How To Learn To Like Exercise, Even If You Currently Hate It!

Do you hate exercise and you really wish that you could change how you saw it and actually enjoyed working out? I know that may seem like an impossible thing but let me tell you from my own experience -  it is possible!

After years of struggling I was able to change my whole mindset of how I viewed exercise and in this article I'm going to share how you can too. 

Let me give you a little backstory. I grew up in England and I was probably one of the most unathletic people around. I was the kid that was always picked last in team sports and I don't blame the people that picked me last! I was terrible! My athletic performance was truly embarrassing. 

I got married when I was 20 and for the next 20 years I would try desperately to get my act together and be fit. My poor husband would come out to me in the morning doing my workout video tapes on our VHS tapes, which later transitioned to me buying various bits of exercise equipment and trying to be consistent, but I got to tell you guys I hated it!

We moved from Arizona to Florida in the mid-1990s and our new house had a garage in it where we had a stationary bike. Each morning I would come out, look at that bike and try to make myself have an appointment with it. Have you ever felt like 20 minutes can seem like 20 hours? I literally hated it. I knew I had to try and keep my body in shape though, so I would grudgingly do it counting down each second which seemed like an hour per second until I could finally get off the darn thing! 

Anyway, when I  turned 40, I for some reason had an epiphany. I didn't realize what I was doing at the time but I was shifting my identity and that changed everything. Let me explain.

So I'm going to give you a breakdown as to how you can change so you can actually like exercising and being fit, using my own story as an example.

Step 1 - If you want to shift your identity and actually like to exercise, then you have to change your self talk

Up until that point I had never seen myself as somebody that liked exercise. I saw myself as somebody that had to force themselves to do something that they hated - because it was good for me! At the time I was not into self-improvement but I noticed that my body was changing, I was getting gray hairs and the beginning of getting wrinkles and I thought that I needed an overhaul.

 I remember having a flash of inspiration when I thought to myself how different it would be if I actually liked exercise. I had no trouble watching my favorite TV show, or reading my favorite book. I loved doing those things. I couldn't understand how some people actually liked working out and eating healthy. I mean who were those people and what planet did they come from? 

I remember one morning in the shower thinking to myself that I was going to trick my brain into liking exercise. Each morning when I would get in the shower I would start to say things to myself about how I loved exercise. Even though I wasn’t going to the gym at the time, I would say things like: 

“Wow, I just love going to the gym. I just love taking care of myself and eating healthy.”

 I found that speaking out loud controlled my thoughts better. Little did I know that I was creating affirmations or mantras that motivated myself. I was reprogramming my subconscious and I didn't even know it. I was starting to change my thought patterns, and as I was changing my thought patterns by speaking out loud to myself multiple times a day about how I like to exercise ,some things started to change.

Which brings me to the next point..

I started to see myself as somebody who enjoyed it. 

Step two in changing my identity was changing how I visualized myself. how I saw myself.

The words that we speak over ourselves are very powerful. They start to create images in your mind. Because I had been speaking to myself about how I saw myself as this fit person who loves to work out and eat healthy, I started to imagine that I was somebody that was fit. I started to visualize, even though it wasn't true, that I enjoyed working out. I started to think about what a fit person would do.  How would they feel? What would the fit version of Sue look like and what were some of the things that she would do. 

Which brings me to step three, changing your environment. 

Up until that time I had never set foot in a gym. All my kids were teenagers then, and were getting interested in Fitness, so we all  went down to our local gym and signed up. I was very fortunate that the person at the front desk was so warm and welcoming and helped me not to be fearful because I literally didn't know what I was doing at all. I had lifted a few weights here and there from the workout videos I followed along to, but that's about it. It was that, and the dreaded stationary bike!

Now let me tell you at first when I started going to the gym, I didn't like it. Up until that point I would work out as I previously mentioned, either to exercise videos or in my garage on my stationary bike. I pretty much just joined the local gym because my children wanted to, and I wanted to be the cool mom and keep up with them and be in their life still. However something magical almost seemed to happen.

Getting myself out of the garage and around other people that liked Fitness, really seemed to help me. I didn't know what I was doing at first so I would look at others and try to copy their exercises. That got me curious, and led me to watching YouTube videos so I had a better understanding of what to do when I went to the gym. 

Remember I didn't like it to start off with, but I started to tell myself that this is who I was. I was a 40 year old fit mum, that I was toned, that I had sculpted arms, a lifted butt and a flat stomach even though that wasn't true!

Which brings me to step four. Making it a habit.

Just like brushing my teeth each morning I made an appointment with the gym. Each afternoon I would go and work out for 30 minutes. I had a schedule of different body parts that I wanted to work out for each day and that's what I did. It started to become automatic. 

What happened was truly astounding. Over the next year I started to tell myself how I loved going to the gym. I started to see myself as somebody who enjoyed fitness. I would tell myself that I was strong and healthy. The more I started to tell myself this, the more my mindset started to change.

And then something crazy happened. One day I found myself looking forward to my workout. Yes I know it doesn't seem possible but I actually started to count down the minutes when it was my time to go to the gym. I almost had to take my temperature to see if there was something wrong with me! Me? Wanting to go to the gym, this was incredible. Who was this person?  I had realized that my energy had changed. I had become a whole new version of myself. I had become someone who loved exercise!  

After that I found myself wanting to learn more so I enrolled with the National Academy of Sports medicine and became a certified personal trainer and eventually I had a full schedule of clients. I had become somebody totally new. someone I wouldn't have recognized a year or so ago. I had shifted my identity and I actually liked exercise. 

That was over 10 years ago now, and my fitness routine has become engraved in my psyche. It's a well-worn path that I've carved into my brain and now I work out at least 3 to 5 times a week.

So I want to break this down for you.  If you want to learn to love exercise you have to shift your identity. If you loved going to the gym, then going to the gym and exercising would be no problem right? Becoming this new you starts with  your self-talk. The more you tell yourself how much you hate exercise and fitness, the more you're going to carve that path into your brain. You're literally laying down neural Pathways of hating exercise. However when you tell yourself over and over again that you enjoy exercise, things are going to start shifting. 

It might not be in the first day or so but if you give it time, over the next weeks or months there will be a change. your subconscious mind will start to give you images of you as a healthy and fit person. The more you reprogram yourself, the more your identity is going to change.  

Changing your environment and being around other supportive people who will cheer you on on your health quest is vital. You might not like going to the gym. Maybe Pilates or Yoga might be your thing, or you might want to be part of a walking group. Whatever it may be, change your environment and be around other people who have that energy that you want and that energy is going to start rubbing off on you!

Energy is contagious, and as the old saying goes, birds of a feather flock together

When you stop seeing exercise as a punishment and instead see it as your special, self-care time your whole mindset will change. This is the secret - changing your mindset and becoming a whole new you. So let me quickly run through those steps again of how to shift your identity into somebody that loves exercise:

• Change your self talk

• Change how you see yourself

• Change your environment

• Make it a habit

• Protect your energy

If you consistently follow these steps, you will start to shift into a brand new version of who you are. It won't be overnight but it will happen. Just give it time. It's like watering an acorn. Keep watering it, give it sunlight, put it in the right environment and it's going to grow.