It depends on the exercise for me. Weights/ strength training I struggle to enjoy but going for a run is my jam. It can get pretty rough on the longer runs but every time when I finish and catch my breath I generally feel a lot happier about myself and find dealing with life a lot easier.
Asklemmy
A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions
Search asklemmy ๐
If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!
- Open-ended question
- Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
- Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
- Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
- An actual topic of discussion
Looking for support?
Looking for a community?
- Lemmyverse: community search
- sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
- [email protected]: a community for finding communities
~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~
I love lifting on certain days/splits. I dread leg day, but I love push day. Progress feels good, and even if I don't meet my goal, I usually feel good pushing myself.
I used to hate running. I did a Couch to 5k program that got me 5k ready in a month and dreaded every day of it. And I didn't even do well on the 5k.
But! I went on to train for a 10k, and that actually felt great! After a certain point, I entered some kind of zen and started enjoying it. Is that runner's high? Anyway, I kept up with running, and now each run is almost meditative.
I've been riding a bike almost every day since 2009. I've been hit by 7 cars, been partially disabled by the last 2, but also went from 350lbs to 190lbs, raced, rode a bike to my first full time job at a bike shop for 2 years riding 66 miles round trip, then lead out the group ride for the shop most Saturdays to make it a century ride. I can barely walk now but still hit 26 miles on the bike most days. It is the only time I'm still kinda normal. Many bad days when I'm physically doing terrible, riding is my whole day and helps get be back in shape. Today was one of those days after feeding a cat caused something to fail in my back last night.
I tried the gym, jogging, and other junk before. I just had to find my thing. I'm a hardcore roadie.
I actively enjoy climbing. It's just fun and kind of an exercise. For lifting, I don't mind it but it's definitely an effort some days.
Eh, not sure if enjoyment is the right word. But it's nice.
I started with running this year and it was awful and painful. But after I passed a certain threshold I realized it's no longer painful, I could just hold the pace and run like forever.
Now it's sort of relaxing experience where I can just let loose my brain and think about whatever I want for like half an hour. Which is nice when you're an adult with no time for yourself
How to achieve this - I don't even know myself how I made it. I got one of those Garmin watches for birthday and there was this Coach feature, I just followed it and after like 4 months I was able to run 12 km
Love working out, more body weight and running then anything.
I prefer the dentist tbh. She is cute though ๐
I do, or moreso I should say I enjoy the feeling I get while working out. Seeing my body with a pump, feeling like I just put everything into that last set even if it wasn't the strongest I've ever been on that exercise or the best form I've ever had.
It's not the "runners high" for me, but an appreciation that no matter what I get done that day (or not) that I went to the gym and maintained/progressed my physical training. It's like coming from a hard day at work and looking at a well made bed, knowing no matter how shit your day was that you've put effort in and will see it returned. It also turns out that when you work out more often than not that you'll eventually notice you feel "off" when you don't. You feel happier and less like a blob of a human even if your body composition still reflects it. You can feel the muscle a little bit firmer and theres a bit more pep in everything you do. Like you're more capable of just moving around in day to day life.
I've been a consistent Mon-Fri gym goer for about 11 years now and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. I don't lift as heavy as I used to because I'm trying to keep my joints in good health when I'm older, but with mind/muscle concentration and controlled movements you can trigger hypertrophy even with weights that won't end in knee replacements by age 45.
It's a fun form of fitness, and I like it more than running. While I mostly enjoy it for the way it makes me feel after the gym, there's nothing like looking at yourself in a mirror with an extra 50 pounds of lean muscle than you started with and the ability to put more weight over your head than you could originally deadlift.
I rock climb and do conditioning for it. Sometimes I trail run and there is a weird mid action addrenaline i get from it. Same when I am on a high wall. I know I am not gonna fall, but it's up to me to commit and finish this challenge.
I ride BMX for fun. It's evenly split between hour long rides and hour long trick sessions. It feels good to go fast on the bike or to explore what's around the next corner. Feels amazing to nail a new trick or improve consistency with old tricks. Then afterwards I get LSD flashbacks looking at the popcorn ceiling while catching my breath. Fun all around.
Nah, it's definitely a delayed gratification in my case. I don't dislike working out per se, I just like doing other things more. Hence why I do a couple of physically demanding sports.
I used to, but I fell out of the habit. Mostly with strength training, kinda hated cardio haha. The only way I liked cardio was to hop on an elliptical and tune out to a show while I "ran".
Yes, it lets me take my mind away from things for abit. Helps to keep me in shape as well
I have recently started to enjoy taking bike rides. I used to do it before with friends and didn't mind it but it was not super enjoyable. It likely had to do work the fact that they would always do 40 mile bike rides that had a decent amount of hills. None of us have time for bike rides that long anymore. But a nice 10 mile bike ride is a nice but of time to just clear my head and enjoy looking one way and seeing the Cascades and looking the other way and seeing the Sound and the Olympics.
I have heard of runner's high and read a good explanation for it that I don't remember. Regardless, I don't get runner's high and honestly hate running. Even with a podcast in, I can't get myself to like it. It might be a bit better if I did it more often but that is a big hump to get past.
It took me a while. Once I was in shape, didn't get horribly sore, could hit impressive PR's, and saw undeniable results. That's when I switched from "ugh gotta go to the gym" to "hell yes time to tear it up at the gym"
I think seeing the massive pattern of progress without dealing with the soreness is what I need to enjoy it.
I forgot to add, it's good to have a goal. Whether it's losing weight or building muscle, and have a plan to achieve it. Keep at it, it takes time for new habits to form.
I started running to lose some weight recently. And I genuinely enjoy it.
It's alone time, time to think, or listen to an album or podcast and just be alone.
I enjoy the progress I'm seeing. Every week I can run further than I could the last week, every week gets easier and faster, and beating my pb is a real endorphin rush. Every week I weigh less than I did the previous week.
I enjoy feeling proud of myself. It would be so easy to sit on the couch and watch Netflix. Or play a silly little video game. And that's what most people do. I enjoy not being most people. I enjoy putting in the work to better myself.
I enjoy pushing myself. When my legs burn and I don't think I can run anymore, but I push through that and run another kilometer. the runners high is real. Not comparable to a fun drug, but still feels good.
So yeah, I'm not a fitness guy, but working out definitely has it's place and can be enjoyable
I love it, I listen to music and it's like meditation. The pain of muscle fatigue for me feels good and bad at the same time.