There are some things we do because we want to live our best lives. Getting fit is one of them. It isn’t necessarily a fun thing to do if you just force yourself to eat right and do boring exercises every day.
If you don’t approach it from a place of enthusiasm, it will be very hard for you to maintain any sort of consistency over the course of weeks, months, and years. Instead, you’ll begin to dread doing it and you’ll procrastinate and avoid it whenever possible.
#1. Walk in Interesting Destinations
Walking on a treadmill in a gym is unbearably boring. Nobody likes getting in shape by walking the same speed on a flat surface staring blankly at the wall, at best with music coming in through headphones.
It makes things tedious, and when you have to do something tedious, more often than not you’re going to stop doing it. If you really want to commit to fitness and not be bored to death while doing it, get outside and walk in some interesting places instead.
There are so many good places to walk all around the world. No matter where you live, you’re bound to have some place good not too far away and have fun while you get fit. One common place is the park.
Almost every city or town has a park that you can go visit, and they often have dedicated paths and trails just for people who want to run or walk around. You can park and go through that whole path and it might end up being over a mile before you even realize it.
Some cities have botanical gardens open to the public, and this is a great option, too. They’re essentially much nicer parks, full of flowers and beautiful trees. Having this scenery makes the long walk so much more bearable because you’re actually seeing things that you like, and as the seasons progress, you’ll be able to see all the flora changing.
One of the best options is hiking. If you’re fortunate enough to live near a nature reserve or natural park with hiking trails, it’s highly recommended to hike through there. It has changing slopes and elevations, so you’re going to get better cardio than you would on a treadmill anyway, but it also has the added bonus of better sights and a feeling of accomplishment.
If you’re going to go hiking or even going through some park trails, be sure to know what kind of animals live in that area. Whether it be insects, snakes, or mammals, there could be some dangerous life out there, and you’ll want to be sure to steer clear of it no matter what.
Your best bet is to not touch any plants or animals that you see out in nature, because you have no idea what they’re like, what they can do, and if they have any diseases. Try bringing a friend along for added company and added protection and bring along a camera so you can have fun snapping pictures along the way!
#2. Get Lost in an Audiobook or Video Series as You Work Out
Whether you walk outside or inside on a treadmill, there are things that you can do to help pass the time as you walk. In recent years, tons of forms of media have become accessible at the touch of a button with smart phones, and that media makes working out a breeze, where you hardly even notice half an hour passing by.
One of the best examples of this is audiobooks. Amazon has one of the largest audiobook services, Audible, which has a massive library of audiobooks. If you’re not familiar, it’s an audio file of a professional voice actor or celebrity reading a book out loud in full, so you can read a book without having to really look at it.
This has helped people on long drives and flights, but it’s also great at the gym. For avid readers, this helps you fit working out into your day without having to sacrifice time you would’ve rather spent delving into a book.
For more popular texts, some of the voice actors that they bring in to read them are incredible, and make it more immersive. All the while, you can be hiking or riding an exercise bike at the gym.
Various video series are also easily accessible these days. Things like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ have given people the ability to watch almost all their favorite shows straight from their phone with their apps.
Combining this with a treadmill at the gym is a fantastic way to get in shape. If you can get your hands on some Bluetooth headphones that work with your phone, you can get your phone to play your favorite show or movie, have the audio come through your wireless headphones so you don’t have to worry about the wire, and prop up your phone on the treadmill while you walk.
You can binge watch whatever you’d like and before you know it, you’ve spent the last hour walking on the treadmill. It’s important that you make your workouts enjoyable so that you’ll stay committed to doing them.
If it’s boring and hard, that doesn’t mean it’s going to work – it just means you’re inevitably going to get tired of it. Some people enjoy just running, but not all people do. Using little tricks like watching a show or listening to a book might be what you need to keep on pushing through those boring walks at the gym.
#3. Use Your Pet’s Needs to Help You Get Fit
Any dog owner knows that they need a lot of attention, and larger breeds definitely need their walks. Sitting around cooped up inside all day isn’t good for them, but it isn’t good for you either.
If you sit around all day, you and your dog are going to get overweight and out of shape, so you need to go on some walks together in order to stay fit. Walking your dog is one of the best ways to bond with them.
They’ll get super excited at the mere mention of a “walk” and you’ll get some exercise in yourself. Take them around the park, up and down a residential street, whatever you prefer.
As long as you’re both getting cardio in, that’s great. Make sure whenever you go on walks to bring any necessary bags or other items for when your dog uses the restroom, though, so you don’t end up leaving waste behind in public spaces.
