Tips on Making Fitness Fun

I was recently asked by a fitness enthusiasts to give a list of ways to make fitness less tedious. This person assumed that, since most people (her words, not mine) viewed fitness as boring and difficult, I must know of ways to make it more fun.

Well, she was actually right on both counts. Sadly enough, most people that have attempted working out find it a necessary evil. And I do know of ways to make it more enjoyable. But not everyone views fitness this way.

I have always enjoyed the adventure of trying to better myself each day. Sure, there are days when this doesn't always happen; either I'm not as motivated or situations for improvement don't present themselves. But for the most part I can find ways to improve myself intellectually and, for the sake of this article, physically.

I view each day as a chance to get better. Today I get to be faster, or stronger, or look better. I get to lift weights and improve! Today is my chance! If I start right now I can lose a little more bodyfat, or get a little bit bigger biceps, or whatever my goal is for the day. Yeah!

But I realize that (still can't quite figure out why) my fitness views are not quite shared with the rest of the world. So, as a trainer, here are some tips on how to make fitness more fun. For the sake of this article I am going to suppose that the reader is trying to lose weight. However, many of these tips can be used by anyone that is trying to workout on a given day and just doesn't quite know how to motivate themselves for the day's workout.

Weight training:
Since every successful fitness routine consists of diet (which will not be discussed in this article), cardio (cardiovascular training) and weight training, I'm going to cover weight training and cardio motivations. Of the two, weight training takes the least amount of encouragement to get me to do it. Perhaps my perspective can help:

1. View weight training as immediate results. You are either successful or you aren't in lifting a weight. In my mind, cardio shows results after a day or so. However, it should be noted that if you lift at all you are improving. But what I'm referring to is I either lifted those 75 lb. dumbbells 10 times or I didn't. Results are immediate. Weight training gives quick response.

2. If you don't like the weight training exercise you are doing, PICK ANOTHER ONE. There are HUNDREDS of weight training exercises for each and every body part. In fact, on certain days, I will deliberately try to do exercises that I have never done before. Be creative; come up with something new. If you don't have much experience, watch others, ask a trainer, read a book or look it up online, but come up with new exercises for yourself.

Cardio:
Cardio, to me, can be much more tedious than weight training. Again, I know my views aren't shared by all. But the bottom line is this: cardio works! So, if you are lacking the motivation to do cardio in your workout, try any one or all of these tips:

1. Do cardio with a friend. Seems obvious, right? But I see it every day: someone going through the monotony of cycling for their cardio, keeping to themselves and hating every minute. Find someone else to share the burden and talk to them about, well, anything. Go at just the rate where it is difficult to carry on the conversation, but talk and listen. It can make the time go by much faster.

2. Listen to music or news. Mp3 players today are a far cry from the tape players and cd player of even a year ago. You can put anything on an inexpensive mp3 player and listen to it and never even realize that you are doing cardio. You could put music on your player and go running. You could download a news report, put it on your player and keep yourself abreast of the days news while you are on the elliptical machine. In my opinion, mp3 players are great. Never do cardio without one!

3. Read a book. OK, many will say if you are going slow enough that you can read a book, then you aren't pushing yourself hard enough. There is something to be said about that. But I know that on certain days I am trying to go more for duration than intensity, so reading a book at lower level cardio is fine. And if you are coordinated enough, you can easily read a book doing cycling or the elliptical machine even at high levels of intensity. I've even seen people read a book while running on the treadmill, but I haven't been able to pull off that feat comfortably myself.

4. Pick a different goal other than time. For me, running for half an hour on the treadmill is tedium at it's finest. Each minute slowly ticks by on the machine. But, if I instead focus on running a distance, I an achieve a specific goal and that somehow makes cardio more tolerable. I've spoken with psychologists that agree that this can be a very effective motivational tool. So, pick a distance that takes the same amount of time to complete as cardio normally would for you, and use that as your goal. If I run 3 miles it is much more interesting to me than the same amount of time would normally be if I focused on time.

5. Take it to the streets. If you can do your cardio outside, I recommend that over anything inside. Don't get me wrong: I do a great deal of working out indoors. But riding a bike outside or running outside with my mp3 player on is a great way for me to enjoy the outdoors and get in my workout. Try this if it is an option.

6. All of the above. Fitness can be fun. In fact, it should be. Go outside and run with a friend. Ride your bike outside with a group. All of these are great ways to keep working out!

Fitness is a fun adventure and life is continually providing ways to improve yourself. Enjoy ever minute that you are given. And, when life gives you a chance to workout, leap at the challenge and be better than you've ever been.