How to Learn to Love Exercise

You Better … Because New Research Says You Need More …

 I’ve always said that I’ve struggled with exercise.  But actually, that’s not true.  When I was 32, I was cast in a children’s theatre.  I almost didn’t make the cut because I wasn’t physical … and spent the next three years running 50 feet on my knees and somersaulting off of stages.  We worked out as a company two hours three times a week and spent one summer leaping over three people and doing one-shoulder stands among other crazy things learning this incredibly physical obscure acting technique.

Not only that, I started running on my own every day … down and up my hill (I lived at the top).  I was so fit, happy, and pretty (but that concept eluded me at the time … my mother always said that my sister had the beauty and I had the brains) that I was actually followed around by a Rockefeller at an arts conference, who asked me to drinks the first night.  Everyone there thought we were together. I was noticed by an actual American prince!

And … thinking back on it … I absolutely loved exercise at that time.  Because it had everything to do with and was even necessary for a life that I also loved.  And, even after I left the theatre, I worked out … way into my fifties … when I lived with a personal trainer, did gymnastics, and even ran a marathon.

So I asked myself recently … actually just since I started researching this article … what happened?  Why did I stop?  And here’s what I came up with …

I Worked Out to Lose Weight …

… in later years.  Gone was the trainer and the other things that motivated me.  I also about that time had gotten really tired of depriving myself of foods that I loved.  I was then still in the throes of the diet mentality … counting every calorie with each new computer app.  And it seemed that losing weight was the only reason I had left to exercise.

Forcing myself to move to continue to live up to an impossible standard was just not appetizing anymore.  I often said around that time that I started my business and sat down for 20 years.  But now I realize that wasn’t it at all.  I just got tired of weight loss mindsets that didn’t serve me anymore.

I Couldn’t See Myself as a Physical Person …

When I was an acting coach, I chose the most physical form of training to teach, based upon the work I learned that summer in the children’s theatre.  After I did that sometime harrowing training, I booked eight sitcom pilots in a row (obviously … none of which got picked up … or else you might have heard of me).

My master class is still on the internet. Not only that, I had studied with Lee Strasberg on and off for 10 years until his death … much of his work entailed getting to know how your body worked to connect with impulse.

And yet, when a student … a trainer himself … called me “the most physical person I know” … I just brushed it off.  Like I always did when people called me pretty (I was just fulfilling mom’s prophecy).  I now began to see all of that as balderdash.  And F-ed up (with a capital “F”).  I spent years getting to know my body.  I even taught others to do so.  What was going on?

I Needed to Do Something I Loved …

I also began to realize that, around the same time as I stopped exercising, I had to give up running.  I loved it … it was something I started during my children’s theatre days.  And kept up all by myself even when I was with the trainer.  But I finally had to stop … my knees liked it less and less and I was afraid that I would permanently damage them.

And I hadn’t found anything else that I loved as much.  I also stopped coaching, so the little exercise I did do that I enjoyed went with the last class.  Until recently …

… when I started Qigong (an earlier form of Tai Chi) with a fabulous teacher.  And have been doing it twice a week ever since.  Now for over a year.  I very seldom miss a session. And sometimes drive for over an hour in dense L.A. traffic to make my sessions on time.  I’m doing something I love to do again.  you should too.

I’m Still Dealing with Exercise Resistance …

Even during Qigong, I spend the first ten minutes or so thinking about how I hate moving.  And turning over in my mind the many places I could go eat afterwards.  Then I “hit my stride” and think of nothing else but how I love doing what I’m doing.  And how I can make it better.

So it dawned on me that, even though I finally found something to do that I love as much as running, I still am dealing with resistance.  And I’m now realizing (I don’t know why I haven’t before … I spend many mornings puttering around the house until it’s totally too late to do any activity at all) that THIS IS ALL ABOUT MINDSET … and has nothing whatsoever to do with how I move my body (I‘m amazingly flexible … now that I think about it, because I’ve moved my body a lot … most of the time because I loved doing it).

So now’s the time to give up the resistance once and for all … I’ll be working on it for a while … and will keep you posted with my thoughts and processes so you might too …

I Read This Article …

… in the New York Times just this week about that fact that you need to work out an hour a day to really lose weight and fat.  Participants who worked out an hour a day in a new study actually lost weight and body fat.  But those who worked out for 30 minutes … the accepted recommendation for exercise … not only didn’t, but some of them got even fatter.

Also, participants were quick to replace the calories they burned (what did I say about mindset?  We’re so good at rationalizing that we can eat more … much of the time to excess … because we hit the road) … both groups ate about 1000 more … so the hour-a-day group obviously burned more calories, therefore losing more weight.

It started me thinking … I was doing almost zip and none stuff to burn calories.  And, even though I had dispensed with the idea of having to force exercise to lose weight, I wanted to get fitter again. Qigong had given me that.  It’s my experience that doing some activity you love opens the door to more activity.

The other day I hiked … I hadn’t in I can’t remember how long.  And today I stepped for 35 minutes and did a band workout for 20 minutes … almost an hour.  Is the study motivating me?

Actually, I think it’s that year of Qigong.  And coming to terms with my resistance.  And changing my mindset once and for all (still working on it but now at least I’m admitting that this stuff actually exists).  And dwelling upon the fact that there have been periods of my life that I’ve been intensely physical.  And LOVED it!

How about you?  Here’s my advice … first … recognize your inner sloth … what do you say to yourself to keep you bolted down to that couch.   Second … find something physical to do that you love.  I’ve had clients choose such disparate activities as belly and Hawaiian dancing.    Both later actually joined dancing troupes … a testimonial to their devotion to their respective movements.  Which leads me to the third bit of advice … once you’re movin’ and happy, step it up!  And ditch the idea that you’re not physical … all of us are physical … you just have to find your bliss …

Leave Your Comments about How to Learn to Love Exercise Below

What’s your experience with exercise?  Have you always done some kind of activity?  Or are you like me and your inner sloth takes over at times?  What motivates you to get out there every day?