Even if you don’t have your own dog, you might be able to help one of your friends by walking theirs. If they work a lot or don’t like taking them, you can do so to help your friend, spend time with their dog, and get in shape.
For all parties, it’s a positive outcome. Something you also might consider is volunteering to help walk shelter dogs. They’re often cooped up in their cages day in and day out, and they don’t get all the attention they need due to the low staff numbers.
By volunteering, you could really be helping them out more than you know. You can walk a bunch of different dogs all in the same day, giving them exercise, socialization, and a chance to play around.
You’ll get a sense of satisfaction knowing you got to help and make a difference, but you’ll also get some much needed cardio from either running with them or holding them from going too fast and from walking long distances.
No matter what you choose to do, you’re guaranteed to lose some weight from doing dog walking. If you get really good at it, you could consider charging people to do it on the side to pull in some extra cash while you get fit.
Managing multiple dogs at the same time can be stressful, but all that pulling will certainly work out your arms and leave you feeling sore the next day.
#4. Find an Exercise Buddy to Partner Up with You
Going to the gym, especially as a beginner, can be stressful when you’re on your own. You walk in, you see people in better shape than you lifting heavy weights, and you don’t even know where to start.
You can feel lost. There are often cliques of people that know each other from going there for a long time, and you almost feel like you’re being watched as the new member. In order to make things much, much easier (and more fun), bring a friend to the gym to be your dedicated exercise partner.
Being the only new person walking in can make you feel like you stick out like a sore thumb, but with someone else by your side, especially someone that you’re friends with, all of that fear goes away and you feel much more comfortable.
One of the best things about having a gym partner is that you can hold each other accountable. When you don’t want to go to the gym, there’s no pressure not to if you’re the only one that goes at that time.
However, if you have a friend that can text you and call you who you know is going to be meeting you there, you have to pull it together and go to the gym anyway. Keeping on track is extremely important for fitness.
It helps a lot if your gym partner is experienced in working out. They can then act almost like your personal trainer, sharing their knowledge with you and helping you correct your form or certain workouts, helping you ensure that what you’re doing is going to see results.
Many beginners are too nervous to ask for help, and end up doing exercises wrong in such a way that they’re not really going to make progress with them. They can also supply you with good workout routines to follow if you don’t have one already.
Most of all, a gym partner can make the experience fun. Even in the bad times when you’re sore and uncomfortable and want to give up, you can crack a joke with them and at least put a smile on your face instead of just angrily packing up and leaving.
In the good times, you’re sharing new personal records with each other and lifting each other up to keep on improving. This will keep you motivated to keep working out and keep you coming back to the gym time after time.
#5. Make a Game Out of It
Fitness is often boring if you don’t find it inherently fun. Some people really like running or weightlifting on their own, and don’t mind just going with some music and working out.
Others need a bit more motivation than that, so to keep yourself interested in getting in shape, you should make a game out of it to make things more fun. There are lots of things that you can do, primarily from apps, to help get you in shape.
One of the most popular apps that got people walking around was Pokémon GO. It encouraged users to walk around in order to find and catch Pokémon, as well as come across various stops, usually points of interest in a city, in order to gain items.
You can also walk to hatch eggs that will hatch after either 2 km, 5 km, or 10 km. This game alone is a great way to get you walking. If you live in a city, you can find Facebook groups for the game in your specific city, who will post updates about Pokémon that are popping up in the area.
You can plan out a route that you can walk around the cities to hit up different stops and even battle at gyms along the way. There are other games that people love to play for fitness, as well.
For example, geocaching still has a rather large active community of players that are still hiding and finding caches to this day. If you’re not familiar with it, geocaching is a game people play in which you use GPS coordinates to find hidden caches, usually containing a logbook and some trinkets.
You can sign off your name in it can leave it there for the next lucky person to find. This is a great game for fitness because it involves a lot of hiking, which is great for cardio. It also allows you to get a sense of adventure, like you’re searching for treasure.
These caches are located all around the world, so you’re sure to have some in your area. You can sign up on their website and use apps to find the cache locations. Some people have found success in fitness based video games.
In these, they have you perform various cardio-intensive actions in order to complete objectives and advance through the story. This is a better option for those that prefer to stay inside, but still want to get a fun workout in.
Remember, getting fit doesn’t have to be boring. You can practice fitness routines while having a lot of fun and getting your body in shape. Think of it as a dual physical and emotional well-being process.
