Working Out Shouldn't Be A Chore

Caught on candid with a smirk between sets!

Once upon a time I walked into an interview at a bigger local community gym. They were looking for a full time trainer and it was urgent, their last trainer had left them in the dust (all too common in the fitness industry). The interview was on the fly, and I didn’t even have time to get dressed in the usual NASM recommended interview attire: khakis, collared shirt, etc. Instead, I walked in wearing some adidas shorts and a baseball cap with an embroidered sunflower. If you know me or have trained with me, you’ll be familiar with this particular uniform of mine.

My interviewer was the gym manager, a very handsome 24 year old man who had inherited his position as manager at a relatively young age some years before. He seemed remarkably fit, and I had already kind of assumed he was a fitness model.

So it surprised me when he told me that he didn’t like to work out.

Wait, what?

He was pretty adamant on the point. 

He wanted to know my motivations for working out and I was quick to say, “Well, all of them.” I love movement, I love the feeling of movement both during and after, I love everything that comes with working out: strength/muscle gain, increased mobility, proficiency of movement, improved energy/mood/health/confidence, improved longevity! You name it. I’m sure you’ve heard it before, but it should be said again: exercise is basically a magic pill. 

He responded, “That’s all well and good, but I hate working out and I’ve never learned to like it. I do it strictly because I know it’s good for me and I want to look good.”

I was shocked, but also I appreciated his honesty. 

“So what I want to know is how you’re going to motivate clients that feel like I do, that don’t have that intrinsic motivation,” he continued then looked askance at me.

I honestly can’t remember what I said, but after mulling it over again and again for some time I came to the answer I wish I had had ready for him:

I don’t want to motivate clients to do something they hate, I want to help them find ways to love movement. 

Exercise shouldn’t be self flagellation. It’s true that sometimes, especially at the beginning, it can be uncomfortable or even painful, but it’s discomfort we choose. Discomfort that can feel good if only we know how to make it. Eventually it doesn’t feel uncomfortable at all, instead it just feels good. As we get more and more into our body and notice those moments of joy while working out, those moments of incredible confidence, those moments of achievement, we learn to love it. 

Here’s some guidelines to follow to turn exercise into something joyous instead of drudgery:

Stay Mindful.

Mindfulness, awareness, can help us to get there faster. Notice and name how you’re feeling and why you’re feeling it. So you climbed a mountain and you’re feeling on top of the world, spend time there in that moment, think about everything you did to get there, it will reinforce all those behaviors, and I promise you that you’ll want to climb more mountains. 

So you’re playing tennis with your friends and having a great time, spend some time there in that moment. Why is it so great? Sunshine, good company, the feeling of an incredible forehand that goes right in the corner pocket. All key ingredients that make the moment what it is. Now what choices did you make that led to the combination of those ingredients? Maybe a week before you had planned to play tennis with a friend, maybe months before you were doing knee strengthening exercises to make sure your knee didn’t give out again.

Noticing good decisions helps us make those decisions again and again. 

Do the movements you want to do.

This seems self explanatory, but it needs to be said. 

It’s true for exercise selection and for training modality. If you have no interest in running, don’t run; if you have no interest in powerlifting, don’t do it! 

Maybe you hate mountain climbers but you don’t mind front loaded kettlebell marches. Okay so do the kettlebell marches! It doesn’t matter what the instagram influencers are saying is the best exercise. Do the exercises you want to do, not the ones you don’t.

Do the thing that you want to do. If that’s running, go for it. If that’s powerlifting, go for it. What matters is that you move, and trying to force yourself to do something you have no interest in doing is only going to make you less likely to move.

Do the movements that feel best to do.

Let’s say you’re going into the gym for a Pull Day. So you’re gonna hit the back and the biceps. Great, I love Pull days. 

But recently you saw a video on YouTube that had a tier list of “Best Back Exercises” and in that video they told you that single arm dumbbell rows were actually not as good as chest supported t-bar rows. So you go over to the t-bar and you go do some t-bar rows, but they don’t feel great. You’re not really feeling it in your lats the way you want to or the way you normally can with the single arm dumbbell rows. So you think maybe you should go back to the dumbbell rows.

But popular fitness YouTuber Broseph told you that t-bar rows are better than single arm dumbbell rows! How could you possibly do the lesser exercise knowing that? And that’s a hard thing to get over. Trust me, I know, I’ve been there.

BUT!

Exercise selection is highly personal. There are no best exercises, it doesn’t matter what Broseph is saying, it doesn’t matter what the research says. If certain back exercises feel better for you to do and you can consistently do them proficiently then choose those exercises.

Again, get into your body. Do the t-bar rows feel better? If not, skip ‘em. Do what feels best. Your body is smart, it knows what you need to do, just listen to it.

There’s even a technical word to describe the behavior of changing up your workout on the spot according to how you’re feeling: autoregulation. And while autoregulation typically refers to changing the intensity or workload of a workout during the workout, I think it can also mean changing intensity or workload via exercise selection. The research on autoregulation actually shows that it results in better strength gains [1].

Err on the side of fun.

Maybe you hate working out alone and you prefer to have a gym buddy or to go to a workout class. Maybe you hate working out with others and you like to have some alone time with just you, the weights, and maybe your favorite music.

Make it fun. I promise you’re much more likely to consistently do the thing that’s fun than the thing that’s boring.

Maybe your program is telling you that you’re supposed to do a big Leg Day at the gym but your friends invited you to play pickleball and you can’t do both. Or maybe you can, but it might require that you dial back the volume on Leg Day so you can still have Pickleball Day With Friends. So do that, or skip Leg Day! Put it off until tomorrow. Programs are not the law of the land and you don’t need to adhere to them exactly as written.

Use these guidelines to help you more effectively love movement and love working out. It’ll pay dividends in the long run.

And remember: working out shouldn’t be a chore!

[1] Graham T, Cleather DJ. Autoregulation by “Repetitions in Reserve” Leads to Greater Improvements in Strength Over a 12-Week Training Program Than Fixed Loading [published online ahead of print, 2019 Apr 17]. J Strength Cond Res. 2019;10.1519.