There are times when I really can’t stand the thought of exercising.  Right now is one of those times.  If any of you have ever felt this way, you’re not alone and there is nothing wrong with you.

This may sound like a completely negative attitude to have towards the activity that is my profession.  However, I’m only human and sometimes the prospect of working out fills me with dread and exercise can be the most unappealing part of my day.

I don’t care what anyone says, there are times when working out is boring, tedious, torturous, etc.  We all know that too much of a good thing is bad, and exercise is no different.  I’m very suspicious of people who say they workout 6 or 7 times per week, and that they love it, because it’s not normal or natural.

If someone told you that they ate fish every meal, every day of the week wouldn’t you think that they were a bit odd? Or if a person watched The Sopranos, or Lost or Seinfeld several times a day, everyday, wouldn’t you worry about their sanity? Well the same thing goes for exercise.  There’s no good reason to workout every day, and yet there are plenty of good reasons why a person could be sick of exercising.

But let’s not delve into the myriad reasons for being tired of exercising.  Instead we should recognize the two, most common underlying causes for “exercise fatigue” and talk about what to do to shake ourselves out of the exercise doldrums.

In my vast experience – I’ve been working out for almost 35 years and have been a strength coach for 20 – the main reason that people get sick of exercising is that they have been doing it for such a long period of time that they sometimes need a total break from it.  There doesn’t have to be a more meaningful reason than this.  Human nature is what it is, and just as you can sour on a favorite food, musical group, television show or friend you can get sick of exercise.  Sometimes all you need is some time off to rekindle the fitness flame.

For me, this is the reason that I need to take a break from regular exercise.  As a matter of fact, from time to time I put some of my clients on forced rest, if you will, and make them take time off from me, and the gym.  My wife isn’t so lucky, but that’s another story…

The majority of my clients have been with me for 15 years.  The reasons for this is that A) I’m very good and B) I make sure my clients take at least 2-3 weeks away from me at various times throughout the year.  Additionally, when they travel or go on vacation I encourage them to stay away from structured exercise and to take advantage of alternative methods of exercise.

The other main reason people get sick of exercising is that they don’t get enough variety in their sessions.  Too many people that I’ve spoken to over the years do the same things on the same days, every day for weeks and months on end.  Even people who tell me that they have a trainer.  This is a sure-fire way to experience burnout.

For these people it’s a little easier to come up with a remedy, although it may be hard to get them to change their perception in order for them to follow my advice.  For instance, I have a friend who was addicted to the elliptical trainer.  Every day without fail he’d do 30 minutes, then when he felt it wasn’t enough he added 5 minutes until he got himself up to 50 minutes a day, 6 days a week.  And he hated it.

So I suggested that rather than continue this imitation of a hamster in a wheel, that he go out to his driveway and shoot baskets for 15-minutes, non-stop.  Of course he gave me the stink-eye and spit out some line about how he was used to almost an hour of sweating and ellipticalling, or some such nonsense. 

I countered the nonsense by telling him that not only would “hooping it up” be better than the elliptical trainer, but that he couldn’t finish the 15-minute basketball session without having to stop.  I even gave him the parameters.  He would have to take jump shots, and for every jump shot that he missed he would have to make 5 lay-ups, which started at the top of the key.  I even told him that I would rebound for him, thus saving him a lot of running around.

Needless to say, I was right – I’m always right when it comes to this stuff – as my buddy barely made it to 5 minutes before he had to stop.  His heart rate was higher than from the elliptical session and he was sweating like a pig, but he had more fun than he’d ever have on a machine.  Because he was doing something athletic – an activity that he could “score” and as a result compete at – he made it through the 15 minutes and wanted to keep going even though he was totally spent.

Needless to say his driveway has seen a lot more activity than has his former cardio machine of choice, and as a result he’s enjoying both his machine-based cardio and his basketball sessions.  Variety is the spice of life.

So the morals of the story here are it’s okay to get sick of exercising, take time off to re-ignite your enthusiasm, change up your activities to get a different form of exercise, incorporate a variety of activities into your routine and include athletic endeavors as much as possible.  If you follow my advice not only will you be in better shape, but you’ll also reduce the incidents where you don’t want to train.

Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, it’s time for me to go swing a sledgehammer.

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