6 ms·

I was very lucky, growing up, to be the son of a sports medicine doctor because, from birth, healthy eating and exercise and their benefits were grilled into my

I was very lucky, growing up, to be the son of a sports medicine doctor because, from birth, healthy eating and exercise and their benefits were grilled into my brain. Unfortunately I see too many people in my job (academia) who don't exercise despite the huge potential benefits to their productivity and life. So this makes me wonder: what is it about exercise that turns people off? Is it a communication issue? Is it the lack of confidence? Lack of knowledge? It seems that there are constant pushes in the media to be more healthy and exercise but it never seems to stick.

atom-morgan 11y ago
I think it's a lack of feedback and the overall difficulty of making anything a habit especially when you won't be shown immediate results.
pjc50 11y ago
A lot of people are turned off exercise by the school environment where it's mandatory, unpleasant, competitive in a bad way and unrewarding.
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  Speaking as a case in point. PE lessons were my nightmare. My fitness was always below class average, and never had an interest in competitive sports - I always found exercise tiring, boring, and something you are forced to do. School cemented that attitude. The lessons could have been better. For instance, starting with making one run as fast and as far as you can (and repeating that every few months) meant only that I wanted to puke my guts out. If we were following a running program of increasing difficulty instead, I might have noticed my stamina increasing and maybe would have liked it. Though our teachers probably assumed that we're doing sports after school anyway, and not e.g. sitting at home learning how to write video games. I'm older now and I see it's about feedback. If something makes you feel miserable, then without strong sense of purpose about it (encouraging it is something school universally sucks at) you're likely to avoid it and hate it even more. OTOH, if you started your PE lessons relatively fit, they were probably pleasant for you and thus the feedback loop worked in your favour.
jakejake 11y ago
I think it's pretty simple - exercise requires physical effort and most people would rather sit on the couch.
- icebraining 11y ago
  It's not that simple, though; cleaning your house also takes effort, yet most people do it.
pavel_lishin 11y ago
For me it's a combination of things. 1. Convenience. If I have a gym in the building I live in, I'm about 10x more likely to use it. If it's a block down the street, I might go once a week. If it's two blocks down the street, it might as well be in Algiers. 2. Knowledge. I don't know how to lift weights, and I'm afraid I'll do it wrong and end up injuring myself. Apparently even running isn't trivial to do without potentially hurting yourself. If you don't have a friend who can show you how to do things right, it's not as easy to get started with confidence. (And let's face it, most of us here are probably not super likely to ask a stranger at the gym for help.) 3. Laziness. I've got work to do and video games to play, man! Working out isn't fun. I like riding my bike, but I'm not doing it in 30 degree weather, or in the rain, or in the snow.
- xirdstl 11y ago
  You've pretty much nailed it, especially the last part about the cold. I will run sometimes, but the motivation required to go run when it's freezing outside is frequently beyond my grasp.
  - koide 11y ago
    Bodyweight only exercise, for example HIIT routines or abs, or even dumbbell based strength training can be done from the comfort of your own living room. I just need 4 square meters. If you need help, check out http://fitnessblender.com http://fitnessblender.com and start at a difficulty level you can manage.
- henry_vonfire 11y ago
  I haven't met anyone in a gym who is not willing to give you advices about how to lift.
  - icebraining 11y ago
    Why would I trust advice from random strangers? For all I know, they're damaging themselves as well.
izacus 11y ago
Because for a lot of people excercise is boring and not interesting to them. Everything else can be overcome if the activity is engaging and interesting. Gym-type excercise however can be percieved as a chore and people do not like doing chores.
panglott 11y ago
It's both hard and boring. Yes, yes, audiobooks, I know. Audiobooks/podcasts are great at lower intensities.
neogodless 11y ago
Feedback. We immediately enjoy entertainment. We clean because we see a mess, clean it, and see a nice clean area. We enjoy food right now. Even if enough time has gone by to see the ill effects of neglecting health, it's still only a (strained) mental connection. We give up eating junk food and we go to the gym, but we still feel lousy two days later. The feedback from healthy habits is generally slow, so you need some kind of form of lasting motivation or, more helpful, grit. Start with grit. Determine that you'll do something miserable for 21 days before giving up. If that thing provides positive feedback within 21 days, you might actually stick to it. For that reason, a combination of efficient workouts (full body / chain movements with sufficient loads) as well as the necessary sleep and diet improvements can work within 21 days. We often "pick 1" when it comes to changing habits, but this is a case where you might want to pick 3 or 4 that all work well together, and try to stick to them for 21 days. But it all starts with grit.

atom-morgan 11y ago

I think it's a lack of feedback and the overall difficulty of making anything a habit especially when you won't be shown immediate results.

pjc50 11y ago

A lot of people are turned off exercise by the school environment where it's mandatory, unpleasant, competitive in a bad way and unrewarding.

