To elaborate; I literally cannot focus on a workout, particularly a cardio routine, for longer than 5 minutes or so. If the best possible wourkout for me were to do 20 minutes of rowing, running, or cycling, I will literally want to kill myself after five minutes. Typically it won't come to that, so I'll just half ass it, call it quits and take the walk of shame home, bothered, unmoisturized, unhappy, out of my lane, unfocused, languishing. This is not due to over-exertion or the overall difficulty of the exercise but I guess some kind of latent inability to focus on any task for longer than the bare minimum.
I guess the simple answer is "Just mix it up, doofus", but when I do that I end up just half-assing even more. What is to be done?
if it's safe to bike to something so that the purpose is going to the library or sit in a park or whatever then the exercise becomes incidental and you're not focusing on cardio you're just going somewhere and maybe it'll trick your brain
This is my trick. I don't necessarily hike/bike because I love to do it - it's because I have to fool my stupid attention deficit brain into going with the program for a sustained period of time.
Climb rocks.
(But seriously, bouldering is the most intellectually stimulating form of exercise I've found.)
I wish there was a style of climbing gym that was just traverses.
Like, bouldering already gets to be weirder and more interesting than lead climbing. Why not take it all the way and do everything no higher than one meter of the ground?
Yes, but those are also my favorite problems, thus wanting a gym that is focused on only those.
Yeah, I imagine you'd have to build something like that on the edge of town, not one of those down town climbing gyms.
Though since everything is short, you could maybe pick a building without the tall ceilings typically required by a gym, and have more floors.
I don't want to get rid of my fear of heights it helps keep me from falling from heights
Bouldering is usually done very close to the ground. You don't have to go up more than ten feet if you don't want to. Bouldering takes it's name from climbing around on boulders, with the emphasis being more on lateral movement than vertical movement.
Rock climbing is absolutely my favorite physical activity and I will recommend it to everyone here
It kind of sounds like your workout is boring. Do something you think is fun.
It doesn't matter what it is, but it should be fun and motivating to you. Maybe it's water polo, soccer, jai alai, rock climbing, skateboarding, whatever.
Gyms are lame and boring and great ways to catch covid. Go do something fun outside.
Pretty much this, just walk around to various destinations, grow food, de-weed, forage for edible plants, etc. It won't feel like you're exercising but you will be
If you're not weak to COVID, maybe learn how to fight with a sparring partner. Anything that isn't (do x reps for y seconds) is better
Do something you think is fun
That's the neat part, exercise isn't fun. At all. I have to do it though.
There's like 1000 different physical activities from cultures all around the world, most of them literally built around the idea of being fun for people. You can't seriously be saying none of them are fun, like surfing, basketball, scuba diving, disc golf, snowboarding, you literally think none of them are fun?
IDK if you really think that I don't think I understand.
Some people literally do not enjoy exertion in any variety, or their baseline physical condition or mental health actively causes friction when trying to exercise
On god, I could literally look you dead in the eye and tell you I do not find a single form of physical activity to be fun. What I like doing is binge eating donuts. The closest thing to a physical activity I enjoyed was airsoft, and even then, it's more of a test of your fitness rather than something to do to get fit, and since right now I can't even climb a flight of stairs without running short of breath, I can't even find airsoft fun anymore, plus none of the gear fits.
Gyms are indeed lame and boring. I tried to go to a gym once and I got yelled at because I "didn't have the right athletic wear". What happened to exercise being part of what we do every day?
Lol that does sound like a lame gym, but I've been going to a gym in a big t shirt, shorts, and water shoes and have 0 problems
Unfortunately part of exercise is being able to tolerate monotony and repeat the basics day after day.
Cycling or running to places around the area I live in that I haven't been to often/at all, and exploring them, is probably the most fun cardio exercise. When you run out of places to explore, you cycle or run further out. Unfortunately this can get unsafe sometimes, so don't do it if you feel unsafe
I play video games on an exercise bike. It's when I play video games, for the most part.
Open world map icon goblin games are good. I used to play an MMO which was great. Pick something with a lot of plot and dialogue or something with almost none and use podcasts.
I got Ring Fit, it's pretty good at putting that "haha number go up" RPG dopamine bullshit put to good use.
There's also stuff like target shooting during the cardio running bits, and matching an exercise's color to do more damage to enemies. Just enough gamey stuff to be engaging.
Listen to podcasts while exercising, it should keep your mind from boredom, it worked for me
The best cardio is doing it to go places. When you need to run or bike somewhere, there's really no way around it, and it just fits into your day. It's no longer a chore that you have to do, but an integral part of existing in a broader area than one single address.
"Cardio machines" (excepting ellipticals and stationary bikes for people with bad joints) are the absolute worst, they take away the majority of the experience. They are the refined white flour of exercise.
Have you tried a structured workout program like beachbody stuff? I found working along with people tends to help.
But really just about everyone that does some sort of cardio or whatever is doing a countdown in their head to completion... "1 minute passed, just gotta do that 20 more times, 2 minutes passed, do that 10 more times, etc.
do you have ADHD? literally same, i don't get enough stimulation during most gym-workouts even if I listen to music or something. I'm still trying to figure out how to manage a routine that I don't wander away from in between sets.
Sports have worked best for me historically, but finding one that can be done alone is hard
Possibly, undiagnosed beyond those quizzes that 9/10 times say you've got it. Can't afford to see a professional, so it's not happening anytime soon. Closest thing to an effective routine I've had in the past was having someone coach me directly with classes or bootcamp style sessions. I think I respond better to instructions than being left to my own devices, and the former usually expects high performance. It may be the sole way out I have.
I used to feel the same way until I took up a concentration/meditation practice to take control of my inability to not be bored and suffering 24/7. The real exercise is dealing with the understimulation, and I still have problems with that quite a lot. There was a point in my life where the mere thought of having to DO something that was not at all a fun activity was excruciating. Once you can train your mind to come under control a bit, it is much easier to exercise, which makes it easier to control your mind, and on and on. On the other end, the longer I go without doing it, the harder it is to get back into it.
Sounds like you might have more of a general attention issue than anything specifically related to exercise. Are you spending a lot of time online? Are you able to sit and read a book without getting distracted?
If I have latent/undiagnosed ADHD it'd be at least an explanation, but I can't afford that diagnosis shit, so it's not happening.
I'm not talking about that. Just generally if you spend a lot of time online it absolutely decimates your attention span with or without ADHD.
I get really bored while exercising but I could happily sit and read even a really dull book for hours.
excercise and driving are the two things I find make me really bored really quickly
i like to read a book. if the books boring me the amount of time it takes me to get to a certain point (chapter or whatever) is how long im working out, if the book is good im working until my body complains because i want to keep reading
either way im forcing myself to do something id not have the motivation for otherwise
