Why is so hard to begin working out (and stay with it)?
By: Jacob Lucero
Tags: Health, Weight Loss, Exercise, Fitness, Workout

It is not a question of physical ability, but two mental questions you need to answer.

Photo by Victor Freitas on Unsplash

I have started and failed countless exercise routines.

I quit CrossFit after a month of dreading the early morning workouts. I tried weight lifting countless times and loathed the soreness I constantly felt. I did my best to fall in love with Yoga and found myself constantly bored with no Zen to speak off.

You and I both know exercise is a valuable tool for our physical and mental health, yet we struggle to develop this habit of consistently exercising. This idea of consistently exercising is pressed upon us in all areas of life isn’t it? We hear it from every medium of media, receive comments and remarks from our loved ones, and even told by our doctor on more than one occasion.

If we are constantly told the value of having exercising, why is it so dang hard to stay committed?

Here’s the answer, it doesn’t matter what anyone says about exercise, it matters only what YOU have to say.

This truth is so critical to your fitness journey and it is something you must answer if you wish to find success with exercise. This question you have also shows you are currently in the contemplative stage of deciding to begin an exercise plan.

How do I know this? This stage happens to every single person who has thought about starting to exercise! YOU are no different from everyone else in this so take comfort in this! This question along with the fear, frustration, doubt, and hopelessness you feel has been experienced before and you are not the only one to experience this struggle with exercise.

From my own experience of creating a habit of exercise to being a personal trainer working with clients looking to establish a consistent exercise routine for the first time, I have found a person will not stick with an exercise routine without two clear decisions made:

You have to find a WHY for exercise. You have to find a LOVE to do for exercise.

If you do not see a reason for exercise, you will not do it.

This concept of needing to see a reason for doing something happens in every part of our life, why wouldn’t it happen in exercise? I know I have experienced a boss asking me to do a certain task to which I found menial and pointless. Guess what, with this mindset my commitment, energy, and effort towards this task was directly affected and I found myself just doing enough to get by.

The same is applied to exercise. If you are beginning to exercise because a doctor or loved one is telling you to and yet you do not see a WHY for the exercise, I guarantee you will not stick with the exercise plan. In fact if you are doing an exercise plan based off someone else’s desire, I encourage you NOT to do it. Here’s why, based on my experience working with clients, you will fall off the exercise plan due to the lack of having a WHY. When this happens you then associate exercise with an outcome of failure. Even though it wasn’t your idea to begin this exercise routine, your mind will associate exercise with failure.

Let’s imagine you experience this cycle of starting and ending an exercise routine a multiple times over several years. This association between exercise and failure will becomes so strong it will become your expectation and your new normal. You assumption is to begin a exercise routine and quit it after a short period of time.

As a personal trainer, I have seen it happen over and over again where the client I am working with will not stick with an exercise routine unless they find it be of direct value for their lives. The reason being, we are irrational creatures. There are a million things we know logically we should be doing:

Eat well balanced meals and include vegetables (even though I loath the color green).

Get a consistent 8 hours of sleep.

Drink water over soda.

Go to bed by11pm and not stay up until 2am eating trader joes cookies while watching Greys anatomy to see if Christina leaves to pursue her dream job or stays in Seattle.

Yet, we still do things we know are not the best for us from a rational and logical standpoint and there is nothing wrong with this! We just need to understand and be okay with this.

The same thing applies to exercise.

We know we should exercise 20 min a day. We know we should take the stairs instead of the elevators. We know should go for a walk around the block instead of watching that next episode.

You know you need to exercise, but you will not do it until you have a WHY.

This is your challenge before you begin an exercise plan, FIND YOUR WHY. This WHY can be as unique, fun, or exciting as you want it to be. Maybe it is to:

Play with your kids and not be exhausted by the end of it.

Chase your kids at the park and not be frustrated by your heavy breathing after just a couple minutes

Take your dog for a walk and not be so tired where you can barely climb the steps into your apartment

Run errands all morning and not dread the challenge of getting in and out of you car as you arrive to each store.

Be on vacation and be able have fun all day and not be exhausted by lunch time and need to rest in order to survive the day.

See the grandchild you adore graduate high school, college or get married.

Begin gardening again without the struggle and pain of getting on your knees and back up again.

Enjoy a sport you love with friends you had to quit do to your inability to keep up.

Take a pain free and enjoyable walk around the neighborhood without worrying about how tired you will be after.