TeMPOraL 11y ago
Speaking as a case in point. PE lessons were my nightmare. My fitness was always below class average, and never had an interest in competitive sports - I always found exercise tiring, boring, and something you are forced to do. School cemented that attitude. The lessons could have been better. For instance, starting with making one run as fast and as far as you can (and repeating that every few months) meant only that I wanted to puke my guts out. If we were following a running program of increasing difficulty instead, I might have noticed my stamina increasing and maybe would have liked it. Though our teachers probably assumed that we're doing sports after school anyway, and not e.g. sitting at home learning how to write video games. I'm older now and I see it's about feedback. If something makes you feel miserable, then without strong sense of purpose about it (encouraging it is something school universally sucks at) you're likely to avoid it and hate it even more. OTOH, if you started your PE lessons relatively fit, they were probably pleasant for you and thus the feedback loop worked in your favour.

jakejake 11y ago

I think it's pretty simple - exercise requires physical effort and most people would rather sit on the couch.

icebraining 11y ago
It's not that simple, though; cleaning your house also takes effort, yet most people do it.

pavel_lishin 11y ago

For me it's a combination of things. 1. Convenience. If I have a gym in the building I live in, I'm about 10x more likely to use it. If it's a block down the street, I might go once a week. If it's two blocks down the street, it might as well be in Algiers. 2. Knowledge. I don't know how to lift weights, and I'm afraid I'll do it wrong and end up injuring myself. Apparently even running isn't trivial to do without potentially hurting yourself. If you don't have a friend who can show you how to do things right, it's not as easy to get started with confidence. (And let's face it, most of us here are probably not super likely to ask a stranger at the gym for help.) 3. Laziness. I've got work to do and video games to play, man! Working out isn't fun. I like riding my bike, but I'm not doing it in 30 degree weather, or in the rain, or in the snow.

xirdstl 11y ago
You've pretty much nailed it, especially the last part about the cold. I will run sometimes, but the motivation required to go run when it's freezing outside is frequently beyond my grasp.
- koide 11y ago
  Bodyweight only exercise, for example HIIT routines or abs, or even dumbbell based strength training can be done from the comfort of your own living room. I just need 4 square meters. If you need help, check out http://fitnessblender.com http://fitnessblender.com and start at a difficulty level you can manage.
henry_vonfire 11y ago
I haven't met anyone in a gym who is not willing to give you advices about how to lift.
- icebraining 11y ago
  Why would I trust advice from random strangers? For all I know, they're damaging themselves as well.

izacus 11y ago

Because for a lot of people excercise is boring and not interesting to them. Everything else can be overcome if the activity is engaging and interesting. Gym-type excercise however can be percieved as a chore and people do not like doing chores.

panglott 11y ago

It's both hard and boring. Yes, yes, audiobooks, I know. Audiobooks/podcasts are great at lower intensities.

neogodless 11y ago

Feedback. We immediately enjoy entertainment. We clean because we see a mess, clean it, and see a nice clean area. We enjoy food right now. Even if enough time has gone by to see the ill effects of neglecting health, it's still only a (strained) mental connection. We give up eating junk food and we go to the gym, but we still feel lousy two days later. The feedback from healthy habits is generally slow, so you need some kind of form of lasting motivation or, more helpful, grit. Start with grit. Determine that you'll do something miserable for 21 days before giving up. If that thing provides positive feedback within 21 days, you might actually stick to it. For that reason, a combination of efficient workouts (full body / chain movements with sufficient loads) as well as the necessary sleep and diet improvements can work within 21 days. We often "pick 1" when it comes to changing habits, but this is a case where you might want to pick 3 or 4 that all work well together, and try to stick to them for 21 days. But it all starts with grit.