you don't advance while those people do advance; psychology).

 

[viranimus]

Sex.

Come on, Find a better aerobic exercise that you will WANT to do. Your workout periods will quickly move from being minutes to hours.

 

[Rolaoi]

Do fun work outs.

My local gym has a rock climbing wall which I really enjoy. I go swimming a lot. I bike from town to town. I hike in the woods. I also like to wrestle.

That last one will really get you into shape. Five minutes of honest to God rolling on a mat with someone will smoke you more than most other exercises you can do in an hour. If that's a little too physical for you, you can also try other martial arts. Many of them are prettier, if less effective.

You can also try finding some dance classes. I did that for a while, and it was fun. Meeting women was nice too as you'll find those classes have a massive imbalance in gender.

 

[Vausch]

Bring someone with you.

It helps immensely because not only can it give you a little feeling of competitive drive for some extra motivation but it also gives you someone to talk to so the only conversation you have isn't grunting or breathing hard.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

Yeah, similar kind of boat.

I would suggest taking up a martial art if you have the money: in my sixth form, we have a mandatory 6-week extracurricular course we have to do, and I signed up for Taekwondo.

I have to say, it is a lot more fun than regular exercise, so I would recommend something like it.

 

[lacktheknack]

If you like club music, that's helpful, because there's nothing better for working out with.

I've had success watching Youtube videos on a tablet while using s treadmill.

 

[snowpuppy]

Audiobooks, slow tempo songs and podcasts slow you down, get some music with a good beat and go go go. Don't set ridiculous amounts of time (like an hour) that gets hella boring.

 

[loc978]

This is why (for the most part) I despise working out indoors. Personally, I take it outside... but I live in the middle of nowhere. I swim in a river, bike on deer trails, my weights are a splitting maul and firewood. Your mileage (and scenery) may vary.

When I lived in the city, though... I swam at a community center. Hit or miss with the crowds, but at least people-watching is better than wall-watching.

 

[Gamer87]

Download "Zombies, Run!" to your phone and go out running. It got me interested... for a while... I'm lazy.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

Working out, be it cardio or lifting, is partly about forcing yourself to prioritize it over another activity. I lift in the gym 5 days a week and I COULD be spending that time playing a game or any other more entertaining activity, but I do it because I like the way it feels and I've learned to enjoy it.

TLDR: Suck it up and learn to like it and the results you get from sticking to it.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

I've got three possible suggestions.

Don't work out, find a physical activity or sport you enjoy and just do that on a regular basis. This option might be one of the more expensive ones unfortunately depending on the activity. I find this far more gratifying than weightlifting or using exercise bikes. Plus it can also give you more drive when you do work out, since you're trying to improve for activity as well. Climbing and swimming are both sports that are great for getting fit, and they're far from the only ones. I really only have experience with climbing, but it's great. Most gyms have something for everybody's level, and you have a concrete standard for measuring improvement. Get farther on a climb than you did last time? You're a better climber. In every city I've been to the climbing community is very helpful and welcoming to people of all skill levels

The second one is find some activity that has a set and visible goal to achieve. I find this helps me stay better focused, and as a result, less bored. Something like running a circuit outdoors. Even if motivation isn't a problem, just having something tangible to achieve can keep your mind occupied. Swimming could also fit into this category as well.

Last suggestion is to work out with friends. It's more fun, and you can have someone to compete with and try to keep up to

 

[Yopaz]

It's impossible. Sorry to be a negative nelly, but there's just no way to enjoy that kind of thing. It's like going to work -- accept that it won't be fun.

I'll chime in here, not because I think working out is boring, it's one of my favourite activities, but if you don't like it then you just don't like it. Best advice I can give you is to find some friends you can work out with that share similar goals.

Personally I just need some decent music to make it among the most fun I have during the week so do find yourself a playlist that fits working out. Get serious, swallow your urges to quit, eventually it might get enjoyable on its own.

Sex.

Come on, Find a better aerobic exercise that you will WANT to do. Your workout periods will quickly move from being minutes to hours.

