How to Get in Shape and Actually Enjoy It
As the pandemic stretches on, our time spent mostly inside our own homes stretches along too. For many of us, unfortunately, this has led to a serious drop in activity levels. It’s tough to get a workout in when you’re stuck at home all the time. However, it’s far from impossible.
In fact, there’s one easy way to get — and stay — more active: have fun. Too often when we think of exercise, we think of running mindlessly on a treadmill or half-heartedly following along with a workout video. Listen, if you dig treadmill running and workout videos, that’s great: If not, however, you’re going to need to find something you genuinely like.
Having fun while you exercise redefines your whole relationship with staying active. Suddenly exercise isn’t what you have to do: It’s what you want to do. Activities like obstacle course races and trail running can ignite a passion for movement.
Here’s how to find the joy in being active and discover a form of exercise that will help you get in shape the fun way, presented today by clubX Fitness.
Tap Into Your Competitive Side
One of the best ways to have fun while exercising is to gamify it. This is the perfect fit for anyone who has a bit of a competitive side. Pick up a smartwatch to keep track of your activity — and accessorize it with watch bands that are both cool and durable. If you don’t already have a suitable device, consider asking around before you pick one up to see if there’s a platform your friends are already using. While it may sound silly to purchase a smartwatch simply for exercise, Zenbusiness.com points out that these devices can help you control many different aspects of your personal and professional life.
Get Silly
When it comes to getting fit, dignity might be one of the biggest things holding most of us back. Listen: Exercise isn’t dignified. It’s sweaty and out of breath and blotchy and alive. Give yourself permission to get silly, get weird, get messy: whatever it is that helps you feel connected to your body and proud of what you’re doing.
Obstacle course racing, for example, is an absolutely excellent way to throw perfectionism out the window and cut loose. You can also try out activities you liked as a kid, such as roller-skating, hula hooping, or rock climbing. It’s almost impossible to have fun when you’re taking yourself too seriously, so make your exercise time your chance to indulge your inner weirdo.
Embrace Type-Two Fun
When we think of the word “fun,” we’re usually thinking of type-one fun. This is anything that’s fun while it’s happening: eating cake, dancing with your friends, jumping on a trampoline, that kind of thing. Plenty of physical activities are type-one fun sometimes, but not always. Getting comfortable with type-two fun, however, can revolutionize your attitude on days you’re just not feeling it.
Type-two fun refers to activities that aren’t fun while you do them but are fun in retrospect. Think of going on a huge, scary rollercoaster. Even the biggest thrill-seekers might not use the word “fun” to describe how they feel on the actual ride, instead going for “energized” or maybe “terrified”. But afterward, when you’re sitting in the glow of adrenaline and the satisfaction of tackling something huge, and you think “I want to go again” – that’s type-two fun.
If you’re ever not feeling the fun during your activity, try to notice whether or not you get that type-two-fun experience afterward. You might be surprised how often you’ve enjoyed your exercise routine more than you really thought you would. In fact, once you start noticing this experience, type-two fun can be even more satisfying, keeping you coming back for more.
Try different forms of exercise out, and see which ones leave you feeling confident in your body’s abilities and excited about what you’ll do next. Remember: The best exercise is not the exercise that burns the most calories or tires you out the most today – it’s the one you’re looking forward to doing again tomorrow.
If you’re in the market for a new gym to call home, why not give clubX Fitness a try! Let your fitness journey begin today by contacting [email protected].
Photo Credit: Pixabay
