Anyone have advice for a sedentary guy who never exercises?

Background: I am 33 years old. 6'1", 174 lbs. in mid 2003 I weighed around 195, but I switched to a healthier diet, lost some weight, and have since held steady at my current weight. I feel good about my weight and my overall appearance, so that's not an issue. But I am concerned that I really should be exercising regularly.

I live in the city, so I probably walk more than the average American. But overall, I have a fairly sedentary lifestyle. My problem is that I am lazy, and I am no good at motivating myself. I can occasionally get my ass out to the gym, but then after a week or two I stop. I don't like being tired out, and I get bored at the gym. I generally don't enjoy sports, and I've never been any good at sports.

Anyone have any tips for getting out of this rut and getting off my ass for good? My guess is that I need to change my mindset, but it's just damn hard. What has worked for some of you?

If you keep reading about people's successes with fitness, I've found that to be a good motivator. also, books like the ABS Diet and Body FOr Life are pretty inspirational in a realistic way.

Start slow. try doing as many push-ups, bodyweight squats and slow crunches as you can in the morning or after work. It's hard to get started doing that, but once you make it a habit like brushing your teeth, then you've got a good start. after a couple weeks of this, go to the gym and start working out there. When you get bored of an exercise, change to a different one. That's the best thing you can do for your muscles anyway.

Once you make exercise a part of your routine, when you miss it, then you'll start to feel like you're cheating yourself. I know I do.

On days that I tell myself I can have a "day off" from exercising, I find myself not actually wanting to take the day off. My muscles want some brisk movement anyway.

First, you're right...it's all in the mindset. Success and failure with 99% of fitness/exercise goals rests within the mind. You have to want it.
Now, those 2 things:
1. Set goals.
Regardless of what they are, how minor you think they might be, set them. It's going to be a little tougher for you, as you're not looking for specific changes (losing x pounds, putting on x muscle). You think you need to exercise more. Okay, how much more specifically? Half hour a day? Every other day? I think that for you, it will have to be measurable, so you can sort of "check it off" when you're done. Reward yourself when you do. Pat yourself on the back, or build an "exercise bank account" where you put a dollar (or whatever) into a jar every time you exercise as you've set forth. That fund goes to buy something you might not have otherwise bought/had the money for. It's tangible, and for some this can be a big help.

2. Stick around.
As you know, of course, we have a daily exercise check in. Make a commitment, tell us what it is, and check in. Weeeee'llll be waaaaatching you. Knowing that one of us might PM you and bug you about your commitment, and how you haven't checked in, might be the, uh..."motivational edge" that you might need. DU motivates lots of folks in lots of ways. Let this forum work in that way for you, too.

I agree with you in that you should exercise. There are far too many good reasons, which you already know. It would appear, as I look around DU in wonderment, that you're a pretty driven guy when it comes to what you like/want/have passion for. Find a way to work them (exercise and something you like/want/have passion for) together, and you'll do very well.

I think you are right about setting a goal. If I have a specific goal I am aiming for, then I can easily keep track of whether I met it or not. :D I like the idea of an exercise bank account.

I'm a little scared to check into the daily exercise thread. I'm afraid to fail and have everyone know about it. But I guess that's the whole point of the thread.

and help motivate you. It's harded to skip exercises if you know someone else will notice!

speaking of, time to go post there...

Otherwise you'll never stick with it.

First you should define your goals. Just exercising because you feel like you should be doing it isn't going to motivate you. You aren't overweight and you're happy with your general appearance. This might change over the years (you're still young). One thing you can try as far as self motivation is concerned is to take a picture of yourself in your Speedos and tape it to your bathroom mirror. Write the date on it so you can monitor how your body is changing over time.

It's always a good idea to keep your heart in good shape. Walking is a good exercise for general conditioning and cardiovascular health. Try gradually increasing your pace and distance a bit. There are also a lot of exercises you can do without any equipment, just using your bodyweight. I know that I have trouble motivating myself to go to a gym to workout. I hate having to go somewhere to do that. But I like running and working out in my basement.

