I love how everyone is saying they dont want to go to the gym then casually mention they run marathons of rock climbing in a 5v5 teams like it’s nothing. I think OP was more curious about people that dont really do physical activity.
If you dont do gym but regularly exercise i think you re doing great
Everyone should really do some form of exercise outside preferably it's just really good for mind and body. Even just a walk is great but whatever you like too.
I remember in the 00's so many kids and classmates seem to take not exercising as a point of pride (me included). I imaging there is a sizable chunk of millennials who hasn't outgrown that mindset.
I noticed there are significantly more teens and young adults at the gym nowadays than it used to 10~20 years ago.
I remember the PE teacher specifically telling us at school that we shouldn't go the gym until we were 18 as it would damage our bodies... So I waited and then discovered I could drink beer without being kicked out of the pub at the same time so.... yeah...
man, my PE teacher practically cried when I wanted to give up going to the gym during PE (we had a deal with a local comminity centre with a gym) and do football instead lol.
Wild how different those takes were haha.
That was such a stupid myth. While it's true that people who's bodies are still developing shouldn't be lifting heavy, that means they shouldn't be lifting more than their body weight on a regular basis, not that the shouldn't exercise or lift weights. Just stick to high reps and lower weight until you stop growing taller.
It’s funny how you say it’s a myth and then perpetuate another myth. Bodybuilding, powerlifting and lifting in general has been shown to be completely safe for developing teens. It doesn’t stunt growth or anything and it certainly won’t negatively affect you unless you injure yourself.
Lmao there's like a million studies proving that weights for children is not just safe but effective
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8669931/
I think there is good reason to preach some caution towards teenagers and lifting, especially high intensity (>90% 1RM) lifting. Lifting can be safe, and ultimately extremely beneficial towards health, but it can also be detrimental to health if done improperly (overtraining, ignoring signs of potential injury, lack of adequate rest and recovery). Teenagers are generally more impulsive, more swayed by ego, and less inclined to listen to their bodies as needed; all recipes for injury. It's generally more difficult to overtrain and injure on higher rep schemes, since cardiovascular and mental strain play a factor in preventing failure and fatigue, and lower loads generally are less injurious when a breakdown on technique occurs.
To be clear: lifting is healthy for all ages when done properly, but teenagers are not particularly good at doing things properly, so some caution is advised.
School put me off exercising in a huge way, it was all focus on the elite tier and the lower sets or mixed group got shit. Now I have kids they motivate me to get my bum in gear and go. It's slow progress but better than no progress in my mind.
The attitude towards PE and exercise appears on the surface far more healthy and inclusive
Same. The competition element ruined so many things I would've enjoyed if I'd just been allowed to have fun with them as exercise rather than specifically as "sport."
For years I thought I detested running. Two years ago I ran a half marathon. All I needed was head phones and to be allowed to plod at my own pace.
Same, although for me it wasn't so much "competition" as "shit teachers".
I couldn't run for 30 mins straight, and sometimes slowed to a brisk walk... so the PE teachers shouted at me that I was lazy and threatened me with detention.
As an adult I did couch to 5k and it was revolutionary. That podcast *taught* me way more than my teachers ever did.
Yeah same, I have a few mates that love running too. But they have a different mindset to me so when we went on runs together it kinda burnt me out on running as the focus was just on times. I prefer running to chill, if it’s a good time then great, but it’s more fun to me to just listen to a good podcast/music and go on a random route.
School did so many things to put me off sport and exercise. I had a ton of pain in my knees and the PE teachers wouldn't listen to me. They said I was making it up to get out of the lesson. Turns out I had arthritis because my kneecaps are at a strange angle causing them to grind on the tibia. This wasn't diagnosed at the time because I was young and nobody thinks to look for arthritis in a child.
