Exercise used to feel a lot more like work until I started listening to podcasts during my runs and weight training. Now I cue up episodes that interest me in advance and actually look forward to it. Most of the time.

Also I found starting slow and easing into shorter workouts lowered the barrier to entry for me. Then gradually added to my workouts in length and difficulty. Doing something is better than nothing.

If you’re not overweight and simply want to become more athletic I personally think the most important thing to do is to find an activity you enjoy. That’s something you have to discover for yourself.

For example, I can’t stand working out for the sake of working out at a gym. But I do get really motivated by climbing, hiking, trail running, and skiing. Climbing builds strength and has a certain level of problem solving involved too so it’s mentally stimulating. Hiking and trail running are excellent cardio and have clearly defined goals to reach a certain summit or some endpoint. And skiing is just a blast in all forms. All of that keeps me active and having fun while I’m doing it. That makes me want to do it more which allows me to set bigger objectives and then it builds on itself.

It’s important to note that fitness is not really a project with a beginning and an end - it’s a journey that you will be on for as long as you live, basically. As such, you ideally want to find things that:

• Can sustainably fit into your life
• You truly find joy in doing

For example, I used to think that the only viable form of cardio was running, and that I needed to be running for the sake of my health. The problem is that I fucking hate running, I consider it to be boring as shit. Hence it was always an uphill battle to run for me.

In its place, I’ve found cycling to be an endless source of fun - I don’t really have to try hard to go cycling, because I yearn to do it as much as I can reasonably fit in.

So I recommend that you try different things until you find something that you really enjoy.

Other than cycling, I really like strength exercise. I used to have easy access to a gym earlier in my life, which is unfortunately not true where I live today, so to get strength work done, I do a routine of body weight exercises. This is by no means the perfect way to become stronger, but you really shouldn’t let perfect be the enemy of good. The best fitness activities are the ones that you can consistently do indefinitely.

Finally, two things that caused problems for me at the start of my fitness journey:

Having neglected strength work for all my life gave me some muscle imbalances that didn’t correct themselves by just doing regular workouts, I had to consult with a physical therapist to learn how to counteract these years of inactivity. The same may or may not be true for you.

Being overweight posed a big challenge at the start of my fitness journey - higher-intensity exercises can really hurt when your organs are a bit cramped by fat. After a huge struggle with dropping my weight, I noticed that a lot of exercises that previously hurt a lot no longer do. This may or may not be applicable for you either.

I second the recommendations here about finding an activity that you like. For me it was rec sports. Gets me out of the house a few days a week, and for me it was an activity to help me stay active but also a reason TO get fit. I wanted to feel less beat up after playing, so I started working out and stretching regularly.

I also had trouble with getting to the gym, and had trouble with focus and picking workouts, so I had success with P90x. It’s all workouts you can do at home with some adjustable dumbbells. I think I got a deal on the streaming subscription to Beachbody for 100$ for the year. Then I just followed the program and the workout calendar. They have a number of different programs on there, if you want to get ripped I recommend P90x, if you just want to do some sort of workout for 30 minutes a day I’d recommend p90x3 because it’s easier to stick to.

That was a good start for me, but I ultimately settled on just picking my favorite moves from the program and I switch between upper and lower body workouts every day because I found I was consistently skipping certain days of the programs.

Walk very far distances. Before cars, a lot of people walked between towns. It was completely normal and safe if you know what you’re doing. I have friends who sometimes walk up to twenty miles to the neighboring towns because they swore off vehicles, and they show up and people are flabbergasted like they’re thinking “holy crap it’s a miracle you must be gods” as if the friends didn’t just have to use two feet for two hours to get there. But that’s what a human is supposed to do, biologically that is. And you don’t even have to run, in fact it’s better for your body and mind to walk than run.

Also, sleep well and stay hydrated. Sleep controls metabolism. Metabolism controls fitness. Bad sleep equals bad metabolism. Same goes for hydration. Drink a pint of water every time you piss. That’s probably why there are drinking fountains next to bathrooms. All this advice has worked for me too.

!fitness@lemmy.world

My general advice though - start small, and build up what works for you. Move your body, drink water, try to establish healthy eating habits with all the colors (greens, vegetables, whole grains, etc).

Whatever you do won’t be wrong. It’s always a good thing to do a good thing for your body, whether its big or small or a regime or a once-in-a-while thing.

Get into a sport yould enjoy. Find like minded people and have fun. Take it seriously, and the fitness just comes as a by product.

Fit can mean lots of things. What specifically are your goals? Sit down and think about what you really want and be specific. Are there particular sports you want to focus on? Particular fitness goals like be fast, be strong, be muscular, run long distances, etc? Define your specific goals and from there you can create a specific plan to meet those goals. If you have general goals and particular sports you like, it can help to turn your general goals into specific goals in those sports. If you like running and want to work on your endurance, pick a half marathon to train for. Setting specific goals with deadlines helps you define and stick to a specific plan.

If your goal is healthspan, the book Outlive has a great section on planning your exercise for longevity and healthspan:

https://peterattiamd.com/outlive/

Nutrition: eat sufficient protein (more than you think), establish a minimum amount you need based on your lean body mass and activity levels. Use fat and carbohydrates to meet the rest of your caloric goals. Try to avoid “bad carbs” (fructose in sweets and processed foods) and bad fats (trans fats, hydrogenated oils, omega 6 fats from seed oils, again processed foods) but getting enough protein and avoiding excess calories is vastly more important.