Good luck (and thanks for all that you do for us!)

I know it's better than sitting still. But is walking comparable to more vigorous exercise in terms of the health benefits?

Start at a comfortable pace and go for about 20-30 minutes. Keep increasing your pace/time spent as you get stronger. You can mix in short bursts of running or jogging too - walk for a few minutes, run/jog for a few minutes, walk for a few minutes, and so forth. That bumps up the intensity. Aim for increasing your heart rate and sustaining it for at least 20 minutes. (To calculate your target heart rate, ask a trainer, Google "target heart rate calculator" or use this one: http://exercise.about.com/cs/fitnesstools/l/bl_THR.htm )

Lifting weights will increase your overall lean muscle mass, reduce your body fat, and increase your metabolism (muscle burns more calories than fat). If you have not lifted weights before, I wholeheartedly agree with supernova's suggestion that you invest in a few sessions with a trainer to learn the how-tos and what program would be best for you.

No. It's not. If you were 75, and rebounding from cancer or a heart attack, then yes, it would be. You mentioned that you live in the city and probably walk more than most. That's good. You could get a pedometer, and measure your actual distance/mileage. That's a good start. Yes, it's better than sitting still, for the record.

I certainly don't want to diminish your jumping into the fitness world, but you asked.

Look Skinner, you've given me DU. I'm a certified trainer and sports nutritionist. Please, PM me (or e-mail me) so I can help/assist/motivate you. I'm practically begging you to let me help you. I'd be honored if I could assist an influence such as yourself...it's the very least I can do. I'm yours, and I'm free.

As a matter of fact, I hope any DUer will take me up on this. The healthier we are, the better we are.

So, there you go...open invite for advice beyond the great feedback that you'll get here, in the Exercise and Fitness Group forum. Some of these folks would put me to shame, so I have to keep a sorta low profile.

for a couple of miles, at first, around the neighborhood or around the DU office, if it's an option. :-)

You'll be glad for the change of scenery. I get out and walk when the weather is pretty. For now, though, it's the treadmill.

Also, start lifting weights. Caution: it's worth it to spend a session or two with a personal trainer to learn proper lifting technique so you don't injure yourself or don't get the most out of your exercise.

...want to/able to invest in exercise? If you're too busy or lazy to go to the gym, there are quite a few exercise videos/DVDs you could pop on TV. I started a thread on it that has a few suggestions:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=295x217

There's a taoist center practically around the corner from the DU offices (if my memory of where you guys are is correct), on Connecticut Ave. just south of Dupont Circle. If you're interested, I'll hunt around and get their name.

They teach tai chi there (as well as other martial arts), and have a VERY good practice--nothing faddish about it, and it can be a kick-your-ass workout while not really seeming so. It's also an excellent way to keep stress under control. I went there for three of the four years I lived in DC, and highly recommend them. It's fun, and it's different (which can make it easier to stay motivated).

on edit: Here's their website. http://www.grtc.org/

You may find something you'll like. If you get bored try something else.

I'm really not much of a sports person either. The older I get, the more obvious the need to do something becomes. I have no children, so I think that I will have to do everything in my power to take care of myself, starting with my health. The alternative to me is not acceptable.


That's what works to motivate me. I need to stay healthy for my own future.

I once took my Mother to the gym and put her on the stationary bike thinking that would be an easy start for her. She asks me, why isn't this working? I told her, you have to pedal faster to get it to turn on. She couldn't get it to turn on. But now she exercises every weekday with a group called the Sargent's Program (she lives in the DC area). They get up ridiculously early and run around in the dark and do push ups. Then everyone goes out for coffee. Two things my Mom likes about the group. First, no slinky outfits, second, the social aspect. Not that Sargent's program is necessarily the right thing for you, but just an example of how finding the right routine makes all the difference.

