Preventing Exercise Boredom

Preventing Exercise Boredom
Page content

Just about everyone knows that regular exercise is a major component of good health. It is responsible for promoting overall physical, mental and emotional health. Many people see exercise as a way to help with weight loss, but exercise is also a critical factor in helping to maintain a healthy weight. Maintaining a healthy weight and exercising regularly can help to prevent many different diseases and conditions, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

But what happens when exercise gets boring and tedious? Many people just quit exercising all together. Some barely begin before they get bored with their routine and quit. There are a number of different ways of preventing exercise boredom that are both easy to implement and effective in helping to maintain a regular exercise routine.

Variety

Doing the same workout day in and day out is something only few people can maintain long term. It eventually gets boring and becomes something people avoid.

For example, if a person normally walks for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week and finds that they are becoming bored with walking, he can choose to walk elsewhere for a change of scenery. He might also replace a few walking sessions each week with a different form of cardiovascular exercise such as swimming, bouncing on a trampoline or energetic dancing. Switching between two or more types of cardiovascular exercise every week will help to keep things interesting.

Combining Entertainment with Exercise

Sometimes preventing exercise boredom can be as simple as adding a little entertainment to the routine. Listening to music while exercising is something people have been doing for decades, but there are other forms of entertainment that can be combined. Watching a favorite television show or two while working out will not only make the time go by quickly, but it will also keep the mind more focused on the show than the actual exercise. Certain exercises, such as walking on a treadmill or using an elliptical, can be done while reading a book at the same time. Just about any exercise can be done while listening to a recorded book.

Get a Friend to Join You

Working out alone can not only make exercise boring, but it can also make it easier to quit. Getting an exercise buddy or two can help to keep things interesting and can help to keep you accountable and on track. Buddies can challenge each other and help each other push through when the motivation to exercise just isn’t there. Buddies can also help keep the routine creative and different which further helps to prevent boredom with an exercise routine. Allow each buddy to choose an activity for a different day of the week. For example, buddy A chooses walking for Monday, buddy B chooses swimming for Wednesday, buddy A chooses weight training for Friday, and buddy B chooses resistance training for Sunday.

Resources

Shaw, C. (2010). 8 Ways to Beat Exercise Boredom. Retrieved on November 21, 2010 from BodyBuilding.com: https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/8-ways-to-beat-exercise-boredom.htm

WeightWatchers. (2010). 5 Ways to Beat Exercise Boredom. Retrieved on November 21, 2010 from WeightWatchers: https://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=1001&sc=3040