How Not to Hate Exercise

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who like to exercise and those who don't. I have spent my entire life hating exercise. Until this year, my best experience with physical activity has been to watch Michigan football games. Shockingly, enthusiastic cheering and occasional trips to the refrigerator do not actually burn off that many calories.

So how did I learn to stop hating exercise? Here's the short answer: I stopped calling it exercise. I know this sounds simple-minded, but the technique is grounded a therapeutic practice known as reframing. By getting rid of the hated word "exercise", I have learned to think of physical activity as something that's fun and that I want to do.

Don't get me wrong — I have not suddently become an exercise junkie. I don't run and I haven't joined a fancy, expensive gym. In fact, it is exactly this minimalist approach to change that has led me to experience a modicum of exercise success for the first time in my life. Here's what I did:

I Got Healthy

After literally years of sinus infections and allergy issues, I made a New Year's resolution to start breathing. On January 2, I set up an appointment with a new allergist and worked diligently with him to control my chronic symptoms. It turns out that breathing is a wonderful thing. I'm feeling better, sleeping better and have more energy. Whatever getting healthy means for you, talk to your doctor and do that first.

I Started Walking More

Walking is easy. It's something I already knew how to do and it didn't take much effort to increase how much I walked every day. I bought myself a cheap pedometer and set my goal for the ubiquitous 10,000 steps a day. I did everything you have heard to get myself to walk: parked at the back of the parking lot, began walking to the library and post office and drug store, and starting walking my kids to school instead of having them take the bus. I also tried a few new strategies that worked for me:

• Walking the dog — I know this doesn't sound like a new strategy, but when we got our new puppy, I decided that I would not holler at my kids to walk her, but that I would do it myself. In another example of reframing, I convinced myself that walking the dog everyday was something that I wanted to do, and that it would be good for both of us. (This reframing thing loses some of its effectiveness when it's pouring down rain or the temperature drops below zero).
• Getting a hands-free headset — For better or worse, cell phones are everywhere. Not only does my new Bluetooth® device make me a safer driver, it gives me something to do when I take a walk. Talking to my long-distance friends is something I love and I have even been known to extend my walk (sometimes by miles) just to finish the conversation.
• Going green — or at least greener. With gas prices up over $4.00 a gallon, the incentive is built in to reduce my fossil fuel consumption. I'm fortunate to live in a town where I can do a lot of my errands on foot, but this is new to me. It used to be easier just to jump in the car to return that library book or pick up a prescription. I told myself that I didn't have time to walk, but there were plenty of occasions when I spent more time looking for a parking place than it would have taken me to walk. Reframe: I'm saving the environment and money on gas.

I Remembered Things I Used to Love to Do

• Like swimming. When I was a kid, my parents had to pry me out of the water during the summer, but as an adult, I had turned one of my favorite activities into hated exercise. I would spend hundreds of dollars on pool passes for my family only to sit on a lounge chair reading People magazine while my kids swam and played. No more. Now I'm joining the fun. We try to go every day during the summer and, again, I tell myself that this is something I want to do, not something I have to do. The kids and I play soaker catch with sponge balls, I go down the water slides (bonus points for climbing those stairs) and I occasionally even swim a lap or two.

• Like bike riding — Of all the sports-related activities in the world, riding a bike was one of the few that came naturally to me. I chucked my old 10-speed (all that bending over hurt my back) and got myself a used, old fashioned bike with a comfortable seat and regular handle bars. I even rode my bike to and from a meeting more than five miles from my house.

• Like playing with my kids — I actually like my kids. They're silly and smart and full of energy, and we often have a good time together. In the past that would always mean a board game or a video or reading together, but now it means much more. No, I don't play soccer with them (not even during the parent-kid game), but I will go out and toss a ball or frisbee around. When you are as bad at these things as we are, you get in even more exercise than people with better throwing and catching skills.

The operative word in making this transition is "fun". If it's not fun, I'm not going to do it. I have tried all kinds of other behavorial modification techniques, like bribing myself with a pedicure if I do aerobics four times in a week or buying myself a new something or other if I lose 10 pounds. It doesn't work, at least not in the long run.

I'm not lean, I'm not ripped, but I am moving my body without loathing it. All the experts will tell you that there are no quick fixes, that it takes a change in lifestyle to improve your health and fitness levels. They're right, of course, but that sounds like a lot of hard work. I say, forget the big changes and just go have some fun. The changes will come when you are not even looking.

Photo credit: exercises by jeanner at flickr.com.