What's Your Favorite?

[Barb135]

I've been saying for a while that I have really slacked off on my exercise and I kept wondering why I can't stay committed to any type of exercise.  

I've finally discovered that the reason I don't stay with anything is because I get bored with it...........

I've always liked to walk and have been considering a treadmill for sometime.................today, after several months of research, I made the leap and bought one...........

Of course, hubby had to help me put it together and get it all set up, but once that was done, I climbed on, set the timer for 30 minutes and "went for it"............I clipped on my mp3 player with some of my favorite tunes and next thing I knew, the "beeper" went off and the machine stopped.............I was doing an average of about 3.0 mph, but several times, bumped it up to 3.5 or 4.0 for a minute or two............when I got done, I felt awesome.............

That was a couple of hours ago and I can feel it already in my legs, hips, etc.........

I think I've found my favorite type of exercise and I'm wondering what YOURS is............

Do you prefer walking, running, biking, swimming, elliptical, pilates, yoga, floor exercises, such as crunches, sit ups, etc???   What a variety of things we have available...........what's your favorite?

[Barb135]

Trudie - do you have an mp3 player, cd or something with headphones?  That's what I do on my treadmill -- turn on my mp3 player with the tunes up loud and as long I have the headphones on, hubby can't hear the music, except when I get wound up and try to "sing" along.  

Karen - walking is great exercise and you are lucky that you have someplace you can go to walk.  Have you tried walking in the sand?  That's supposed to be awesome exercise.  

[Karen616]

I have tried everything and the only thing that seems to work for me that I have stuck to so far is walking. We live on the coast and in the evening it is always full of people running or walking. I drive down there, park, and get out and start walking. I park at a certain building and then walk until the paved road ends and then walk back. I think the 2 main reasons why this is working for me is that it is on the water so there is always wind in your face and you dont get that hot sticky feeling, and the REAL reason it works is because when I get to the end of the road, I'm ready to quit, but I HAVE to walk back to the car before I can go home, lol. So I kind of trick myself into having to do it. It takes a total of about an hour of fast walking and towards the end Im so tired I start walking faster just to hurry up and get back to the car, lol. I know that sounds pathetic but its what works for me. Plus there are so many people that are working out too that everyone is on their own mission and you dont feel like people are watching you or judging you, and since its so packed, there are many things to focus on, like the boats, the people on the beach at the bottom of the steps, the love birds that just met and are on a romantic picknick, etc, lol. The only thing is that I usually go with either my husband or mom but last time I didnt have anyone that wanted to go so I went by myself, and its far more fun with someone there.

[TrudieC]

I also get easily bored and then think it hurts too much and quit.  Variety is what I crave.  I used to have my own weight machine and hand weights on top of my eliptical.  I would do 5 minutes on the eliptical and then a couple of rounds on the weights and back and forth.  Then do some floor exercises and stretching.  Right now I am doing 5 to 10 minutes when I can on the eliptical.  I'm also trying to get my husband to let me put the music on.  He loves to watch TV.  If I can put some loud fun music on I move fast, get things done, and will even dance which is great aerobic exercise.

[Barb135]

Elaine -- your "circuits" sounds a lot like what we have here - a place called Curves.  It's sort of like a gym, but they have several different machines/stations and you do each one for 30 seconds, then move on to the next station. Some of the stations don't have machines; you just do squats or dance moves, etc. I belonged to Curves for  a while, but that was right at the beginning of my unheard of gain (before my thyroid dx) and nothing I did was making a difference.  The biggest issue I had with Curves is that they closed for 2 hours for lunch, which was 1:00 - 3:00.  I get off work at 2:30 so they were still on lunch when I got there, so I'd have to sit and wait; then they didn't always make it back by 3:00 -- one day I waited until almost 3:30 before they came to reopen the studio. I was very ill at that time and no way could I sit there and wait like that without falling asleep.  

Well, it sounds like everyone pretty much has a favorite.  I know some who prefer structured classes, such as step aerobics, which is great for toning; which is sometimes what we need, more so than weight loss.  

I also like my yoga - I think I'm going to try for the treadmill most days, but work in some yoga for a couple of days as well.  

goku - I'll have to check out those tops at wal-mart.  My treadmill has a cup holder, so that's where I stashed the mp3, then just had the cord for the earphones.  That worked pretty well, but it would be nice not to have that cord dangling down.  

[elaine1961]

I love the tread mill at the gym, I press the random button put in the levels for walk jog and run, Then off i go, with the random button you dont know whats coming next, and you dont have to run or jog you can just put in three different speeds of walking, I also like curcuits they set up stations one for each person we have 7 in the class they use weights, abs, bike, kettle bell, boxing, press ups, squats, we do all 7 stations 45 seconds in each, rest i min and do it all again,  we do this for four rounds, its great fun

[Whatawoman72]

I fid most exercise boring which is why I dont stick at it -  especailly at a gym -  right now I have found doing 10 minutes here and there of stretches and toning exercise and 10 minutes using dumbells and adding in extra walking, and then 20 mins bouncing on my trampette thingie is about my limit before I get bored....

[gokuangel]

I love going to step class! It tones your legs like no other and you will sweat for sure! I know this is another reason for the scales to take longer this time to go down cus i have lost so many inches since i joined the gym! The trainers they have are awesome they always changed it up give us different ab moves different arm exercises and on Fridays its nothing but toning we have to do different stations for different muscle groups! So i guess im a sucker for the classes! LOL!

Good for you on the treadmill! Im still trying to get used to it i walk the treadmill on the weekends when theres no class! The workout tops they sell at wal-mart have a pocket for your MP3 and they are super comfortable! That pocket comes in so handy when youre trying to hold the thing and run!