This week Kirsty wants us to dish the dirt on our real feelings about exercise. I must confess that I got a little giddy thinking about the prompt for this week, you see I hate exercise with a passion (such a shock I know!) but I am multi layered in my approach to my love/hate relationship with huffy puffy. Like an onion.
First off, I know I said that I hate exercise, that’s not strictly true. I don’t like exercise for the sake of exercise. If I go for a walk, I like it to be going somewhere with a purpose. I much prefer to walk to the shops that just ‘go for a walk’. I find that it doesn’t feel as labour intensive when I am exercising for a purpose other than to get my heart rate up.
I don’t hate all exercise equally. I have a special brand of loathing for running. I just can’t do it. I feel strange and clunky. Even when I was a teenager and didn’t have DD’s to deal with (seriously, I was an A until I turned 18) I didn’t feel comfortable running. I think that I probably have a heavy step and tend to drag my feet rather than lift which is what makes it so uncomfortable but at the moment I am happy with walking.
Swimming kind of breaks my first rule though. I love it, I don’t do it nearly enough and I miss it. One of my favourite parts of swimming is the peacefulness. It’s just you and the water. Swimming was one of the staples in my childhood, I started swimming club when I was around 10 and really fell in love with it. I love the burn you feel in your chest as you push yourself to go that extra few strokes before a breath.
I’m not particularly a fast swimmer, I never was. I can’t do ‘proper’ breast stroke because my knees turn in, which makes my kick turn in. Yes, there really is a proper way to do breast stroke. I can swim though, and I enjoy it. Through my teenage years when I hated myself and nearly everyone around me, it was one of the few things that I enjoyed. I hated my body, yet strangely I had no qualms in donning a pair of swimmers, even a bikini as I got older.
I must confess that I really miss swimming. I have lost a lot of the confidence in my body and in myself. Our local public swimming pool has a heated pool, maybe I should bring swimming back into my life.
What is your favourite way to get active?
Linking up with Kirsty for I must confess.
I like swimming but then I get bored (round lap 7) if I can make it through that, then I’ll keep going but half the time I come up with some reason to ‘wrap it up’….
I’m hoping to get some fins so that I can combat the bored feeling as they make your legs work harder but you go faster 🙂
You and I have the same feelings for swimming! During mediations when I am to think of a time of peace, I think of being in water. I love how the lack of sound and images also reinforce the feeling of being utter alone. I feel suspended in time. Love swimming.
Yep, you’ve pretty much just summed up my feelings around water too. I’ve always been a water baby and I’m so glad that my son is too!
I love swimming too. I went swimming heaps when I was pregnant. Well I wouldn’t call it swimming it was more floating around and walking back and forth, but it felt awesome being in the water. Bub and I do swimming together now too.
That’s probably all I will be doing until I get some fitness back lol!
I was a squad swimmer as a teenager, won medals and everything. I find the repetitiveness of lap swimming really soothing. I never had much speed, but I had stamina so I always did well in the distance freestyle. Never mastered breaststroke tho, that kick is impossible! My knees and hips click just thinking about it!
I wasn’t good enough to win medals, and I hated that once I turned a certain age (I think it was 12) that the minimum distance I could do at a carnival was 100m. I could do 100m Freestyle easy but Butterfly was impossible. Although I must admit Fly was my favourite stroke, it just felt so powerful.
I find myself disliking exercise for the sake of exercise too. I love to go for a walk, with a friend or to walk the dog. Because I am not just walking. I don’t do running well but excelled when I was younger. Now it makes me feel tired just thinking about it. I never got into swimming but I put it in the same basket as the gym. I see swimming laps as exercise and it just isn’t inviting for me. Team sports on the otherhand, like netball, get me excited just thinking about it. Unfortunately I am never consistent. I play a season or two and then I over stretch a ligament in my ankle and am out for even more and then have to find the confidence to start back up again and rebuild my strength. I am currently thinking about starting again, but I know no one here so would have to meet completely new people and that is just as daunting in itself.
You should see if Kat’s sister will join one with you, she is pretty sporty 🙂
Good idea. Will check out places to play while my belly is still fixing itself and when I find somewhere will contact her.
I’m lucky that I’m the one in a billion bizarre person who likes working out at home alone with a DVD or Youtube clip. I used to walk everywhere before I started driving too. I hope you can get back into swimming if you want to.
I used to love using exercise DVD’s too, but my loungeroom is so small and I would have to lock the child and the dog in a bedroom or I would end up going dick up over one of them!
Look since having kids I have no time to myself and I don’t want to spend it exercising but I feel that I need to get better and be a better role model for the kidlets! Swimming is a nice way to get active 🙂
Yep! That was one of my motivations for signing up for a weightloss challenge. We are planning a holiday at the end of the year and I don’t want to spend it sitting on the sidelines because I’m overweight and unfit.
I’m like you I like to walk somewhere for a purpose. Shopping for instance. That’s exercise isn’t it?
All jokes aside though, for my health to get back on track I really need to incorporate some easy exercise into my routine. Any ideas?
Try a Body Balance class. It’s a mix between Pilates and Yoga and is really relaxing.
Yeah I”m with you, as the meme says, “exercise … ain’t nobody got time for that LOL”. UNTIL the hubster bought me at treadmill off Gumtree at Easter for 50 bucks. And now I walk/jog while watching telly – and to my surprise, actually liking it!
That’s great!
I think you should definitely get back into that Tegan!!! I enjoy running but am not particularly fast, I like running by myself, probably for similar reasons you like swimming…it’s just me and the pavement and (when it decides to work) my ipod! Good luck Tegan!
If finances allow I am hoping to head to the pool on Thursday! Will post a selfie if I do 🙂
I personally don’t see the interest in swimming or running but I do enjoy walking for the sake of it. I agree that exercise with a purpose is best though! Hope you get back into swimming one day, sounds like you really enjoyed it x
Exercise is definitely all about finding something that you enjoy or it just feels like a chore.
I love swimming, always have.
How many funny exercise memes are there!
Haha I know! I had a hard time picking just one I liked!