Find WHY you need to exercise. Understand it. Believe it. Own it. Desire it. Be excited to get this part of your life back. Want that part of your life back so bad that it hurts. Create this WHY as a goal in your life then use exercise as a tool to achieve it. Use exercise as a means to attain this passion, dream or goal in your life. You do not have to exercise to simply exercise. You can use exercise to attain the things you love in your life or those you may have lost.

Once you find your why, how you should you begin your fitness journey?

By doing something you LOVE.

There are so many fun and enjoyable ways you can increase your fitness level. If you find going on walks to be boring and dread them, then do not choose walking as your exercise! If you love dancing and music, then use dancing as your tool for exercise!

Since Jr. High I was a runner. I ran year around from the ages of 13–18 and loved the challenge and found a great joy in the sport. In college, I stopped running and tried to do traditional weight lifting workouts at the gym because that is what I was told was important for a college age guy to do.

Guess what, I hated it.

I hated having sore muscles. I hated the feeling of not being able to do another rep, even though my mind wanted to. I hated the awkwardness of the gym with all the waiting around and looks from other people. As a result, I stopped exercising for YEARS.

It wasn’t that my body was unable to do the exercises, I was physically able to show up and lift weights. It was the fact that my soul did not enjoy this type of exercise and as a result I did not want to do it.

I had to realize this was okay and I needed to do what made my soul happy. I then rediscovered running and found my soul loved it to where I now find myself asking, how can I get my run in? Instead of the question, do I have to exercise today?

Here is the best news, your love does not have to be a conventional exercise method! Here are some unique ideas to begin your fitness journey:

Bike Riding- Go somewhere enjoyable. Load your kids up with you. Take your dog. Do it right after dinner. Take laps around the neighborhood.

Dancing- There are so many amazing videos on YouTube that range from beginner to expert with every genre of music possible.

Group Classes at the gym- I hate the gym, but I love group classes. Why? There is a built in support group with you! There is also a decent number of participants so I have the option to hide in the corner do my own thing. Music is usually being played and it just feels fun. The classes typically have a theme so you know what you will be working out.

Gardening- Create that dream garden you have always dreamed about!

Walking- Take a walk around the neighborhood. Find a new place to explore.

Play a sport with your kids like soccer, basketball, or frisbee. Even if it is just kicking a ball or shooting hoops prioritize it and make it happen.

Now we have to be somewhat realistic, can we expect to shoot a basketball for 20 minutes and expect to find our body grow in its fitness level for the rest of our lives? No, you have to continually stress your body properly as your fitness level grows, but here is what will happen.

Let’s say the thing you have chosen your LOVE is gardening and your WHY is to plant the garden you have always dreamed about. Maybe you start your fitness journey by committing to yourself to walk around the house to water all the plants and take the weeds out of the potted plants. After a period of doing this, you begin to eye the patch of ground in your backyard where you have always want that dream garden, but didn’t think you had the energy to do the work it would take. So decide to try a group fitness class at the gym (or find a YouTube channel you enjoy) once a week in order to prepare your body for the work your garden will take. Maybe you tell yourself if you are committed after three weeks you will celebrate by buying the material needed to start the garden. After the three weeks and celebratory buying of your materials you choose a day and commit to 10 minutes of tilling the ground and installing the landscape material. You might find yourself tired after the 10 minutes, but proud of yourself for being able to work that long. You now see a path towards your love and see the role exercise has in it. Maybe you then increase the amount of days you exercise or try a longer duration. You then find yourself being able to work on your garden for 15 minutes, then 20 minutes. You then begin to see the fruit of you labor from your exercise as your garden begins to bloom and discover yourself finding ways to get your exercise in because you do not want to lose this joy of gardening.

Do you see how finding something you LOVE to do for exercise became the WHY you exercise? You started with a love you had, gardening, and as you grew in your love you added an element of exercise now with a WHY to increase the time and energy you can give to your love. You used exercise as a tool to achieve your WHY.

As you progress in your fitness journey, you will need to add more traditional exercises such as using weights, but this time when you begin these types of exercises you will have a WHY for doing them. You will be okay with these types of exercises because you know they are helping you do something you love.

Find your WHY. Find your LOVE

Use these two things to create an exercise routine to achieve the dreams and goals you are passionate about.

If you are just beginning your fitness journey or unsure of how to use exercise to achieve the goals you have, I have a 12 week fitness program designed for you in mind! This program is created to increase your fitness level so you can do the things you truly love. It is designed for beginners and meaning no jumping, no floor movements, and modifications for every exercise. You can check it out at Sactown Athletics and I hope to partner with you as you create your exercise habit!

Coach Jake