Re:Thoughts On a Year of Exercise
by dragonwriter on Friday December 27, 2019 @12:44AM
(#21889491)
> Has anyone had success with particular workouts or strategies to keep motivated?
What worked for me was ballroom dance (social, then social + performance, then that + competitive formation team, then all that plus teacher training)—well, until I had kids, still trying to work back into something that works with that but frankly I don't see anything stabilizing in that area for me until they’re a little older.
Much of what a sibling comment says about team sports applies here (and competition is a team, or pair in the case of the more common couples rather than formation team format, sport.)
Essentially, if getting into shape isn't enough to motivate you to stay with exercise (and for lots of people, it's not), you need to find something that also serves other needs. Providing a social third place, competitive outlet, and some kind of feeling of achievement besides what you get from raw fitness measures (the scale, tape, etc.) all can help this.
But while I think those general concerns are broadly applicable, the specific activity that works for any given person is going to vary a lot, because everyone's reward function works a bit differently.
What worked for me was ballroom dance (social, then social + performance, then that + competitive formation team, then all that plus teacher training)—well, until I had kids, still trying to work back into something that works with that but frankly I don't see anything stabilizing in that area for me until they’re a little older.
Much of what a sibling comment says about team sports applies here (and competition is a team, or pair in the case of the more common couples rather than formation team format, sport.)
Essentially, if getting into shape isn't enough to motivate you to stay with exercise (and for lots of people, it's not), you need to find something that also serves other needs. Providing a social third place, competitive outlet, and some kind of feeling of achievement besides what you get from raw fitness measures (the scale, tape, etc.) all can help this.
But while I think those general concerns are broadly applicable, the specific activity that works for any given person is going to vary a lot, because everyone's reward function works a bit differently.