How to Make Peace with Exercise

So there are usually two camps people are in when it comes to exercise. 1) They are really good at consistency with exercise but to a fault, exercise has become something that consumes their life and thoughts and social life. They’re afraid of losing that consistency so they don’t let anything come in their way with working out. And 2) they find themselves only exercising when they are on a diet. But the second they’re off the diet they, like with food, go the other extreme and don’t exercise at all.

So for me, I fell into the first camp as someone who was terrified to go a day without exercising because I was afraid of not being consistent and “falling off the bandwagon”. I was afraid that if I missed one workout that I’d planned on that I’d never want to exercise again. Kind of an irrational fear, I know. But that’s where I was.

But I have clients who fall in the other camp, too, and only exercise when they’re on a diet. When they’re dieting the exercise goes with it. But because the motivation is to change their body and even, on a deeper level, to punish their body, there’s obviously no joy with exercise. Exercise is done as a form of punishment.

So the two main reasons people often find themselves exercising is out of fear or as punishment.

Take a second and ask yourself… where do I find myself? What is my current motivation to exercise? What do I most resonate with?

And then ask yourself, why is this not working for me? Maybe you are tired of the expectation you have for yourself to exercise and the fear that drives your exercise. Maybe you are tired of it consuming all of your thoughts and mental space, you’re tired of it taking up so much of your life and keeping you from doing the things you want to do. You just want to feel more flexible with your relationship with exercise.

Maybe you want to exercise consistently and actually enjoy exercise instead of it being just something you do because you feel like you have to...you go to the gym because you have to but you don’t enjoy it...you run because you read somewhere that running burns a lot of calories but you don’t actually enjoy running.

Imagine what it would feel like to actually enjoy exercising. To enjoy it, to do it regularly. For exercise to energize you instead of depleting you. For you to wake up and want to move your body instead of hitting snooze a dozen times before dragging yourself out the door to your workout. 

What you want is to make peace with exercise. Here’s how to do just that.

1. Make peace with your body.

Making peace with exercise starts with making peace with your body. No matter where you are currently with exercise, whether you’re in that first camp we talked about where you exercise out of fear or you exercise as punishment, to make peace with exercise you have to first make peace with your body. What this could look like additionally is deciding to no longer diet. Decide to no longer weigh yourself. Practice positive body image promoting actions such as not body checking, wearing clothes that fit your body, speaking kindly to yourself.

This goes back to what we talked about in Episode 83: Body Image and How We Eat...that we take care of the things we care about. So, a reason why you have a relationship based on fear or based on punishment starts with the relationship you have with yourself and your body.

Exercise is a way that you can take care of your body. Exercise is a way for you to enjoy more of life. It’s a way to strengthen the connection you have with your body and to grow in confidence in yourself. And none of these have to do with the number of calories you burn in a workout.

2. Enjoy the benefits of exercise

So with that, the second thing to do to make peace with exercise is to see exercise for more than just burning calories or changing your weight. To feel more peace with exercise and really have more enjoyment from exercise (which when we enjoy exercise we’re going to want to do it, right?) you want to see it for more than just burning calories and changing your weight… this mindset comes from your relationship with exercise being built on fear or punishment. So, as you explore movement that you enjoy, start to notice the non-weight, non-calorie benefits that it gives you. 

3. Find exercise that you enjoy… and do that!

The third thing to do to make peace with exercise is to start to explore exercises that you may enjoy especially if what you are doing right now isn’t really something you enjoy. Try some new exercise classes like barre or cycle or yoga, try walking and listening to a podcast or music, try hiking or biking. Maybe you try some form of dance or aerobics. Explore what you may enjoy and approach this time with curiosity like you’re getting to know yourself. Know that there is no right or wrong way to move your body… it’s just moving your body that matters. Running is not better exercise than walking. Cycling isn’t better than yoga. It’s just different. 

4. Practice a mindset of structure with flexibility with exercise

The last thing I want to share with you and encourage you to practice is having structure and flexibility with exercise… this is something I teach inside The Nourish Lab. By having some structure around exercise you’re able to plan for it and prioritize it because it’s something you know you want to do and you know will help you feel good in your body. But then also being flexible so that it’s not something that is so rigid in your life that it takes away from other ways of being healthy like your social life and your mental health.

What this element of flexibility does is it allows for you to use your intuition and how you feel to help you decide what type of movement feels good and do that. So by asking yourself each day, “Does moving my body sound good today?” and then backing that question up with “what type of movement sounds good, sounds like it would energize me?”, you’re able to work with your body with your relationshiop with exercise instead of fighting against it.

Another thing to consider with this, though, is the time you have so when deciding on the days you want to exercise and the type of exercise you want to do, you may want to consider what days you have time and how much time, and how you typically feel at these times. Maybe you want to take some time on Sunday night as you are going through and planning your days for the week to ask what days are best for planning some movement. Again, coming from a structure with flexibility mindset.

So, practice making peace with exercise this week! Spend a few minutes penciling in times where you anticipate wanting to exercise and times where it works with your schedule. If you are someone who has only done one type of exercise, for example running, I want you to branch out and try something new for one of those days like go for a walk or an exercise class with a friend that you’ve been wanting to try. And then each day, ask yourself what type of movement sounds good today? Tap into your body and how you feel to answer that question. Remember, you and your body are on the same team. How can you use exercise and movement to take care of her?

Listen to the podcast, “How to Make Peace with Exercise” on Apple, Spotify, or Google.

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Do you want better body image? A better relationship with food? One that frees up space in your mind so you can do the things you really want to do in life? Come join us in The Nourish Lab where you’ll get courses, monthly trainings, a supportive community, and coaching directly from me! This is what you’ve been waiting for. But don’t wait anymore…COME JOIN US!