Tried than answer but it just leads to more questions around why you would do something if you don’t like it ? Not everyone is able to understand getting satisfaction from the results you get from doing something rather than the thing itself.
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I’m willing to bet that like it or dislike it there’s still an endorphine release and that’s just unquestionably something the human body likes.
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This is true and can be very addictive for some gym goers. Not sure I could convince a 70 year old man who hasn’t really exercised since school that lifting weights will give him a free buzz though 
Indeed. I don’t try and sell people on my habits, but if I were to attempt it the argument I’d put forth would be:
Imagine going in for a workout this week, and the next week you repeat that workout but you either lift heavier or the same weight but more times. And you see that you have improved. You have then, in a world that’s perpetually decaying, improved not only something but yourself. And having that power, to become better than you were, and seeing that as an objective irrefutable fact; that’s why I do it.
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That was very eloquently put my friend. I would probably go with, ‘Look at you, then look at me. Now you know why your wife smiles at me’
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Are we still talking about your father-in-law here? Because awkward.
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Hasn’t the UK government been running a big campaign to get people to get moving to beat Covid? I pass at least 3 billboards on my way to work and my better half is always moaning about the adverts during her programs.
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This.
People who can’t figure out why you “want to get bigger” when they outweigh you by 50lbs. I know meatheads are often guilty of the “If something is good, more must be better” mentality, but at least we generally understand the concept of “quality beats quantity” when it comes to body composition… or do we??
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“Do you enjoy going to work?”
“Nah.”
“Do you enjoy getting a paycheck?”
Of course, this only applies to people who don’t like their jobs.
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He is 70 but has a wife who is younger than me, so maybe I am!!! Weird
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I see PSA’s all the time around getting moving during covid. My Facebook page is full of stuff from the health dept and local hospital urging people to participate individually in 5K’s and such, and I’ve seen offer after offer to stream free workout content. Now, maybe that’s geared more toward keeping gym goers settled down, like recess for little boys with too much energy. I don’t know. But I have seen a lot of “move at home!” stuff.
I talk about fitness all the time at work. One of my clients told me two sessions ago that she’s pre-diabetic and is now, a month later, eating eating a dramatically different diet (she honestly didn’t know how carb-heavy her habits were, and seemed to think 3 tsps of sugar in her coffee was normal) and has increased her exercise and begun incorporating little baby intensity intervals.
It’s very easy to talk about it to people who are curious if you approach it as an interesting thing rather than a moral superiority or something to be defended. I also let myself light up about it, so they see joy (if it’s present), which is contagious. In a different mood, I acknowledge that it’s a giant pain in the ass, but I’m wedded to the benefits, which are the way it makes me feel. And then I talk about that in a way that I know is compelling. What finishing a workout feels like, the difference in my posture when I’m in a good place with it, the antidote it provides to being hunched over devices all day.
In my experience, everyone wants to feel good and look good, but not all of us know how it works. Working at the weight loss center years ago I was STUNNED at the poverty of information affluent, intelligent people had about basic nutrition. I thought everyone knew! Because my mother did, and I was raised eating well. That my pre-diabetic client really thought she was doing well to eat just a bagel and cream cheese in the morning, which felt like diet food because it didn’t stick with her, but was probably 450-500 calories worth of nothing, is just how she was raised. The pretzels she snacked on (because not fried, like chips), the “good bread” sandwiches she had for lunch…it all left her hungry. So now she’s on this delighted journey, where yesterday I suggested a THIRD egg for breakfast and laid out the caloric content. “Still nowhere near the caloric cost of the bagel!”
It’s actually probably one of my niches as a therapist, and something I particularly enjoy. I would say I talk about it to people at various fitness levels at least once a day.
If I sense that I’m inspiring guilt/bad feeling in people who feel like they should be better, but aren’t, I note that my mother dropped dead when I was 21, so that motivates me. Which is maybe partly true, but certainly not the whole story by any means. But it settles that bad feeling out-of-shape people can get when they make comparisons.
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I love being asked this - especially by my family. They say I’m destroying my body with it. I usually reference the fact that they were all beaten up and broken before 45, so I might as well enjoy my body while it works. Maybe it’ll work longer.
Strangers or others that give me shit for it usually get a response centered around anxiety/depression/worse prevention. Not so willing to be harsh with my family because I know they care. But I’ll give others the straight answer that’s not always pretty. Soreness and occasional injury beat the hell out of the side effects of SSRI’s and stuff.
I get asked about my knees (runner) occasionally, and I have to laugh to myself because all of the people I’ve known with truly bad knees in their late 30’s or 40’s have been obese and sedentary. I’m in my 50’s.
Aloud, however, I acknowledge that occasionally I’ll notice an issue and have to either stop or pull back what I’m doing. I tend to liken my treadmill to a bad boyfriend - I just keep going back, even though I know he’s going to hurt me. In truth workouts DO injure me. So I acknowledge it easily while offering that the benefits (physical, mental) are worth it to me. If someone wants to have a real conversation about it rather than just make a comment or observation (“that has to be hell on your knees!”) I’ll engage in that real conversation. Otherwise I simply respond in such a way as to leave neither of us feeling badly.
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I’ll add to this and say the payoff from training is exponential.
As I get older I appreciate the benefits more and more. The difference when you’re younger isn’t always as obvious. 10 years of training vs 10 years of indolence is one thing, but 30 years of training vs 30 years of indolence is something else entirely
Another aspect of it is hard training acts as something of a free pass, especially as you get older. I train hard, but I am very relaxed about indulging in booze and, especially, food. I make sure I eat all the right things, but I prioritise enjoying my life so I’m a whole lot less worried about avoiding the bad stuff.
But when you put in a shift in the gym, you can afford those treats and still maintain decent health & physique, whereas if you’re sedentary you pay full price for every sliver of junk you put into your body.
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This very much sums up most of why I train.
Haha yea I long ago gave up talking to people about the gym or trying to get other people interested. A younger version of myself was just very excited about the gym and exercise in general and liked talking about it. I found out the hard way that people who don’t want to exercise really don’t like people telling them how great it is. I enjoy it on a net basis all things considered and that’s good enough for me.
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Yes! It truly is the fountain of youth.
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Confession:
I don’t know why I train. But I cant stop. I’m like a salmon swimming up stream. I have no idea why I’m doing it or where I’m going. But I’m going as fast as I can.
And that’s odd. I’m normally very in tune with myself. But my motivations for training are like a blind spot. I have theories but each has flaws.
And that’s scary. Especially as in the past year my strive for strength has gotten worse. Its encompassed everything at points. Driven me mad. I’ve risked injury over and over again trying to do shit I’m just not strong enough for.
The up side is - for now it seems to work. I’m not doing permanent damage and I’m happy. And one day it will all make sence im sure. And I’ll understand why 20 reps squats make me happier than beer. Or a yoke walk makes me happier than having friends over. Or why I’d rather do a front loaded carry than go for a nice meal out. Until then I guess it’s just more of the same.
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My last check up put a decisive end to any questions or disagreement about working out.
I was doing extra stuff at home along with my cardiac therapy, then once on my own started weights, calisthenics and hiit on airdyne. My wife expressed some serious and somewhat legitimate concern, because I was pushing it as far and hard as I possibly could.
Come check up time though, the doc was elated and had some real and sincere questions about how I got into my current condition.
Not many other people have much to say though about my working out. I’m just not in any kind of condition that draws much attention in either direction.
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Endorphins?