Ways to make working out fun?

[The Almighty Aardvark]

I've got three possible suggestions.

Don't work out, find a physical activity or sport you enjoy and just do that on a regular basis. This option might be one of the more expensive ones unfortunately depending on the activity. I find this far more gratifying than weightlifting or using exercise bikes. Plus it can also give you more drive when you do work out, since you're trying to improve for activity as well. Climbing and swimming are both sports that are great for getting fit, and they're far from the only ones. I really only have experience with climbing, but it's great. Most gyms have something for everybody's level, and you have a concrete standard for measuring improvement. Get farther on a climb than you did last time? You're a better climber. In every city I've been to the climbing community is very helpful and welcoming to people of all skill levels

The second one is find some activity that has a set and visible goal to achieve. I find this helps me stay better focused, and as a result, less bored. Something like running a circuit outdoors. Even if motivation isn't a problem, just having something tangible to achieve can keep your mind occupied. Swimming could also fit into this category as well.

Last suggestion is to work out with friends. It's more fun, and you can have someone to compete with and try to keep up to

 

[Yopaz]

It's impossible. Sorry to be a negative nelly, but there's just no way to enjoy that kind of thing. It's like going to work -- accept that it won't be fun.

I'll chime in here, not because I think working out is boring, it's one of my favourite activities, but if you don't like it then you just don't like it. Best advice I can give you is to find some friends you can work out with that share similar goals.

Personally I just need some decent music to make it among the most fun I have during the week so do find yourself a playlist that fits working out. Get serious, swallow your urges to quit, eventually it might get enjoyable on its own.

Sex.

Come on, Find a better aerobic exercise that you will WANT to do. Your workout periods will quickly move from being minutes to hours.

Jogging, lifting weights and swimming are all aerobic exercises I want to do and they're a lot better than sex in terms of exercise. Weight lifting have about twice as much moaning though...

 

[MorganL4]

Simple solution: Workout buddy. That's it, find someone you like spending time with, who also needs to work out and suggest you do it together to motivate one another. Then you can talk about things you have in common whilst working out.

 

[Senare]

1. Try different group activities. Ideally you should find one that is fun and where the fact that it's exercise is just a plus.

I would start with sword fighting (check re-enactment societies or different eastern martial arts), self-defence/martial arts and dancing (test a lot of styles until you find one that is cool). For sword fighting, check re-enactment societies and schools of eastern martial arts (Kendo, Wushu, Escrima, etc.). For self-defence I would recommend Krav Maga, for martial arts MMA. I have not settled for a dance style yet.
After those look for all kinds of activities you can do with other people and just test them out each once. Even if they might seem unappealing when you think about them they might prove to be fun in a way you didn't realize when you try them. The different experiences might also broaden your views, and if nothing else they would make for good stories.

2. If you want to lose weight then I find that changing your eating habits is way more efficient than working out. I made this more fun by taking a science project approach to it. Deciding how much I would like to weigh by checking life expectancy statistics, calculating how many kilograms I need to rid to get there, how long it takes to burn one kilogram of fat, what I burn if I jog for an hour vs. eat minimally for a day (and so on) makes me feel like some sort of precise scientist. And to me that is appealing.
As a side-effect I have learnt a lot about training. However I will restrain myself from elaborating on things like muscle hypertrophy and the optimal colour/size of your dinner plates today. If you are really curious you can send me a PM.

3. Use an interval timer. An interval timer is list of timers that will automatically start as soon as the last one is finished. You can program these to tell you when to work out/rest when you are lifting weights. This is awesome because it makes my workout sessions feel more like a short concentrated effort or competition as opposed to hanging around the gym for an hour. I typically look up high intensity workout programs that take minimal set up and learning effort, limit my timer for a really short and intensive session (definitely less than 25 minutes), put on some great music and think of a power fantasy or something similar.
I personally use the android app "Impetus" as my interval timer.

4. Try to avoid over-training (which means "training so much that your body does not have time to improve"). Getting up extremely early to jog 5 days a week by pure willpower felt like a good idea at first, because I thought it could become a great habit, but ultimately it made training too dull and tiresome. Later I found out that it is not even the most efficient way to improve or lose weight so I stopped. By all means work out as hard as you wish but know that it is not strictly necessary to drag yourself to the gym every day to get results. The body needs rest too, and you need to maintain your motivation.
I think that you are taking the right approach by looking to make training more fun. Enjoying training is almost a requirement for sticking with it in the long run.

5. If you find your study material at least somewhat interesting (like I do - I study game development) then you can try to affix your book to a stationary spinning bike and study while you work out. Combine this with an interval timer set to <20min work/5min breaks so you can keep your concentration better. I put "sticky pads" on the bike dashboard for holding up my books.

Music tips:
- Movie montage music (e.g. <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioE_O7Lm0I4>"Gonna fly now" from Rocky)
- Game soundtracks, e.g. Portal 2 soundtrack for warmup (can be downloaded legally for free) <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAg4yjEmerU>sample
- Anime soundtracks. As silly as Naruto and other shonen anime are they are often based on power fantasies, and therefore have fitting music.
- Movie soundtracks. Again, silly is okay. Both <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j6nyEcIk98>Conan and <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH_6iFYiryY>Pacific Rim sound great.
- Hit songs from the last few decades. This is the exception for when I like listening to pop songs.
- Drum and base, <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogMNV33AhCY>Pendulum especially
- The Escapist's own Miracle of Sound

 

[chikusho]

Don't just work out. Do an activity where you learn stuff as you go along. I can't stand running or lifting weights, so I took up kickboxing instead. You'll learn to do something while you're training, and having scheduled sessions with a group makes sure you don't just blow it off.