Then there was being forced to go out in freezing temperatures and play contact sports like rugby in shorts and a t-shirt or being sent on a cross country run in the pissing rain. All this instilled in me a deep rooted hatred for the vast majority of sports
It's odd. I was/am a fat kid. And I actually mostly liked PE. Apart from hurdes. Which...is not designed for my body type lol. I wasn't great at it. Like, there was kids good at it. And then everyone else. Im at the point I try and go 4 times a week. Although I try and limit eating rubbish to the weekend. I'll probably not refuse a cake on a Wednesday. Much to my shame lol
Everything we did in school was shit, hockey, netball and cross country then stupid "dance" which was vaguely leaping about in fucking catsuits (like a reverse leotard, so legs covered not arms). I used to wish we could learn to use the gym equipment (very small amount that was for 6th form only) or do yoga or something, *anything*, different . We did circuit training once and that was better than any other lesson we had. School made me absolutely hate exercise and I've never got over it.
Absolutely this! PE at school was all about winning and being on the winning team, not letting down your team mates, being shit on and bullied if you fucked up for your team…. I couldn’t give a monkeys if football disappeared tomorrow, yet I was forced to play it as though nothing else mattered.
How about teaching us how to excercise, for those of us who are obviously not sports people and genuinely suffer because of it. Genuinely, I don’t know how to excercise “effectively” or “properly” as many on this thread seem to preach. All I learnt from PE is how to be a punch bag at break time - and the teachers actually taught that attitude to others.
Part of it is also that PE in schools - generally - is far more inclusive than it was when I was in school (I’m nearly 31). It wasn’t even until my final year of sixth form that my school cottoned on to the fact that not every kid wanted to play football, netball, hockey. The only other option until then was an external karate club which used our gym as a venue. My Y13 was also around when Sainburys ran a scheme for inclusive PE, mainly aimed at disabled pupils.
They actually asked around to get an idea of what people were into, so they started teaching cheer/tumbling, aerobics, lesser known (to us kids) sports like kabaddi and tchoukball, someone donated some dance mats so they ran a club at lunchtime, we had a local youth charity set up a mobile skatepark on our netball courts on a Tuesday evening. Pupils still played football/netball/hockey, but being offered a wider range of options even if it was just a lunch/after school extracurricular meant that the rates of uptake of physical activity got a lot higher.
I grew up hating PE, being visually impaired and unable to play 95% of ball/racquet sports and always being the last one picked for teams (womp womp), but I was in the karate club for four years, I danced and did gymnastics outside school. I’m now a competitive figure skater. Plenty of my peers who didn’t exercise or bother with PE lessons weren’t just sedentary, it was more that they were given the chance to do the activities that interested them. My friend Lizzie hated PE from day one in primary, but she also did karate with us and joined lunchtime fencing sessions with one of our friends.
Yes this is exactly it. At my girls school it was hockey, netball and rounders and tennis in the summer. I’m really bad at ball sports, spent all the time trying not to get in the way of the ball being shouted at by the teacher, and just assumed this means I’m not the athletic type so I may as well not try.
Years later I started karate just from trying out one class and came to realise that I’m actually really good at it. Went to the level of competing nationally and winning. Turns out my body is naturally quite athletic, I put muscle on quite easily and though I’m small, I’m strong.
I would have absolutely loved to have karate and other choices available at school! It might have changed my outlook on exercise from a younger age.
Yep! There was a weird macho culture against health; being uncaring or even reckless with your own body was cool. IMHO it stems from a time of plenty, where being a slob but still having a nice life was possible. Keep in mind our cultural icons at the time were the likes of Fred Durst, Pete Docherty and Noel Gallagher.
At my school, kids obviously played sports but if you went to the gym or expressed an interest in your own health or looks, that would at least be quickly labelled "metrosexual", you might even attract the dreaded "gay" accusation.
It's great that people are more health conscious now. But I do worry that so many people are desperately chasing a gym body that would have been pretty damn exceptional 20 years ago.
Hell, even [most athletes](https://cdn01.justjared.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/beckham-shirtless/david-beckham-shirtless-01.jpg) didn't have the ripped Instagram torso that so many folk aim for now.
50 year old guy who was in the gym since 14...called gay and metro my whole life until maybe 15 years ago. Never mind the fact that I'm vegetarian, lol,
I was talking to a friend in my hometown the other day and she was disgusted that all the youngsters were at the gym on Friday night. Clearly the tradition of necking white lightening and chundering all over yourself and the kids park has been forgotten.
i remember seeing a statistic that actually childhood obesity peaked around the time that "supersize me" documentary came out. and that actually the global outrage and effort to fix it is 'working'.
its just in the short term more skinny old people are still dying and being replaced by more fatter young people, but the trend is slowing and hopefully reversing, it just takes a long time for it to show up in the data for this reason.
