Fitness for Fun

Exercise can be a daunting task.  It can be a time commitment, it can make you sore, it can make you sweaty, it can make you uncomfortable, it can be tough and it can break you down sometimes.  So why would anyone ever bother to exercise?  Because it can be fun too!

I know that exercise has health benefits; it keeps my heart healthy, it helps control my weight and it minimizes the effects of stress on my body.  Sadly, that alone can’t always get me out of bed early in the morning or help me lace up my shoes on a cold winter day.  Besides the health benefits, knowing that I enjoy exercise and feel good after working out is a good motivator for helping me commit.  Not every workout is fun but I purposely make sure every now and then I do a workout just for fun.  It might be a few extra laps around the mall while shopping or a bike ride on a new trail or even a contest to do as many crunches or sit ups as I can.  Sometimes the most fun ones are running around the yard with my nephews and niece.

There are lots of forms of exercise so keep in mind your favorite activity may already be your form of fun fitness.  Working in a garden or landscaping your yard, walking to the grocery store or playing pick-up basketball at lunch, cleaning your home or helping friends move – moving around in all of these ways is great! Even if you already have a formal workout routine or are training for an event, exercise can start to feel tedious and boring.  Mix it up!  Not only is that beneficial to the mind, it’s great for the body.  The body is a really efficient machine and there starts to be a diminishing return when doing the same thing over and over.  I love to run and do spend a lot of time doing the same workout.  I try to add something different to the start or end of my run, like jumping rope, jumping jacks, ab work, rowing or extra walking.

I also enjoy brick workouts, which is why I probably also like multi-sport races.  A brick workout is doing one activity and then transitioning into something different.  An example is running 3 miles and then transitioning to a 10 mile bike ride.

How do you exercise for FUN?!  Do you ever skip working out because you can’t seem to find anything fun about it?  Ask friends and family to join you in an activity or ask for suggestions on something new to do.  Fitness can be fun, in addition to the health benefits it can provide.  Feel free to share your favorite ways to exercise!

Miss FitGab