3 Ways to Really Enjoy Your Workouts

It’s one thing to grudgingly force yourself through a workout because you know it’s “good for you,” and it’s another thing altogether to actually enjoy a workout, and to look forward to the opportunity to hit the gym, lace up your running shoes, or attend your class.

Exercise is an extremely important thing for all sorts of reasons that encompass both mental and physical health and well-being. And yet, far too many people dread their workouts rather than looking forward to them, and view exercise as almost a form of punishment.

Here are a few ways to really enjoy your workouts, instead.

Do forms of exercise you enjoy, rather than ones you are “supposed to” do

One key issue with “fitness culture,” as a rule, is that it tends to heavily emphasise certain forms of exercise, and even to mandate them as the only “right” ways to work out.

When all is said and done, though, any activity that gets you physically active on a regular basis is a form of exercise, and can potentially do you a world of good. This is true for yachting enthusiasts and frequent customers of Pinnell & Bax, and it’s true for people who like to dance, and those who like to play more conventional sports.

In order to actually enjoy your workouts, focus on doing the forms of exercise that you actually like, rather than the ones you are “supposed” to do. If you hate running, do something else. If deadlifting in the gym makes you feel awful, do something else.

There are many different ways to become fit, strong, and resilient.

Support your fitness plan with proper rest and nutrition

If you are exercising vigourously every day, while simultaneously undergoing a dramatic diet plan to cut weight, it’s all but inevitable that you’re going to feel awful.

Likewise, if you aren’t sleeping enough or getting the right balance of nutrients in, you can expect that your workouts will be far more taxing and far less effective, and will actually generate excess stress in and of themselves.

Support your fitness plan with proper rest and nutrition in order to enjoy your workouts. Among other things, that will tend to mean having enough calories and carbs in your diet if you are doing explosive exercise in particular, and it will mean resting enough so that you can actually recover.

Ease yourself into the fitness habit and increase the intensity gradually

In some cases, it may not actually be that you hate working out in and of itself, but rather that you aren’t yet in the “habit” of working out, and so find it difficult to generate momentum to get started whenever you’ve got a session scheduled in.

One way of helping yourself to enjoy your workouts more and to overcome this hurdle, is simply to ease yourself into the fitness habit gradually, and to then increase the intensity by small increments, over time.

Some people have suggested that it might even be a good idea to start with just lacing up your running shoes, stepping out of your front door, and going right back in again. Sure, this won’t get you fit, but it will begin to initiate the habit and to make you comfortable with the routine.

Then, as the days and week pass, you can actually start running for a few minutes at a time, then a few more, then a few more.