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[RoseHeart]

Half an hour a day. Just 30 minutes. It's a simple enough goal.

I try to dance to music. I try to watch a yoga routine. I try to go for a walk, but there's too much car exhaust in my neighborhood.

It's a simple goal, but I can't stay committed to it.

[Caz]

I like making exercise a side effect instead of a goal activity. Going out foraging for mushrooms takes a lot of walking. Walking a couple miles to friends/family (not this year I guess ) or to the shop has exercise built-in. Having active hobbies helps. I end up reasonably active just by looking after some mischievous birds.

Either that, or find exercise you enjoy. Some people like running, others like weightlifting. There's also really fun stuff like rock climbing or team sports, but that takes money and/or people so YMMV!


Edit: Also if achievement-kinda things help your motivation (trained via videogames no doubt) you can try a step counter. There's even ones that bug you if you haven't moved enough in the last hour or so. And there's mobile games you can play like Ingress or the Pokemon one. Just don't cross roads while looking at your phone >_> You get 10km+/day easy with those games.

[RoseHeart]

I like making exercise a side effect instead of a goal activity.

Nice.

[nenjin]

Finding exercise you enjoy doing is key. Anything else just feels like a chore.

Personally, weight lifting spoke to me. The challenge, the burn, the results, those all motivated me to keep doing it.

Also, goals. Just working out to be "healthy" is boring. The pay out for all that discipline is ephemeral. You live longer, you feel better. But you don't see changes, and you don't necessarily always feel the changes.

So angling your working out toward a real, tangible goal can help keep you motivated. Being stronger (trying to move your numbers up.) Being leaner and looking better (the six pack!) Better flexibility (being able to do the splits), mobility (range of motion), performance (being able to run X miles without wanting to die), having better endurance (being able to run for a set amount of time without wanting to die.)

When you've got a specific goal, that you need to work hard to achieve and you legitimately want to invest in, the struggling itself becomes fun. Pushing yourself, pushing your boundaries. Becoming better. That heroic effort, that's where I find the fun. Plus learning all the exercise science (I'm a nerd, I like learning) so I know what I'm doing and doing it correctly.

TLDR: It's hard to be bored when it takes everything you have.

[RoseHeart]

I found a door gym to be interesting. I try to do a few pull ups on my back from the bathroom. I've been going for walks on rainy days when there are fewer cars on the roads. I try to go a little further each time.

I'm more oriented to gymnastics/flexibly than muscle building, but these can be something you notice improvement in aswell. Nice.

[martinuzz]

I just facepalm hard 50 times whenever I realize I don't excercise enough. Facepalming burns calories too.

[George_Chickens]

I WILL EXERCISE MY RIGHT TO TELL YOU THAT...
I agree fully, exercise is very boring if you don't set adequate, achievable goals and a greater goal to work towards.

[heydude6]

There are indeed a lot of ways to make exercise easier by tying it to other more enjoyable things, but I believe it's a poor substitute to simply having the strength of character to commit yourself to carrying out a tedious hour-long routine every two days. There are worse things in this world that you have to do than exercise. Pushing through pain is a life skill you have to develop.

I agree fully, exercise is very boring if you don't set adequate, achievable goals and a greater goal to work towards.

I have to second this one though. I've become very perceptive of the way my body felt before I started an exercise routine, and how much better it felt after I had been into it for a few months. As well as how my body is starting to feel after abandoning it.

I've learned to hate the way my body feels when it's out of shape, and avoiding that feeling is my main driving force. I'll never get big muscles if that is my goal, but modern society doesn't really need big muscles, so I'm fine with just feeling comfortable with myself again. You have to first achieve that feeling before you know how much it's worth fighting for though.


I do think finding a workout buddy is a good way to motivate yourself to stick to your routine.

[MrRoboto75]

7 days without exercise makes one weak.

[nenjin]

I've learned to hate the way my body feels when it's out of shape, and avoiding that feeling is my main driving force. I'll never get big muscles if that is my goal, but modern society doesn't really need big muscles, so I'm fine with just feeling comfortable with myself again. You have to first achieve that feeling before you know how much it's worth fighting for though.

I just took a 2 month break from lifting, mostly because of the holidays and work being hella stressful to the point I just wanted to go home and vegetate rather than spend another 1.5 hours working out.

And yeah. At first it was like "This is kinda nice! Not being tight and tired all the time, not having to keep a schedule to maintain my workouts." That was the first two weeks.

But after those 2 weeks, I started noticing all sorts of stuff. My posture started regressing, to the point I ended up with a sore right trap and honestly pain along the whole of my back on the right side, from too many hours spent in my gaming chair and not enough hours correcting those bad postural positions.

Joints around the legs, particularly around my knees, started to get tight.

I started feeling unpleasantly full a lot of the time, despite no real change in calories. It's like when I wasn't burning off half of what I ate, the remainder just sat there doing....nothing.

I started becoming severely demotivated and even depressed.

And once the feeling of "tone" for lack of a better term wore off.....I seriously started questioning if I ever really lifted. I felt loose and soft and weak.

Once you start working out, and build a little bit of muscle....it's kind of amazing how fast the body will "Nope" right back to its resting averages for things like muscle when you just stop working out. I think the current broscience is after about 1 week of not lifting, your body starts dropping muscle mass since it doesn't think you need it as much anymore.

Just got back in to the gym yesterday, and while I'm incredibly sore....I also feel more upbeat than I have in weeks. I love the feeling of having been "worked", the next day when you may or may not be sore but your muscles have some tension and feel like they're ready to "stuff."

Just a bit of shameless self-promotion too, but there is a dedicated fitness thread if people want to use it. Mostly it's just me quasi-documenting the last few years of going from complete slob --> someone who cares a lot about working out.

[scriver]

I don't have any commitment, I don't have any discipline, and I enjoy no activity.

I have resigned myself to the fate of dying of heart attack when I'm 50 or whatever.

[Yellow Pixel]

I don't have any commitment, I don't have any discipline, and I enjoy no activity.

I have resigned myself to the fate of dying of heart attack when I'm 50 or whatever.

If you eat well, you probably won't die of heart attack when you're 50. Except if you have specific health issues.

[Yoink]

I have a solution that's pretty much tailor-made for this problem.   
You're welcome!   

[Uthimienure]

I agree it's boring. Here's what I did...

Got a free exercise app for the phone "30 day fitness" or something like that. With reminders.
Got a cheap elliptical machine and put it in front of the TV; it's less boring to plod along while watching a movie.

It took a while to make it work as a routine habit of course, but when I managed to see weight coming off it kept me encouraged.
A "Long-Term" plan is better than a short-term one.  Keep it simple.

[Iduno]

I got a high-energy dog. I take her for walks 3 times per day at 10-20 minutes each time.