💬Discussion post: Is exercise boring?
And so what if it is?
Gentle readers: I am about 70% done with the full draft of my book due to my publisher in August. It is the craziest thing I’ve ever done, writing this much. I love it, *and* it’s absolutely infuriating sometimes! I can’t wait for you to read it in June next year. I am working in fits and starts on some longer essays for ya and will have them out when I can, and thank you so much for your patience and readership.
In the meantime, a discussion post. I love doing these, you all have the best comments. Some discussion posts are for paid readers only, but I’ll leave this one free because I am craving a wide-ranging chat. I will say: My paid readership has increased by 63% since January (in this economy?!) and that’s because I give you specific, actionable guidance you can use IRL, like about how to figure out how much protein you really need and how to get better at sleeping. An annual subscription works out to $4.17 month. Brother, that’s a hell of a deal:
And: The (paid) subscriber chat about sleep, part of the Take Your Body Back Initiative, opens on Monday! The next post in the series, on how to eat to feel better in your body without being insane about it, drops on Tuesday.
OK, let’s discuss:
No matter where you are in your exercising experience, do you find it boring while you’re doing it?
Do you find it boring most of the time, all of the time, some of the time, or pretty much none of the time?
And if you keep doing it anyway, what keeps you surging through your boredom?
I have to say, when people tell me they routinely exercise even though they’re bored as hell the whole time, I can’t relate. That’s fine, that makes me no better than you and we’re all wonderfully different creatures who roam this planet. It’s not that I’m shivering with excitement during every workout, but I don’t exactly feel truly bored.
It’s more like some workouts feel especially great, energized, and locked the hell in, and others feel … neutral. Routine. Just a thing I do that keeps me engaged enough, kind of like, idk, cooking an everyday meal for myself — there are enough tasks to do to keep my mind and hands busy but I’m not seeing fireworks burst before my eyes during the experience.
I really enjoy feeling this way about exercise, actually. To me, that’s a sign that it’s habitual, a meaningful part of my life, kind of automatic. I think I don’t feel bored during workouts because 1) if I’m doing a progressive overload routine, there’s always something a little bit different that I’m doing from what I did last time, 2) once the power of the workout kicks in, I feel focused; I have to consider what’s going on with my form, how my body feels, how to avoid injury, and 3) I make fun workout playlists. For real, that’s a huge part of it. Here’s one I always go back to:
If you do find yourself bored during any/most of your workouts, I think that’s fine and normal. I encourage you to consider whether you’re bored because you need some variation in your programming or you could stand to be a little more focused on what you’re doing, but if it’s just boring for you no matter what, I get it. You’re never going to convince me that housekeeping around budgeting and finances isn’t the goddamn dullest task known to man, but I do it so I don’t go broke or to jail for tax fraud. Some things in this life are just not our bag but we do them for the greater good.
What matters, and what I admire you for if you do it anyway, is that you accept and allow yourself to feel bored as you do something good for yourself. Most of us aren’t great at accepting boredom into our lives. I could probably stand to allow for more of it, tbh.
So, discuss: Where are you on the exercise boredom scale? What keeps you coming back anyway? Share this post on Notes or with a pal if you want to hear what other people think!
I’ve often seen that when someone complains about being bored (not just about exercise), they’re actually not paying much attention to what they are doing. They have attention fatigue more than physical fatigue.
I’ve never met a human in my life who was perfect, and our performance of every exercise could always be a notch better, and there are endless things to pay attention to. Your form is a little off; you’re holding your left shoulder a little higher than your right; the ground has a little sheen and slip to it; the wind just changed and got a little gusty; the air smells like imminent rain; the person in front of you is bouncing a ton; the screen (for the treadmill crowd) is jarring a bit so you adjust your footfallls to make it smoother. The glass of the hotel gym is warped; the heat of the sun is causing little ripples of air over the hood of the cars; you feel sweat slowly running down your earlobe; the sidewalks in the neighborhood have little sparks of reflected sunlight at this time of day. The alliums under the shade of the old tree are still blooming even though the rest have washed away; your right arch is a little tight so you slow down a bit and look for less slanted ground; the dog is tired and hot, and looking mournfully at you for attention. If you are paying attention to what you’re doing instead of what you’re not, all this is there.
I suspect the endless & easy availability of devices designed to suck our attention to themselves has lead to a weakness in our being able to direct our attention appropriately when they are not available, and the primary stimulus is our body and physical environment. To me, one of the key joys of exercise is to *get away* from all the attention-sucking gadgets and just focus on what’s presently around you.
Good perceptive here. Nobody walks around complaining about breathing being boring. When exercise becomes part of your normal life, it can feel neutral, esp if doing something repetitive.
Past few years when I’ve been exercising regularly (5+ days per week), if it’s boring while doing it, I don’t pay that much attention. If there’s a sense of hesitation or dread- I don’t feel like riding the exercise bike again today - I mix it up. Go for a run or hike. Lifting I’m able to mix up enough that a good leg day gets me out of any kind of funk I have about lifting. I also do bodyweight exercises sometimes too just to keep it fresh.