A lot of people exercise regularly without really enjoying it all that much. Some people have simply lost interest, or, worse, never picked up the interest in the first place! The best way to tackle this sort of problem is to change your attitude towards exercise.
People don’t tend to put enjoyability or practicality at the forefront of their exercise routine. They lean more towards the no pain, no gain mentality. That, or they keep it relatively straightforward and let their records and goals guide what they do. But exercise needn’t always strain you out, nor should it always require high levels of energy.
The mindset you have when you approach exercise is very important. If you’ve found yourself lagging a bit recently, then perhaps you need to look at some new approaches towards fitness. Here are some of the things you can combine with good exercise in order to foster a new approach.
Making friends
Not many people look to exercise as a potential source of social activity. But if you’ve got friends who also want to get into exercise, then why not go running with them? It’s a great way to catch up and deepen your bond while you all get fitter. It seems very practical when you put it like this! Meeting up and playing sports is another way you can bring social activity and great exercise together.
There are other ways you can approach this, however. If you’re going on a night out, then dancing is definitely something you should look into. Dancing is massively underestimated when it comes to fitness; even the sort of dancing people tend to do in clubs (i.e. not likely to induce sweating, a little clumsy, etc) burns calories and helps with muscle tone!
Learning practical skills
Unless they’re looking to become a professional in the world of fitness (something we’ll touch on in the next section), most people don’t look to exercise as something that really teaches a practical skill. Unless, of course, you count developing the skill of proper exercise itself as a practical skill – which it certainly is! But there are other ways you can combine a fitness boost with lessons in a life skill. Perhaps the most obvious example is in self-defence.
Martial arts is absolutely fantastic for muscular development. It’s also great when it comes to self-defence. A lot of people suffer from low confidence or anxiety when they’re in particular scenarios outdoors because they feel at risk. But if you know how to defend yourself in case of attack, then your confidence will definitely get a boost. Plus, on the off-chance that something actually does happen, then you’re much more likely to get out of that situation in one piece!
Generate an income
When people think about people who make an income through exercise, they usually think of sporting professionals. They consider the household names of the football pitches who make hundreds of thousands of pounds per year, if not millions! A lot of people simply don’t consider the fact that there are plenty of “non-celebrities” out there who make a good income from their exercising or fitness-based hobbies.
Perhaps the most obvious way in which this is achieved is by becoming a personal trainer. If you’re interested in helping other people who may need some assistance when it comes to gaining muscle, losing weight, or simply boosting their cardiovascular health, then you should consider taking an online personal trainer course to get the knowledge and qualifications you need. This isn’t the only way fitness can earn you money, however. There are plenty of people out there who make money by writing about fitness.
Cute fitness apparel
Ever heard the phrase “all the gear, no idea”? I feel like a fraud if I buy myself yoga pants and bright Nike trainers, if I know I’m actually only going to be wearing them when I’m being a potato at home. Whatever you decide to start doing, whether it’s going for a run in the morning or joining a pilates class, you can be safe in the knowledge that you are not one of these girls. Instead, you’ll be a strong, independent woman – with nice clothes!
When I first started running I bought myself a decent sports bra from Knix, some half decent leggings and a pair of £100 pair of running trainers. I told myself, once I had committed myself to running at least 3 – 5 times a week, and achieved running 5km without stopping, I would treat myself to another pair of trainers or another piece of apparel I kept doing his as I upped my milage to 10km, 20km without stopping, etc. This really helped me stay motivated!
Seeing new places
Surely only a couch potato doesn’t want to see new places – and if you enjoy exercising, then you’re probably not a couch potato! A lot of people romanticise traveling a bit too much. But the fact is that there are a lot of benefits to see new places. They increase the level of novelty in your life, which can help with long-term satisfaction. Seeing new nature-based places helps inspire feelings of wonder and awe – and you don’t have to sign up to some new age theory to acknowledge the benefits of those feelings!
You should see exercise as a good excuse to see new places. For a lot of people, the combination of travelling or exploring with exercise means hiking. This is definitely something you should consider, as it’s amazing for both your body and mind. But even venturing somewhere close to home you’ve never visited before and going for a run or a cycle can be an excellent way to do it.
Increased confidence
Exercise can help to increase confidence. Even just a couple of hours of exercise a week will make you feel better, and the endorphins released after exercise, will make you feel even better. First, in the short-term, exercise enhances our mood and puts our mind in a more positive state. Second, in the long-term, exercise makes us feel good about our physical self – our abilities and physique.