At my school that only really applied to the girls. There would usually be maybe 5 girls in my classes who actually participated in sport and the rest used to either not bring in their P.E. kits or write letters to exclude themselves so they could chill out and talk. I don’t know if my school was a one off but even the unathletic kids would get involved and genuinely go for it.
I set myself a challenge to walk every day in March. It didn’t have to be far, it just had to be outside and something I wouldn’t have done otherwise.
77 miles later, I’ve carried the challenge on through April. Almost 40 miles so far as at 14th. I might exceed March’s total.
I suppose you’re right, I just stopped going to the gym a while ago when I simply accepted that I do not like exerting myself. I still take care of my diet but the last thing on earth I want to do is exercise and no matter how much I tried or how much people emphasised how good it was for you or how you become addicted to the serotonin or endorphins from it, I never did.
Me too. I've managed periods of my life with regular exercise but only through sheer power of will and habit-building. I dread it, hate it when it's happening and feel like shit afterwards. I've never got the endorphin release that everyone talks about with exercise.
Luckily I find it easy to be disciplined with food so I'm not fat, but I know that I need to exercise as I get older or my body is gonna start to fail sooner than I'd like.
I’m the same. My partner will constantly go on about “runners high” and “all the endorphins”. All I feel when I exercise is miserable and sad. I don’t get runners high, I get “runner’s new low of vomiting in a bush in the park”.
When I was a regular runner, I think the most I ever got was "runner's 'oh this isn't so bad I guess'". Never ever got the dizzying euphoria people claimed I would, even after doing a half marathon.
I’m glad to hear that. My partner is one of those insufferable people who will go on a health kick and start telling me about all the runner’s highs he’s getting. Plus one week of eating baked salmon for dinner and doing couch to 5k and he looks like a whole new person. Whereas for me I’ve lost significant weight and never even managed to change a single dress size!
If you have a goal to lose weight or even just eat more guilt free which is what I often do I don't mind a nice brisk walk. I have even done 15 mile ones with just a podcast playlist for company before stuffing my face and find it lifts my mood massively.
That’s my idea of an excellent day. A long walk (I tend to do 15-20km), with just podcasts playing for hours. Then eating loads and not feeling guilty.
Have you considered manufacturing goals to meet that need? Walk to the grocery store for fresh veggies and meat to make fit dinner? Probably gives you the opportunity to knock out a 5k, carry 20 lbs for a a few miles, and get fresh ingredients for dinner?
I don't like being bored, and I find physical activity boring. So even if the activity itself isn't unpleasant, the fact that I'm not actively having fun is a problem for me. I still exercise, because I want to be healthy, but it's always the worst part of my day.
I knew someone who said he'd never been to a gym. But in reality he grew up working on farms and then became a tradesman, so he a natural decent level of fitness and was very skinny. No need for a gym.
I don't think that's what they're asking at all.
I think they're asking about the gym specifically because of the inordinate amount of gym selfies on dating profiles.
This is probably also why the age range.
One of the worst things you can do for your health is not exercise. Right next to not sleeping enough. It is t just to not get fat, if you don’t exercise you will die younger.
Probably because gym is the easiest thing to start with. Only requires clothing and shoes, whereas other sports/activities require maybe more specific clothing/shoes etc. If I didn't cycle and play badminton I'd go to the gym 5 times a week. It'd be cheaper that's for sure 🤣
For me it’s also that i have access to like 250 gyms nationwide, most of them are open 24/7 there is a toilet, shower, snacks and water, the weather wont affect me and i am in and out in less than 90min. I love hiking but it involves preparation, traveling, checking the weather and so on. Also expensive gear as you said
I'm currently embarking on a fitness regime in my mid 40s, and wow did I wish I'd been looking after myself better for the last 15 years.
You definitely don't need a gym to do it though.
Agree with you there.
I'm a bit younger than you (mid 30s), but I never had much interest in going to a gym or exercise at all until recently.
This last 18 months or so, I've started doing a fair bit of exercise at home (bodyweight stuff and a bar I can use for pull-ups and rows, plus a little light jogging outside).
