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I like physical activity. My brain greatly dislikes 'purposeless' physical activity. For example, I can stock an entire store, no problem. I will gleefully pu

I like physical activity. My brain greatly dislikes 'purposeless' physical activity. For example, I can stock an entire store, no problem. I will gleefully put the right thing into the right spot. That accomplishes something. Take a quarter of that physical energy and put it into a jog or walk? Hate it. Yes, I am technically accomplishing something, but try and tell my bored-to-tears lizard brain that.

boesboes 3y ago
I found bouldering/sport climbing to be able to tickle my it needs to be useful sense. It gives me focus on a task: get up this problem. YMMV of course :)
philipkglass 3y ago
That same issue was a barrier for me when I wanted to establish an exercise routine. The thing that really helped was turning "a walk to nowhere" into "a walk to the grocery store." I started daily shopping with a backpack to carry what I buy. Fortunately (?) I don't live in an especially dense area. A round trip to the grocery store is 4 miles. At the same time I started spending noticeably less on gasoline. I'm a remote worker and once I started doing most of my shopping on foot I found that I was only refilling on gas every 2 months.
- tasuki 3y ago
  > I started daily shopping with a backpack to carry what I buy. I do the same, slightly shorter distance. There's even an exercise that people put rocks into their backpacks and walk around, they call it rucking I think. I could never do that, but bringing the groceries, sure! Time spent in the car is wasted, time spent walking for groceries is well spent. Moving back to my hometown of 400k people, I found I don't even need a bike: I can get almost anywhere in an hour's walk!
doublepg23 3y ago
I love taking photos while on walks and listening to podcasts.
jstarfish 3y ago
Treadmills are a form of punishment. Man in motion, going nowhere... I've taken to forcing myself to walk to the convenience store when I want a single unit of junk food instead of hoarding and binging. Gives me purposeful exercise and limits my spending on crap.
discardedrefuse 3y ago
Consider a physical activity that doesn't require your brain and use that time to engage your brain in other ways like listening to audiobooks and podcasts. So instead of "this is my pointless exercise hour", you end up with "this is my audiobook hour".

boesboes 3y ago

I found bouldering/sport climbing to be able to tickle my it needs to be useful sense. It gives me focus on a task: get up this problem. YMMV of course :)

philipkglass 3y ago

That same issue was a barrier for me when I wanted to establish an exercise routine. The thing that really helped was turning "a walk to nowhere" into "a walk to the grocery store." I started daily shopping with a backpack to carry what I buy. Fortunately (?) I don't live in an especially dense area. A round trip to the grocery store is 4 miles. At the same time I started spending noticeably less on gasoline. I'm a remote worker and once I started doing most of my shopping on foot I found that I was only refilling on gas every 2 months.

tasuki 3y ago
> I started daily shopping with a backpack to carry what I buy. I do the same, slightly shorter distance. There's even an exercise that people put rocks into their backpacks and walk around, they call it rucking I think. I could never do that, but bringing the groceries, sure! Time spent in the car is wasted, time spent walking for groceries is well spent. Moving back to my hometown of 400k people, I found I don't even need a bike: I can get almost anywhere in an hour's walk!

doublepg23 3y ago

I love taking photos while on walks and listening to podcasts.

jstarfish 3y ago

Treadmills are a form of punishment. Man in motion, going nowhere... I've taken to forcing myself to walk to the convenience store when I want a single unit of junk food instead of hoarding and binging. Gives me purposeful exercise and limits my spending on crap.

discardedrefuse 3y ago

Consider a physical activity that doesn't require your brain and use that time to engage your brain in other ways like listening to audiobooks and podcasts. So instead of "this is my pointless exercise hour", you end up with "this is my audiobook hour".