Unless you are a fitness person at heart, I am sure you have a million reasons why you should not exercise. I call these exercise excuses and I have a ton of them.
My mind knows that I should exercise, but my motivation is not always present. On those days, I have a 101 reasons to stay in bed instead of moving my body.
Let’s explore these excuses in more detail.
Do you Use Exercise Excuses?
When it comes to avoiding exercise, I have become the master of excuses. I’ve use one or all of these at some point in time, followed by my responses to them now.
- I’m too tired – Exercise gives you energy.
- I ache and it will hurt to walk. Once you get going, the exercise actually helps the aches and pains, even if you suffer from arthritis like I do.
- I need to spend time on my blog today. I’ll walk later (later never comes) Is 20 or 30 minutes the be all and end all of your blog, Carol?
- Exercise is boring. Vary your routine. Walk a different route. Try a different form of exercise.
- I don’t enjoy it. How do you know if you avoid it? Give it some time. You may find that it will become the highlight of your day.
- What is the point? I won’t lose weight anyway. Don’t think of exercise as something to make you lose weight. Think of it as something to make you feel better.
- I want a bit more sleep. Once you start walking, you will actually find that you need less sleep, not more.
- I get plenty of exercise in my garden. Sure you do, but it is not cardio exercise, unless you are digging holes. Pulling a weed or two doesn’t get your heart rate going.
- I’m too old. Sure. You are. No doubt about it. But do you want to feel old? Age does not have to keep you from exercising. Just start easy and build it up. Soon you will find a spring in your step that hasn’t been there for 10 years.
- I’m too fat. Just like being older, being overweight is not an excuse. Get moving, the weight will start coming off slowly but surely. Oh…and try to remember, getting extra exercise does not give you a free pass to eat more. That is self defeating.
And on and on. There could be another dozen reasons why not to exercise. But if you can just shift your thinking a little, you will start coming up with reasons why you should get moving instead.
Today was one of those days when the excuses seemed to be out in full force. But my day didn’t start out that way.
I woke up at 6:45 am (For those that know me well, this is an amazing feat. I am the proverbial night owl, or at least I was until I started walking again.) I was excited to get out and start walking with my dog.
I planned to drive to the nearby softball complex and have a long walk before I got my day going.
Exercise excuse #1.
I had a flat tire. Now that is a real excuse. I can’t drive to the softball field with a flat tire can I? Maybe I should just wait till tomorrow when my husband fixes the tire.
(Don’t laugh. I am a girly girl.) But, wait a minute. We have other cars. I’ll take the Miata.
Exercise excuse #2.
My dog won’t fit into the car along with me. Oh heck, I’ll try anyway. Got the dog in. Pushed her over.
Car is running as rough as guts, and no way will it make it to the soft ball field. Do I give up?
Nope. I’ll take the truck, even though I have never driven it.
Excuse #3.
The truck is a mess. Well, lookie lookie… I asked my husband to clean out the trunk of the car last week and this is where he decided to put the stuff.
Lord love him….but he is an English hoarder from way back. There is no way Ashleigh and I can fit in there, even if I can figure out how to get an 11 year old dog UP into a big truck and on top of that junk.
By now I have lost at least a half hour and it’s getting later in the day. Oh heck. I’ll just walk around the block instead.
Exercise excuse #4.
My dog is a pain in the neck on a lead. I am lucky to be able to walk in several places where Ashleigh can walk freely off lead.
Around the block, isn’t one of them. Now bear in mind that this dog is 11 and thinks she is the alpha.
She walks for a while right by my side then decides that right in front of me, just a little more slowly than my gait, is the perfect place to walk. Gives new meaning to the phrase “can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”
Excuses#5, 6, 7.
It’s hot. I ache. I don’t have time now. But guess what? I walked.
It was hot, and I was sore and I knew I had wasted a good half hour on the car stuff. But I walked. 35 minutes.
Am I still a bit peeved at my husband for the state of that truck? Sure. Will I jump on him the minute he walks in the house about it? Nope.
All that anger is gone. I walked it off. LOL. I didn’t have quite the walk I had intended to have but that will come tomorrow when my flat tire is fixed. And hopefully, there will be NO excuses.
If I can have a start to my morning like this, and still walk, I guess it is safe to say “I need a bit more sleep” won’t wash as an excuse with me.
Ditch those excuses. Get moving. You’ll be glad you did.