I myself love to exercise, but I dislike fitness gyms. I like to rock climb. I like to run outside in all kinds of weather. I like to do yoga. For some people it's gardening or tai chi. Other people ride their bike (which is great fun in DC. So many interesting places to go!). Find what you like, and if possible, a group of people you like to do it with. Then set a schedule and stick to it. Eventually you get addicted to the endorphins and it gets much easier. Then you exercise or feel like crap. :)

Do you want to look like Rush?

Good point, Poiuyt!
B-)

All the tips everyone has posted are great! Definitely get yourself some goals - even if your first one is "be able to do 50 pushups without stopping", or whatever... it is an excellent way to see some progress & there is nothing more satisfying than crossing off those goals!!

Keep a workout journal - jot down every time you work out what you did, how long you worked out, how many miles/calories (if you worked out on a machine that gives you that) and most importantly - how you felt before/during/after the workout. You might not see much progress physically when you look at yourself, but if you go back a week in your journal, you WILL see some progress!

My other suggestion? Find a sport/activity that you really love to do! We have all been there - worked out in a gym or forced ourselves to get out & run - because everyone says that is the best way to get in shape / lose weight / gain muscle, etc. But it doesn't do you a damn bit of good if you force yourself to run everyday if you hate doing it. Because you know what will happen - you'll stop doing it after a week or two!! But that doesn't happen if you find something that you enjoy & have fun doing. ;)

Me - I pretty much love most activities - running, lifting, cycling, rollerblading, you name it! But I had to get here first. If I had started off working out with running first, I'd have given up within a week or two & wouldn't be where I am today!

By my avatar, you can tell my favorite... I started off working out to Tae-Bo videos & found that I really, really enjoyed them, but I wanted MORE! So, here I am now - second stripe red belt - 2 tests away from my black belt! I train just about every day - and it isn't a "chore", I love it!

I'd suggest swimming. It's a great all around exercise.

(1) The DU community needs you to live a long and healthy life. :) So please get that heart muscle moving.

(2) One thing to try: a buddy/partner, a paid trainer, or a class. That way you HAVE to get up, be there at a certain time, etc. This is why martial arts classes have been my baseline excerise for the past 3 yrs. Pick something you like.

(3) Alternate thing to try: one way to set a "goal" is to sign up for a race, even if it's a couple of months away. I'm a lousy runner so even a 5K looming on the distant horizon will get me on the treadmill. Maybe you could do a 5K for a local charity you believe in. Having a buddy to go the gym with when you train helps here too -- see Motivator #2. Just make sure you build up slowly if you're not a runner, so you don't get any injuries.

Hope it helps! Review Motivator #1! :hi:

first, don't always do the same exercises at the gym, switch around, bike one day, treadmill another, stair master another, etc. Mix it up as much as possible. Try and add 5 - 10 minutes to your work outs every week.

Take some classes, spin classes are great. Try Yoga or even pilates.

Take the stairs instead of the elevator whenever possible.

I find the best time to exercise is whenever you feel tired, it will boost your energy levels...and exercising will improve your "sex" life and help you sleep better at night.

Good luck!

All through college I religiously practiced aikido several times a week. It kept me in pretty good shape - getting thrown to the ground a few hundred times a night will do that ;-) I hated the gym though - it was too unfamiliar, I didn't know what to do, and I wasn't interested in the social aspect or bodybuilding type workouts.

Then in grad school I ran out of money for martial arts, and had free gym access...so I found gym exercises that matched my interest. These days I focus around Olympic lifting, and hope to be down in body weight and up in strength to enter a competition next year. I am 100% antisocial at the gym - chatting interrupts my focus for the next lift and I enjoy my 45 minutes of blind focus on exercising. I don't do bodybuilding, hardly any isolation exercises, and love going. I do miss aikido though, and will return to that when the kid(s) are older.

