The reason you aren’t exercising regularly
I am one of those people who exercises almost every day and truly enjoys the process. For most people exercising is a chore, something they do not want to do, but once in a while they force themselves to do. While in my head, exercising is the best part of my day. Sure, sometimes I am lazy as well, but throughout the years I found a way to love it. And the way is: changing it up!
I am a runner, I have run 5 marathons (not bragging at all!), not a fast runner, but a decent one. I can run 10km any day without much physical struggle (again, not bragging!). When I started to consider myself a runner, I would run 5–7times and run 60–70km per week. I was considering myself “Runner”. I have not realized at that time that by that I’ve put myself in a box, I labeled myself as a runner. And I liked that I would be the person that people would come for running advices. Finally, the moment of glory!
At some point running slowly, but surely running was not that fun, I felt pressure to run as I used to, because ya know? I am a Runner, nothing else! I was doing yoga after my runs, so when I lost some of my interest in running, I started to prioritize yoga over running. And I felt so bad about it. In my head, I was a RUNNER, so I needed to prioritize running over anything.
There was this guilt, and I was doubting myself as a runner. Running felt like a chore, I would still get the running high, but the convincing to get out of the door was becoming harder and harder. I would see other runners enjoying running, so I thought “okay, maybe I am not that good of a runner!”.
Since yoga does not give me a lot of endorphins (I have tried different yoga, I love Vinyasa and Ashtanga the most), the happy hormones kick in when I do very intense cardio, I started to do HIIT, using Fitness Blender on Youtube. Then I noticed I am enjoying HIIT a lot more than yoga or running and started to do 4–5 times per week, so now I wasn’t even a good yogi!
Throughout the years, I would fall in love with different types of exercises and just slowly embraced that my workouts can never be one-dimensional. I need a change in my routine. While I still kept my running, yoga love, I incorporated other exercise forms in my life.
My priority has become to enjoy my exercises, while I would like to run the Boston Marathon at some point, I figured I do not need to stick to one method, because then I feel burnt out and it is okay to love something, some activity, but not want to do it every day.
When I realized that I was pressuring myself to be all-in Runner, I am not just a runner, I am someone who loves to be active and my activity varies from season to season. I want to be flexible, run 10km any time, be good at pilates, be able to do burpees without dying (still working on it), stand on my head, and be able to do push-ups (ok I got to crazy here, spaghetti arms forever!).
So now, I enjoy running, yoga, pilates, HIIT, going for long walks or rides, strength training with light-weight dumbbells and I love them all. As long as I move my body and feel like I am not sitting the whole day, I am happy.
Before you give up on exercising, I would suggest to try different things, because only then exercising can be fun and fresh, when you look forward to it, the novelty of it. Change it up!
Exercising should be fun and you need to find something that is for you, not what is trendy! Definitely stick to 2–3 weeks and see how you feel about a certain exercise, because in the beginning most things feel strenuous, but if you see you are not enjoying it at all, drop it.
Life is too short to not enjoy your workouts :)
Happy exercising,
Lilly
The best advice giver (eh?)