I have activities I enjoy that are themselves exercise to one degree or another, but they’re more enjoyable if I also exercise.

sorry to be an evangelist, but coming out of lurking to say that cycling is no longer seasonal, thanks to indoor/online platforms such as Zwift.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMGbZFEZOM8

you can ride with a club/friends at any time of day, any season of the year, anywhere in the world.

still not a perfect solution, since startup costs are required, but if you've got a bike and can swing a smart trainer, it's pretty awesome.

I guess. Pedaling is my least favorite part of cycling but maybe I'm an outlier.

I enjoy running, even when I do it alone. I run at a moderate pace, and it's more like a meditation and a timeout than anything else. I've heard a lot of runners saying the same. I don't think solitary exercise needs to be a chore.

> I think really very few people truly enjoy exercise for its own sake

This is objectively not true for me and nearly all of my friends who lift/run/swim/bike/etc.

Physical activity feels good [see OP].

Same, but we are likely in bubbles. I love exercise, and many people I know are the same. But, I know a large number of people from the gym and things like BJJ.

Some of exercise is type 2 fun - https://sketchplanations.com/the-fun-scale

And/or you feel better having done it.

Yeah I think that is a self-selecting group a little bit.

My cyclist friends love exercise for its own sake. My judo friends mostly accept it for what it enables them to do. My board game friends tolerate it, at most.

I think the things that people self describe as "exercise" are rarely joyful. The name itself implies that the intent is the result and not the act itself.

But if you ask people if they like walking around a cute downtown full of little shops, or surfing, or exploring a valley looking for wildflowers, or going to a nightclub and dancing, gardening, etc., then you'll discover a world of activities that are physical and also enjoyable.

> "I think really very few people truly enjoy exercise for its own sake"

I don't know how true this is. When folks talk about things like a "runners high", an activity that even at my most fit was abject misery, I have to wonder just how differently we're experiencing these things. When I was lifting heavy, I also suffered from some pretty serious delayed onset muscle soreness. I know for a fact folks have varied experiences and tolerances for that. Some people's muscles recover much more quickly from heavy exercise, reducing the overall unpleasantness associated with exercise. With all of the variables and testimony from folks I've worked out with, I have to assume a decent amount of people who exercise regularly actually enjoy the exercise itself. For me it never became more than a means to an end. It's something I know is good for mind and body, but my mind and body consistently rebel against it.

Thank you for this. It helped bring something into focus in my mind that I'd been struggling with.

I keep kicking myself for not being more willing to exercise, but I've also recently discovered that my body severely overreacts to stress, even what should be eu-stress, not dis-stress. For example, massage therapy aggravates my muscles and leaves my body more tense and less resilient. I finally started making progress on healing some physical anomalies only after I stopped the recommended massage therapy.

It's made me realize maybe I'll have better luck with "strolling" than "going for a walk," or making up interpretive dances to smooth music than "dancing" to up-tempo beats. Perhaps I just need much more movement, but a lot less intensity than most people.

I love going to the gym and lifting. What I do though is work towards a goal. For example I got back in the gym about a year and a half ago after being sedentary for a decade plus. When I was younger I got to the point I could bench 315 for 3 on my last set. I stated my first goal was to get there again. When I started up, I could do 225 for 8. Muscle memory and TRT kicked in though and I blasted past that in a few months. I can bench 315 for 10 now on my last set and I have a new goal of 365 for 5. I just keep creating new goals and its awesome to be able to hit them. Very motivating

I didn't at the start.

After 9 months of sticking to it, I found myself enjoying it while doing it.

I had to use a personal trainer to get to that point though, due to how much I hated it initially.

This was the big turning point for me, and I'm in my forties. Thinking that I couldn't enjoy exercise was mainly because my 'form' was so bad it literally hurt. Luckily you can get better at things, and once you do, or you reach that point where it feels good, then the discipline isn't really needed any more than folks need discipline to play their grueling video games.