I also discovered kettlebells, which are an evil Russian tool - sort of like aerobics with 50 lb weights. Very fun, very tough, and I will pull them out of the closet this spring and use in the work parking lot at lunch.

So, the secret really is finding something you enjoy, and setting a lot of LITTLE goals that you can reach. That way you feel like you're accomplishing something!

Let me begin by saying that I am a 40 something somewhat overweight woman who finally found her way back to the gym last August - and is still going there regularly. I didn't always hate exercise and I wasn't always a couch potato. I was a tomboy. I played competitive sports. I was offered a college scholarship to play softball (before I tore most of the ligaments in my ankle). I attended a "Christian university" that had a mandatory fitness program. What had been competitive fun became hard, boring, tedious work. We were required to pass a swimming proficiency test to graduate and every semester our weight and body fat percentage were measured - and we had to pass a field test which required running 3 miles in a certain time. Exercise and fitness became a nasty chore. A chore that I found largely unnecessary after graduating. Although from time to time I would resolve to exercise and be better fit, the only exercise and fitness activity I really enjoyed was hiking - an activity that is somewhat dependent upon the weather and access to both time and trails. I didn't suddenly find myself overweight. I gained a pound or two a year, a few more after abdominal surgery, a few more after a nasty virus attacked my auditory nerve, a few more after a ugly break-up, and a few more after an unexpected job loss. I felt fat and tired - and I was concerned that I was putting myself at risk for more serious health problems. But that, in and of itself, was not sufficient motivation to find my way into a habit of regular exercise. I found my way back to the gym and stayed there when I determined that I was not going to allow anyone else to take away my health and the pleasure of maintaining it. I spend an hour and a half to two hours a day at the gym Monday through Friday. I take weekends off. I usually do an hour of weights and a half hour to an hour of cardio. I don't go if I feel sick and I quit and go home if I feel like I have overdone and gone beyond my limits. Weather permitting, I may trade a day at the gym for a long hike, a run through the park, or a day of heavy yardwork. I have toned up, added lean muscle, lost inches and pounds. I really do feel a lot better. I have more energy, a better attitude, and I find myself eating healthier foods. I still need to lose more weight but I am not watching my scale. Health was and is my motivation not weight loss.

My suggestions for someone wanting to get into a fitness program would be:
1. Do it for yourself - not because you think it is a good idea. If you have not made the committmet to do this for yourself something will eventually come along that seems more important. And then something else. Fitness will never take priority until you make the committment to make it so.
2. Don't make it seem like work. You don't have to do the same thing everyday. You don't have to exercise at the same time everyday. Variety can be good for both the mind and body. You don't have to make yourself work out when you feel physically ill. The point is get healthier not add stress when you are already feeling worn down. Your goal is long-term health and fitness which will require long-term consistency in workouts.
3. From a practical standpoint, mix strength training with cardio workouts. You need the resistance of strength training to tone and strengthen your muscles and to build bone density. Generally speaking, you will tone by doing a higher number of reps with loswer weights and you will bulk up by doing fewer reps at higher weights. Try to do a half an hour or more of cardio four to five times a week. Walking is good - but you really need to exert yourself and elevate your heartrate. Try different things and find what suits you.
4. Also from a practical standpoint, start slow. If you try to do too much too soon you are likely to get injured or discouraged. We can't all begin a fitnss program doing half an hour on the elliptical trainer, for example. But most of us can work up to that. Do that half an hour in intervals or increase your cardio endurance by combining less strenuous cardio activities (walking on a treadmill) with more strenuous cardio activities (stairstepper).
5. It does help to listen to some good uptempo music while you are working out. Personally, I've trashed the MP3 (buttons were awkward to use while exercising) and CD players (skips too much) in favor of a miniature cheap portable radio that I can attach to my headband (disposable and headphone wires can be bundled where they are not an issue).