Jogging, lifting weights and swimming are all aerobic exercises I want to do and they're a lot better than sex in terms of exercise. Weight lifting have about twice as much moaning though...

 

[MorganL4]

Simple solution: Workout buddy. That's it, find someone you like spending time with, who also needs to work out and suggest you do it together to motivate one another. Then you can talk about things you have in common whilst working out.

 

[Senare]

1. Try different group activities. Ideally you should find one that is fun and where the fact that it's exercise is just a plus.

I would start with sword fighting (check re-enactment societies or different eastern martial arts), self-defence/martial arts and dancing (test a lot of styles until you find one that is cool). For sword fighting, check re-enactment societies and schools of eastern martial arts (Kendo, Wushu, Escrima, etc.). For self-defence I would recommend Krav Maga, for martial arts MMA. I have not settled for a dance style yet.
After those look for all kinds of activities you can do with other people and just test them out each once. Even if they might seem unappealing when you think about them they might prove to be fun in a way you didn't realize when you try them. The different experiences might also broaden your views, and if nothing else they would make for good stories.

2. If you want to lose weight then I find that changing your eating habits is way more efficient than working out. I made this more fun by taking a science project approach to it. Deciding how much I would like to weigh by checking life expectancy statistics, calculating how many kilograms I need to rid to get there, how long it takes to burn one kilogram of fat, what I burn if I jog for an hour vs. eat minimally for a day (and so on) makes me feel like some sort of precise scientist. And to me that is appealing.
As a side-effect I have learnt a lot about training. However I will restrain myself from elaborating on things like muscle hypertrophy and the optimal colour/size of your dinner plates today. If you are really curious you can send me a PM.

3. Use an interval timer. An interval timer is list of timers that will automatically start as soon as the last one is finished. You can program these to tell you when to work out/rest when you are lifting weights. This is awesome because it makes my workout sessions feel more like a short concentrated effort or competition as opposed to hanging around the gym for an hour. I typically look up high intensity workout programs that take minimal set up and learning effort, limit my timer for a really short and intensive session (definitely less than 25 minutes), put on some great music and think of a power fantasy or something similar.
I personally use the android app "Impetus" as my interval timer.

4. Try to avoid over-training (which means "training so much that your body does not have time to improve"). Getting up extremely early to jog 5 days a week by pure willpower felt like a good idea at first, because I thought it could become a great habit, but ultimately it made training too dull and tiresome. Later I found out that it is not even the most efficient way to improve or lose weight so I stopped. By all means work out as hard as you wish but know that it is not strictly necessary to drag yourself to the gym every day to get results. The body needs rest too, and you need to maintain your motivation.
I think that you are taking the right approach by looking to make training more fun. Enjoying training is almost a requirement for sticking with it in the long run.

5. If you find your study material at least somewhat interesting (like I do - I study game development) then you can try to affix your book to a stationary spinning bike and study while you work out. Combine this with an interval timer set to <20min work/5min breaks so you can keep your concentration better. I put "sticky pads" on the bike dashboard for holding up my books.

Music tips:
- Movie montage music (e.g. <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioE_O7Lm0I4>"Gonna fly now" from Rocky)
- Game soundtracks, e.g. Portal 2 soundtrack for warmup (can be downloaded legally for free) <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAg4yjEmerU>sample
- Anime soundtracks. As silly as Naruto and other shonen anime are they are often based on power fantasies, and therefore have fitting music.
- Movie soundtracks. Again, silly is okay. Both <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j6nyEcIk98>Conan and <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH_6iFYiryY>Pacific Rim sound great.
- Hit songs from the last few decades. This is the exception for when I like listening to pop songs.
- Drum and base, <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogMNV33AhCY>Pendulum especially
- The Escapist's own Miracle of Sound

 

[chikusho]

Don't just work out. Do an activity where you learn stuff as you go along. I can't stand running or lifting weights, so I took up kickboxing instead. You'll learn to do something while you're training, and having scheduled sessions with a group makes sure you don't just blow it off.