4 ms·

I am lifting (and doing some cardio) for 7 years now. The truth is there's nothing to enjoy, it's just routine. Just like having a shower, brushing teeth, makin

I am lifting (and doing some cardio) for 7 years now. The truth is there's nothing to enjoy, it's just routine. Just like having a shower, brushing teeth, making diner and washing dishes. It's hard and monotonous work, not leisure. I've seen people who seek "to enjoy it" come and go all the time, because they just don't have the right mindset.

Jemmeh 9y ago
I get where you're coming from and I think routine is important. But I make sure to do some of the dance and spin classes for my cardio and it makes it a lot more enjoyable. I actually also enjoy lifting weights. The treadmill is a bit boring but running -feels- good. Getting the blood pumping and stretching my legs feels great. Doing sports at the park works different muscles and I can run around outside playing for 3 hours having fun. I view it as "cling to any positive motivation that comes my way, it can make me workout harder and the time pass faster, but always fall back on discipline." 80% of the time it doesn't feel like a chore, but even when it does I still go. Also I think there's a lot of people who use the gym as some kinda hate machine. "I'm just here because I hate my body" seems like a good way to feel awful all the time.
mlevental 9y ago
I've been doing it for 15 years. amongst my friends I'm the workout zealot. I used to run 15 miles a day 4 days a week and I've got good PRs (approaching 1k lbs right now). I enjoy it. do I enjoy it like I enjoy candy? a good movie? a day at the beach? of course not. but I don't enjoy writing code in that way either and yet I enjoy writing code. the change of mind is coming to enjoy difficult things (not making difficult things easy)
loudtieblahblah 9y ago
Eh. I've kinda been off and on the wagon for the past 7 years. The routine is the same - lose the weight. Feel great about myself. Then I either decide to chase performance goals - or to pack on muscle. I do that for 6-12 months and then something in life happens that derails me (having a kid being the biggest one). This last time I got started, over a year ago, I was 240lbs. In 10 months I dropped to 180. At 36 and the fact I wasn't as strict with my diet as usual in the hopes it would help for a more long term lifestyle change rather than just a "diet". I tell people I just do it because it's maintenance, because who like "that guy" that goes to the gym all the time. People like their friends and family and co-workers doing something positive and constructive and are great at encouraging it. But eventually that person sticks with it, talks about it a lot - it becomes this constant reminder to others of their inadequacies. It doesn't matter if you taught yourself a new thing, lost weight, got shredded, read Infinte Jest, picked up a hobby of some for or another. It's always the same. They get annoyed at you, they talk smack about you. Hell, sometimes they try to sabotage you. So i just tell people, it's maintenance. That I don't really enjoy it. That I just don't want to be fat or feeble when I'm too old to do anything about it. Even with my own wife - I'm a little reserved to talk about my failures or successes. Less so than with others, but with her too. But the truth of it is - i love running. On a treadmill even. And I really love lifting. I love having short and long term goals and meeting them in concrete ways - or learning from my failure to. I find it stimulating and challenging. Not to mention stress relieving. Going to the gym, pumping some aggressive music is a nice break from the types of passive-aggressive hipster STEM bros I work with day in and day out. It's a nice break from being Dad. It's a space where the only person I have to compete with is myself and I really enjoy that.

Jemmeh 9y ago

I get where you're coming from and I think routine is important. But I make sure to do some of the dance and spin classes for my cardio and it makes it a lot more enjoyable. I actually also enjoy lifting weights. The treadmill is a bit boring but running -feels- good. Getting the blood pumping and stretching my legs feels great. Doing sports at the park works different muscles and I can run around outside playing for 3 hours having fun. I view it as "cling to any positive motivation that comes my way, it can make me workout harder and the time pass faster, but always fall back on discipline." 80% of the time it doesn't feel like a chore, but even when it does I still go. Also I think there's a lot of people who use the gym as some kinda hate machine. "I'm just here because I hate my body" seems like a good way to feel awful all the time.

mlevental 9y ago

I've been doing it for 15 years. amongst my friends I'm the workout zealot. I used to run 15 miles a day 4 days a week and I've got good PRs (approaching 1k lbs right now). I enjoy it. do I enjoy it like I enjoy candy? a good movie? a day at the beach? of course not. but I don't enjoy writing code in that way either and yet I enjoy writing code. the change of mind is coming to enjoy difficult things (not making difficult things easy)

loudtieblahblah 9y ago

Eh. I've kinda been off and on the wagon for the past 7 years. The routine is the same - lose the weight. Feel great about myself. Then I either decide to chase performance goals - or to pack on muscle. I do that for 6-12 months and then something in life happens that derails me (having a kid being the biggest one). This last time I got started, over a year ago, I was 240lbs. In 10 months I dropped to 180. At 36 and the fact I wasn't as strict with my diet as usual in the hopes it would help for a more long term lifestyle change rather than just a "diet". I tell people I just do it because it's maintenance, because who like "that guy" that goes to the gym all the time. People like their friends and family and co-workers doing something positive and constructive and are great at encouraging it. But eventually that person sticks with it, talks about it a lot - it becomes this constant reminder to others of their inadequacies. It doesn't matter if you taught yourself a new thing, lost weight, got shredded, read Infinte Jest, picked up a hobby of some for or another. It's always the same. They get annoyed at you, they talk smack about you. Hell, sometimes they try to sabotage you. So i just tell people, it's maintenance. That I don't really enjoy it. That I just don't want to be fat or feeble when I'm too old to do anything about it. Even with my own wife - I'm a little reserved to talk about my failures or successes. Less so than with others, but with her too. But the truth of it is - i love running. On a treadmill even. And I really love lifting. I love having short and long term goals and meeting them in concrete ways - or learning from my failure to. I find it stimulating and challenging. Not to mention stress relieving. Going to the gym, pumping some aggressive music is a nice break from the types of passive-aggressive hipster STEM bros I work with day in and day out. It's a nice break from being Dad. It's a space where the only person I have to compete with is myself and I really enjoy that.