There are others who have overcome more challenges than I in adopting fit and healthy lifestyles. My thoughts and attitudes were (and sometimes still are) my own greatest obstacle. I have found that fitness is a journey. It is something you do everyday. The body's own abilities to heal and restore itself are amazing. My own experience tells me that it is never too late to start.

Welcome, fellow traveler. And good luck.

Thanks for sharing your experiences and views on exercise. I found them helpful and enlightening. I tend to overly regiment myself to a specific exercise plan and schedule and then as soon as I've "blown it," which always happens, I drop out for awhile. I like your attitude: just keep at it, one way or another! I can do that!

I'm in the same boat - sedentary lifestyle, slowly improving diet, stressful job with very long hours and, oh, I'm a smoker (I know, I know).

I decided to learn yoga, since I do stretch often and this is a continuation of that. I've been doing it for over a week and I really enjoy it. It can be a rough workout, yet one that really eases tension, limbers you up and gives you a ton of energy.

This site is a really good place to start, and I like the pose database that is searchable by anatomical, therapeutic and health condition emphasis:

http://yogajournal.com/

Find a good beginner video as well, and 20-30 minutes a day will make a world of difference.

Except that I've always been skinny. (I'm 34 years old, 6'2" 175 lbs from 6'2" 155 lbs before I started exercising)

I would try to get into a routine and then quit, quit, quit. Usually whenever I would get sick or there would be something that would keep me from the gym for a couple days.

Then I got a bowflex and didn't use it for a while.

Then I started using it and once I really kept on it, I was hooked. It's been about 2 years now, and I've graduated from using the Bowflex to going to the gym 5 days a week. Getting into a routine that makes you actually feel good, better, stronger even, is really, really motivating. The problem is it takes some time before you actually make that much progress, so you have to find something you enjoy doing.

Before long you don't want to stop. Another motivator is that, for me, missing even 2 weeks is DEVISTATING to the gains I've made. I can lose 4 lbs of muscle in 2 weeks and then Have to work for 2 months to regain it, so it really keeps you on your toes because the stakes are so high.

That said 6'2" 175 lbs is pathetic, utterly. I really need to do more. My goal is to be 185-190 by the time I turn 35. Then I hope to go into some kinda holding pattern and work more on cardio stuff so that I don't die when I'm 50.

Anyway, good luck. I think a Bowflex is great and they're not prohibitively expensive anymore (I've seen them for $1,300 at Costco), maybe less when the have a coupon deal. They won't make you huge (at least they didn't for me - I've been gaining more at the gym than with the bowflex), but it will make you feel better and stronger, and maybe if you use it properly huge as well.

david

But, I have found that my headphones work wonders. I changed my mindset about the gym by telling myself it was some "me time" - I could go and listen to some music and zone out for a little while.

I do the EFX556 (arms and legs at the same time). It's set up for a 28 minute workout. I posted about this piece of equipment on another thread and I know several of us feel we've gotten what we wanted from it.

And, now that I can see results, I'm that much more motivated to carve out some time a couple of days a week to go.

In other words, I did go from dreading it, but thinking of it as a necessity, to actually enjoying it. And, being in better shape has allowed me to feel more motivated to do other things like trail running and hiking.

Good luck to you - making healthy changes in your lifestyle is always a good thing. :)

I would suggest walking every day - start with a mile which just about anyone can do. Then work up to about four miles a day. Get an iPod or Pocket PC and download audio books (I use Audible.com) which will make the walks more enjoyable.

I did this last year practically every day and lost about 30 pounds and felt great. Late last year I changed up and now swim a mile every morning at my pool which is on my way to work. And a couple of days a week after work I do my walks (now that the weather is getting nicer.

Would you enjoy walking 18 holes to play a round of golf?

Check the local Y for intramural games like basketball, volleyball etc.

Go bowling once a week.

And remember that exercise is wonderful gift to give yourself. Keep telling yourself that you deserve this wonderful gift--because you do.