 

[DanielBrown]

What I do is play music I like, watch TV and make different exercises(usually two ways to train the same muscle group). With an exercise bike in front of the TV/computer screen it's easy to lose track of time.

After a while, when you get used to the schedule, it becomes quite addictive. At least it did to me.
As my mate Arnold says:

 

[GonzoGamer]

Martial arts classes are what got me in great shape and it's not boring like the gym. Sounds like you might like that OP.

WWhen working out at home I usually watch DBZ but I'm never sure if I'm watching it to make my workout more tolerable or working out to make DBZ more tolerable.

 

[TheMyffic]

It's called repetitive exercise and can get really boring, even for people who love exercising.

You can mix things up by adding music, people(social), changing the environment (run outside) etc., but honestly, the best advice I can give you is to find something that is FUN. Something where you're focused on some goal (hitting the ball, passing the line, catching the wave) instead of exercising. Initially, your lack of fitness might keep reminding you that you're exercising, but eventually it'll be about enjoying yourself and only realizing afterward how much you've done.

Also, the social aspect can be a great motivator - people to meet/talk with or friends who'll call you up to participate.

 

[Duck Sandwich]

As a lot of people have said, sports, especially kickboxing, is awesome. If you're doing cardio, vary the intensity by doing interval training. When I was just starting to get in shape, I came across a method of cardio called high intensity interval training (HIIT). Basically, you jog for 5 minutes or so to warm up, then you alternate between jogging for 30 seconds, and sprinting for 30 seconds. Preferably while listening to this:

 

[Drake the Dragonheart]

I work out everyday. Today I ran. Tomorrow will be weights. I alternate like this every day. I will give you what has worked for me. I always work out to my favorite music. My favorite soundtracks, some of which include bloodsport, last samurai, and pacific rim, really have an effect. Have your goal in mind at all times. I am trying to get stronger,faster, better to be military/firefighting/law enforcemnt/EMS. Not going to work for everyone, but I have found if I do a workout right after something that has really pissed me off, it drives me further, I blaze through my sets, I have extra reserves of energy, etc. I don't know if my advice will actually help you since I am something of a gym rat, but take it for what it is.

Find lifts and exercises you enjoy doing. change things up often. Variety is an excellent way to fight boredom. Find a martial art you like and do that. The best martial art is the one you will enjoy doing the rest of your life.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

I'm afraid cardio is irreparably boring as you describe. In fact carrying a sword and shield is further towards making the most of it than I've ever gotten. I recommend where convenient, cycling to work or wherever. That way it's actually serving a purpose, and you don't have to take as much time out of your life because you're using the travel time you'd have taken anyway.

 

[Tiger King]

The best way I found to make exercise interesting is to do it while playing a sport.
I play 5 a side indoor football with some friends and the time just flys! Before you know it it's been two hours and it's time to go home for a wash and a rest.

 

[Caiphus]

The best way I found to make exercise interesting is to do it while playing a sport.
I play 5 a side indoor football with some friends and the time just flys! Before you know it it's been two hours and it's time to go home for a wash and a rest.

I'm with this guy. Play ultimate frisbee, football, touch rugby. All you need is some grass, and the relevant ball/disc. And if you don't know what sport to play, you can just get mates together and go running laps at a park or something.

Alternatively, if your mates live fucking ages away like mine, exercise bike + tablet + headphones. Get on youtube and watch stand up comedy, or put some TV shows or mobile games on there. Keep checking your pulse to make sure you aren't slacking off.

 

[Drizzitdude]

The best way I found to make exercise interesting is to do it while playing a sport.
I play 5 a side indoor football with some friends and the time just flys! Before you know it it's been two hours and it's time to go home for a wash and a rest.

See the problems with all of the outdoor exercise if that I live in Iowa. Half the year its frozen here and we literally just had like blizzard weather a few hours ago.

 

[Caiphus]

See the problems with all of the outdoor exercise if that I live in Iowa. Half the year its frozen here and we literally just had like blizzard weather a few hours ago.

Hmmm. You could try indoor sports. I'm not a fan of basketball, but clearly plenty of people do enjoy it. Otherwise, badminton, squash or indoor football, like carlsberg suggested, are all good exercise.

But yeah, sucks if the weather in your area is shit. That does constrain your options quite a bit.

 

[mistahzig1]

I'm known as the dude who reads books at my gym.

I read between sets or when I do cardio. Sometimes I play games on my phone too (I'm addicted to the Ascension deck building game). Passes the time.

When on machines, the trick is to hold your book with your hands otherwise you'll start a headache and/or lose interest in reading because of the constant moving.

I've been training for 18 years now and to tell you the truth, I HATE training. Gotta have my book otherwaise I'd have quit a loooong time ago

 

[Raikas]

It's impossible. Sorry to be a negative nelly, but there's just no way to enjoy that kind of thing. It's like going to work -- accept that it won't be fun.

Eh, maybe (depending on your personallity)it's impossible to make getting nowhere on a treadmill or just throwing weights around fun, but exercise in general? Seriously?


I'd ask the OP - what sports do you like? Go play them! What did you like when you were a kid? If you liked running around, go join a running club. If you liking climbing things, go join a climbing gym. If you liked fighting, join a fighting gym or take a martial arts class at a club that has open sessions in addition to the weekly classes.

Exercise should be fun - if you're miserable, you're doing it wrong.

 

[Vicarious Reality]

It is similar to sleeping, or berserking
I wish i had a 25M computer screen cord so i could watch something while i ride the stair... handle... thing in our basement
When it gets warmer i can at least go out and jog in the snow, very good excersise
Agressive music does help