Resistance training: this will depend on your specific goals. Hip hinge (squats, deadlifts) and pulling exercises (rows, pullups, deadlifts) are probably the most important. You probably want to plan and periodize your workouts. I am a huge fan of 5-3-1 for strength development. I’ve tried many programs over the years and this is the only one that doesn’t plateau prematurely for me. I do this 2-3 times a week.

https://www.jimwendler.com/blogs/jimwendler-com/101065094-5-3-1-for-a-beginner

Cardio: I break this into high intensity and low intensity. Again, you should tailor this to your goals but generally you want to do 80% of your cardio at low intensity (heart rate zone 2 in the 5 zone mode) and 20% at high intensity (zone 4-5). There are lots of ways to skin this cat depending on what cardio activities you enjoy. I do 1-2x 20 minute high intensity workouts a week and 2-3x hour long low intensity workouts a week.

As others say, start slow. Add one of these changes at a time and give your body a few weeks to adapt before adding another change.

I used to be a gym rat and have won a few bench press contests in my day. The trick is to make it an enjoyable routine. You don’t have to kill yourself, but you do need to push yourself a bit. Do a few body parts a day and maybe two exercises per part. I did chest and shoulders one day, back and triceps the next, then legs and biceps. Lift slow and use weights you can control. No jerking or bouncing. If you hate doing something, don’t do it. Find something else that works.

What’s your goal? Weight loss? Build muscle? Have more stamina?

For weight loss, I would start with diet. I lost 60 pounds in four and a half months just calorie counting with no exercise - but it’s really hard to out-exercise a bad diet. Losing that weight made it easier for me to start exercising. I do a combination of hiking and running to try to keep things interesting. A “couch to 5k” type program is working well for me.

Diet is really important. Eat light breakfast such as museli, oats etc, lean meat, egg for lunch and dinner. And A little exercise is all you need.

Start small and do one thing right and stick to it. Look at a YouTube video explaining you how to do that one exercise correctly. If you feel pain, you do it wrong.

That’s it, that’s the whole magic.

Start with something light, like 5 pushups, every other day and keep doing so. Soon you wan to do 5 pushups and 5 deadlifts and 5 crunches. Then you start to quadruple the amount and at some point your workout becomes too long, so you split it up. That’s it, you’re in.

All these fitness apps are total overkill. You start the workout and then boom “do these 20 things in 40 reps”. Nah, that’s how people get frustrated and stop.

Also sore muscles will go away at some point. I only ever get sore muscles when I work out something new or had a long break.

I saw a funny meme of someone in a train taking a picture of 3 old bald guy with a white beard and a fat belly that looks the same. I was thinking that if i grow old and dont take care of my body i will look like them. And i dont want that. So im doing sports now. I just wrote “workout no equipment” on youtube and did that for the last 40 days for now. It works. I was not fat but slightly chubby. Im still thick but i see my muscle well now. I just have to fix my food habit now

In my case it has been perseverance and dedication. I’m 120kg and 6ft4. I feel ok, but I am at least 15 kg over weight. I have two kids, and I realised I was getting less able to do things they wanted to do with me. The timeframe where they will actually want to do things with me is getting shorter too, so I’ve been running to improve my health and general fitness. It’s painful, difficult, and I end up pretty sore, but I’m getting a little bit better each time, and I’m sticking with it this time. So I guess to answer your question, you get started by deciding it’s time and the various reasons you have are important enough to keep trying. I let my health go during the pandemic and I really needed to do something about it for my family. If you’re able, I would start with brisk walks, that gradually turn into periods of jogging on the walks, which gradually get longer… Good luck

Here’s a thread I can really use! I’m trying to start a new healthy habit, but I’m struggling a bit.

Having a birthday with a zero on the end of it this weekend. It’s a bit of a mind fuck (as they have tended to be in the past.)

I’m a pretty healthy guy in general: still weigh what I did in college, been eating low-carb for several years… Been on a walking project where I decided to walk every street in my ginormous suburb while picking up trash as I go (it feeds my soul).

Which brings me to my struggle: I’ve recently been diagnosed with osteoporosis (fawk) which means, among other things, no longer putting off the weight-bearing exercises I’ve known for years are good for me (us). About a month ago I got some hand weights and have been doing a youtube workout thing (which my sister has been doing most of this year).

So what’s the problem?

I hate it. It’s such a grind. The walks? I look forward to those! The fresh air, the sunshine, the podcasts, the sense of accomplishment, exploring new neighborhoods, seeing the progress… The weights? Ugh.

So I’m wondering what I can or should do to “get my mind right”. It’s very possible that it’s going to be a “just fucking do it” situation? Maybe when I start seeing (and feeling?) some progress it will become self-reinforcing. Maybe I need to put on a podcast and turn down the volume on the workout vids…

Any advice? For you regular weight-pushers, what’s your ‘secret’? What get’s you thru your workouts?

TL; DR: I need to start lifting weights and I hate it. Looking for advice.