You only hate working out because you're not fit
[This is day #20 of my 30-day microblogging challenge. You can and should still join!]
Self-explanatory title! If you’ve never consistently worked out before, working out feels like absolute death. It feels hooorrible. You spend every passing minute wondering if you should just pack up and go home.
That was exactly my experience the first time I started running and going to the gym. I signed up for spin-bike and those group classes with names like “full body power core” that promise to engage every muscle group.
Every single day I hated it, it was pure torture. I thought that might just be the way doing sports was meant to feel for me. That I might just be particularly (maybe genetically) weak. Everybody else seemed to have a much better time than me, and way more stamina.
Somehow I was able to keep it up; I insisted on going multiple times per week, or almost daily. I was probably dead set on losing weight after gaining some pounds (before I figured that exercise without a caloric deficit is completely futile).
After a month or two, something magical happened. It was the first time I experienced following a whole class without feeling like I was dying and considering giving up every 5 minutes. I built up patience, I knew the drill, and, for the first time, I even got to enjoy it!
I had the same experience with running, and at some point I got even a little bit addicted to both. I started genuinely looking forward to my gym and running sessions! Basically, once I attained a certain level of physical fitness, I unlocked the ability to enjoy those “feel-good” chemicals that come with sports (and a massive self-confidence boost from both seeing myself being so disciplined, as well as the actual physical changes I noticed in myself).
Since then I’ve had months-long periods of not working out, but I have never regressed to that painful early state.
This is to say that it’s totally worth it to build up that stamina! It will positively impact every other dimension of your life (health, energy, self-confidence, discipline, etc – and, obviously, your looks!)
(I also learned that it’s actually way easier to sustain a daily habit vs one you do 2-3 times per week, because it makes it much harder for your brain to “negotiate”)