As a comment on exercise: I also see exercise as torture when I'm doing it wrong.

For me, I needed(/need - this is not a solved problem) to find a way that works for me, and also take it in the tiniest of little bites.

I tried for years to get into running. Never worked. I hate running. I tried to go to the gym, but all the classes went way too hard for me and my local didn't do "just show up and lift", only classes. I tried riding a bike, but I could never find a way to do that where I wasn't dodging cars, rain, hills and heat.

Finally last year I bought a rowing machine and a heart rate monitor. I put my headphones on, listen to a podcast, and focus on keeping my heart rate in a specific zone for a certain amount of time. If it's hot, I turn on the AC. If I get sick of it, I stop. I dont have to dodge cars, so I can completely dissociate and listen to the podcast so long as the number is where I want it to be.

It's great and generally not torture, which is nice because apart from team sport it's literally the only way I've found that isn't.

Thank you. I'll consider getting a machine then. It seems like might just work. I did some serious amount of exercising in the past with VR glasses, but that was inconsistent because of space constraints, and became nearly impossible after our first kid became self-propelled.

For me, all common forms of exercise feel like torture when doing them, or when thinking about doing them, or both. Most of it isn't even for physical reasons, just a combination of anxiety, procrastination, and the kind of general sports aversion you develop when you get prescribed glasses when you're 7 y.o. and thus go through 10+ years of schools not being able to effectively participate in team sports during PE classes...

100% with you on the anxiety and procrastination. The anxiety for me was driven in part by "people can see me suck at this", so I put the machine in my home office - with a door.

As for buying a machine, I highly recommend going to a gym during a quiet period if you can find one that will let you do a trial or a day pass. Then you can try all the machines and find the one that you think sucks the least. Rowing is good because it does loads of muscle groups, but ultimately that doesn't mean anything if you hate it.

E: the thing that changed the game for me was a good hr monitor. Smart watch was full of crap, and just listening to my body made me go way too hard too fast.

I hate using exercise machines. Everything about them. Running outside I see the sun, feel the wind, splash through the puddles, say hello to others, check the Little Free Library, tell the ditch diggers that they're digging in the wrong spot as legend has it the gold is buried the next street over, it's all good.

To add detail onto my reply to your other comment then: these things are the things I hate about exercising outside!

The sun is too hot, the wind is too cold. The puddles are a twisted ankle just waiting to happen. I don't want people to see me running - it makes me self conscious of every part of my body and my running form. I don't want to check the little free library during my exercise - that's a break in my flow.

On a machine, I don't have to worry about any of that. I just go, and when I reach my time goal, or I don't feel like it anymore, I stop. I can close my eyes if I want to without worrying about falling over. I can make all the exertion noises I want to if it's hard. I don't have to walk all the way home if I go too hard too early by mistake and get a stitch.

And the best bit is that your way and my way are both totally valid ways of exercising. The important bit is not how we exercise, the important bit is that we exercise.

You're right, the point is doing the exercise in a way that works for you.

An exercise machine? jeez, I hate that stuff

Meanwhile, I go to kung-fu training and get pretty annoyed when I have to skip a class once. Sports can be wayy more fun and I wouldn't worry about the social aspect so much - adults can behave better than teenagers.

Running was torture for me and I hated it. But after a year of running 3 days a week, suddenly I noticed I was enjoying it and looking forward to it. Been running for nearly 40 years now. It's one of the best parts of my day.

Of course, I run in quiet areas where my mind can drone off and think about interesting things.

I've tried running around the park, I've tried running around the track, I've tried road running, I've tried cross country running, I've tried treadmills. Every time, I keep it up for a couple of weeks and then I get horrible shin splints. Or I bust my ankle, or I can't commit the time to do a good loop because it's winter and dark all the time. One way or another, I stop, and I don't go back to it for another year. I've learned to stop fighting it. I just don't like running that much, and I'm ok with it.

The point is, I mistook my dislike of running, cycling and HIIT for a dislike of exercise for basically my whole 20s, and it turns out that's not true at all. I just had to figure out the version that worked for me.

>I get horrible shin splints

One should avoid running on concrete pavements. Consider alternatives such as grass or tarmac.

I get shin splits on grass, artificial turf, unpaved tracks and treadmills. I've had it looked at by a podiatrist, and he recommended stretches for my tibialis anterior. I do them before I play sport and they generally work if I'm only playing once a week, but much past that and I'm in pain again.

Shin splints are horrid but can be avoided.

Increase your cadence to at least 170 strides per minute. More if you can. This forces you to lower stride length. Overstriding is a main cause for shin splints.

Also try to think about your hips when you run. An anterior hip tilt will put excess stress on shins and quads. Tense your glutes when running to keep hips level. Imagine you are carrying a bowl of water in your hips and try not to spill!

Also weak glute medius will cause knee pain and potentially shin splints. Try strengthening up the glutes and shortening stride length.

Good luck!

This. Use a metronome on your phone. And do high rep weight training (leg machines) and crosstrain on a bike.

(Late response, sorry)

These are great tips! I've had issues with weak / under-activated glute medius for years, but I didn't think about that causing the shin splints. I'll give the 170 stride a minute tip a try.

Thanks!