self-involved whinging

[truepenny]

I've figured out what the problem is with me and exercise.

SPIKE: I had a plan.
ANGEL: You? A plan?
SPIKE: A good plan. Carefully laid out. But I got bored.

This is my problem. Exercise bores me. This is why jogging is so not my thing. And there's a definite pattern: I start something (yoga, weight-lifting, swimming) full of enthusiasm and interest because there's something to learn. But then, sooner or later, I hit the point where the intellectual challenge is gone, and it's all down to the body. And I, like Spike, get bored.

Now, my current slump is due partly to the fact that it's fucking cold, but also just to the fact that I resent an hour or more taken out of my day in which my brain has nothing to do.

Clearly I need something which would maintain a slight but constant upward trend on the learning curve. But I don't know what that would be.

*sigh*

Comments

[calligrafiti.livejournal.com]

That is my big problem with exercise -- it's so deeply boring. I can keep up with regular walks because the neighborhood is busy and interesting. I watch the puppies grow into dogs, the additions go onto houses, the kids playing soccer, and so on. Try to get me to walk as often or as far on a treadmill and I'd be spending my time on the couch reading before the warrantee on the exercise equipment expired.

[ericaceous.livejournal.com]

If you don't mind some unsolicited advice, I find that as a data geek, tracking data and trying to increase "achievement" (however you choose to define that: heart rate data, distance, etc etc.)helps with the boredom thing. Particularly where cardio is involved, because by nature, most cardio things are repetitive. Interval training really holds my interest, but it also takes a lot of motivation.

With weight training, you can always learn new exercises or routines. It might require always searching for new material, though. This in turn can require an level of obsession that you might just not feel.

Ways to keep exercise interesting

[redbird]

I find this helps, though it's harder when I hit a plateau and seem unable to increase the weight or number of reps on a machine/exercise for a long period.

I handle the cardio exercise by reading as I go. This is a large part of why I'm using a stationary bicycle instead of a treadmill: it gives me someplace to balance the newspaper/book/magazine.

Re: Ways to keep exercise interesting

[ericaceous.livejournal.com]

PLateaus are problematic, but they usually make me decide to try something new when it's weight training, or go for more endurance instead of raw strength, or vice versa.

Reading during cardio is another good coping mechanism for cardio boredom. I do that too, sometimes.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Can't you use the time to plot noodle or think about what happens next?

Re:

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

I've tried that, but I find that the exercise takes just enough concentration--whether because I need to be counting repetitions or because I need to be not drowning--that I can't hold a train of thought.

It's very irritating.

Re:

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

Kickboxing, fencing, or dance. *g*

I find walking works well for me in terms of exercise because I put my headphones on and listen to the music, and achieve a kind of moving meditation.... and I figure out more plot problems that way.

But I *never* felt like I was about to run out of things to learn or do better when I got down to martial arts.

[heresluck]

I loved kickboxing, and still do it at home sometimes, but it's hard without a dojo's equipment; there's just no way to practice a roundhouse kick without something to, well, kick.

I do miss it. If it were't for the expense, I'd still be going to class.

[necessaryspace.livejournal.com]

What about stationary bikes? You'd get to exercise, but you can read while doing it.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Fencing? There's the obligatory laps and such, but also the fencing.

Or a martial art?

[marinarusalka.livejournal.com]

Speaking as somebody with the exact same boredom problem, I'd recommend martial arts. I had to quit Tae Kwon Do because my knees gave out, otherwise I'd still be doing it. You have to learn new skills and combinations at each level, no matter how advanced you get, so the learning never stops. And you're picking up useful self-defense skills, too!

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

Like the others said... martial arts. I always hated, hated sports, and exercises bore me to death, especially when I try to do them on my own. But I've been studying aikido for a year now, and there are so many great things about it. There's a lot of repetition involved, but it's a way of learning, and it never becomes mindless, because there's always something to learn about a move you're repeating. It's got exercise, and intellectual challenge, and it's a group activity that isn't competitive, so there's no sense of failure attached to it, no rivalry, and on top of all that it's a means of self-defense, which means there's a practical use to it, beyond getting oneself fit. It's both serious and fun to do, and my brain is always busy. :-)

Re:

[hhw]

<de-lurk>
yoga can be like this too, if the class is taught that way. Definitely depends on the teacher and the style of yoga, though.
<re-lurk>

Have you considered dance?

[pbprincess.livejournal.com]

If you need something more structured, you can do lessons; if you want more freedom, you can go to practice spaces or dance around your living room.

Also consider making exercise a social activity ( I like swing dancing, but you can do whatever you like) or working with a trainer.

[vrya.livejournal.com]

I'll throw in: Step Aerobics. I get *deathly* bored jogging, stationary bikes, etc, but Step, well, at first it's a challenge just to get the basic choregraphy, and then you can keep engaged by figuring out where you can introduce extra moves you learned in some other class into the current class you're in without being too disruptive. And also figuring out how to be more graceful, dancy, etc, within the basic framework of the movement. 2 years, and I'm not bored yet, which is definitely a record...

Re:

[(Anonymous)]

I hated exercise because it bored me. Then I started studying Shotokan karate. Four years later, I too suggest a martial art. If you find an art and school that suits you it won't be boring, will fully occupy your mind, will be intellectually, physically, and emotionally challenging, will get you new and cool friends, and will get you in good shape and make you feel good and experience your body in a whole new way. Also it will help you write fight scenes, should you ever want to.

Incidentally, my sensei does step aerobics as well.

Rachel Brown

[vass]

My suggestion doesn't help with the learning curve idea, but... Books on tape. Or books on CD. They've started bringing the Ian Carmichael Sayers sets out on CD. Seems to me you could log a lot of miles that way.

erinaceous's tracking suggestion is good too - you could set a long-term distance goal, for instance. Say, the total distance between Hobbiton and Rivendell?