10 Ways to Make Exercise Fun

“Exercise” and “fun” are two words that are not usually paired together. For most people, “exercise” is almost always combined with “boring,” “tedious,” or “a necessary evil.” Well, I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be that way. I’m not going to lie; exercise will never be the most fun activity you do on a regular basis. It’ll never be like binge watching Breaking Bad, attending your son’s baseball game on a perfect, sunny, 72-degree day, or going to dinner with friends. However, with a bit of planning, it can approach what some call “fun,” and here’s how…

1. Phone a friend, not for an answer, but to join you for a walk, spin class, or gym session. Friends serve a valuable purpose. They share in our celebrations and support you as needed. They can also make exercise enjoyable. You’ll be amazed how a great conversation takes your mind off the tedium of exercise.
2. Exercise in a class and make some new friends. And to make it even more interesting, join an exercise class with an activity you’ve never tried before. Get out of your comfort zone and try yoga, Pilates, spinning, Zumba, jazzercise or aqua aerobics.
3. Participate in exercises that don’t feel like exercise- like gardening, a trip to the water park, house cleaning…scratch that, house cleaning sucks more than exercise, an extended shopping session, or the wild thing (as described by rapper Tone Loc). There are plenty of things we do on a regular basis that qualifies as exercise but doesn’t seem like exercise.
4. There’s an app for that; specifically, an app that can make exercise fun. Check out myfitnesspal, sworkit, zombies run, asana rebel, or the walk gamefor apps that get you motivated to exercise.
5. Combine exercise and binge watching by adding a screen to your stationary bike or treadmill. The minutes and miles fly by while watching your favorite, bingeworthy show. It can also help by adding a binging goal, like watching all 657 hours of those Marvel superhero movies.
6. “Play” something, anything rather than forcing yourself to trudge three miles around a track. Play some golf and leave the cart in the garage or kick your friend’s a$$ in a friendly game of tennis or join a local softball league. Play a sport your younger self played and the calories will fall off without you ever realizing they’re leaving.
7. Change it up and don’t do the same activities over and over again, day after day. Some refer to this as cross-training and it’s an important concept as different activities work different muscle groups. If it helps, make up a schedule in advance, but it can be more enjoyable to do what you feel on that particular day,
8. Geocache your way to fitness and find buried treasures on the way…sort of. I know I’ve written about geocaching in previous blogs, but there’s a reason for that, it’s exercise disguised as fun. You also learn map reading skills while wandering around new locations. Curious? Learn everything about geocaching here.

9. Crank the tunes or learn while you work out with podcasts or books on tape.

10. Play video games that involve movement such as Wii Sports, Dance Dance Revolution, Super Mario Party or Punch out, which also helps you take out your frustrations by beating the crap out of a cartoon character.

“Fun” and “exercise” can be used in the same sentence as evidenced by the ten suggestions listed above. They may not all be your cup of tea, but I’m sure a few appeal to your adventurous side. Now, get out there and have some fun while exercising!