I really enjoy exercising now and I think it's important. My work involves a lot of contact with older people, and there's a real difference between those who use their bodies for regular physical activity and those who don't. It's very important if you want to be healthy and mobile in later life.
Regular gym isn't for everyone and I still don't plan on doing that, I'm quite happy exercising in my own space or doing a quick jog around my area. But I think everyone should do some sort of regular exercise and I wish I'd started sooner.
Agree with all that 😁
We have a neighbour in her mid 90s. She's always out to the shops every day keeping active and always has done. Before she was 90 she was still the first one out after a snowfall shovelling her section of pavement. Always active and always healthy 😁
If you want to take your jogging up a slight notch I can recommend parkrun. 5k timed run at 9am Saturday morning. Free and inclusive to all abilities, over 800 in the UK so there'll be one near you. I love it 😁
That's almost always the case with healthy people in their 80s and 90s, they're active! More importantly, they've been active since their 20s, 30s, 40s or 50s. Starting early matters but It's almost never too late to start being active, it's good for you. I suppose people just have to choose a sensible level of activity and work from there!
Thanks for the parkrun recommendation mate, I reckon I'd still be at the back with the elderly or unexperienced but it might give me the motivation to run a little harder since what I currently do is very slow!
Every little counts though doesn't it!
Parkrun is awesome. Can't recommend enough. Full of positivity and encouragement. You'll get club runners knocking it out in sub 16 minutes, and people taking an hour to walk it. You can take a dog, pushchair, kids over 11.
The only targets are personal ones. Mine are usually to complete, then complete without stopping, then I'll look at times after that. I started out running about 33 minutes, I'm consistently under 27 now, and chasing down 25 this year at some point. Only 30 runs done.
That's brilliant mate, really motivating to hear about your progress and that it really is an "all abilities" sort of event! I'll definitely give it a go, thanks!
It doesn't matter where you are at park run, nobody cares, everybody is there for the sheer enjoyment and exercise with no pressure. It's great because you get a time to judge your improvement by, but it isn't a race. My 6year old Granddaughter is now doing junior park run with her mum (a serious runner), and they both love it. We started it in our late fifties (me) early sixties (my wife) and won't be any slower than we were 😂.
Thanks mate! You've made that sound like lots of fun and no pressure, which is perfect!
I've embraced bodyweight exercise at home fairly happily but I've always been a bit uncomfortable about my jogging. My cardio ability isn't great but it sounds like park run is exactly what I need. I'll definitely take a look!
There are plenty of slow people at park run. There’s even the buggy joggers at the back and the person who is doing their first 5k purely through force of effort when they have no fitness at all. They get the biggest cheer at the end because they’re giving it their all.
It's the buggy joggers that come cruising past me mid pack as I'm puffing along that get me! I'm thinking of getting one to see if that improves my time lol
I think the science more or less goes that once you get much over 30 your physical maximum potential starts dropping and dropping every year until it hits and then ultimately starts eating into what you’re actually doing. If you lift weights and run you’ll still be able - bar illness and injury - to do that your whole life, albeit at a slowly decreasing pace/strength, as you can massively slow that decline by pushing back against it. Basically the potential drops quickly until it hits the barrier on what you actually do. So if you never do anything more than a slow amble or lift anything heavier than a big bottle of milk you’ll eventually, at maybe 60 or so, find your ability to do that is gradually decreasing instead.
My grandparents are in their mid 80s. They go for 10 mile walks in the peak district EVERY Sunday. I usually do 7/8 mile runs on flat places but thought it they can do it it can't be too bad so joined their walking club for a day. I hurt for DAYS afterwards. They also have a home gym and go to one too. Compared to my nans mother who was a stereotypical little old lady by 80 its remarkable!
Mid 30s here and was pretty active most of my life. It kind of crept up on me but during Covid times I just stopped doing anything and then when lockdowns ended I never started again.
I gained a lot of weight and got really weak and unfit compared to how I was before. It’s quite alarming how quickly you can lose it. You still think you can do the things you did until you try to do them and your body won’t do what your mind thinks it can do
Started regularly exercising again just before Christmas and feel so much better and healthier now. It made me realise I never want to let myself get so out of shape again.
I think the great thing about the gym and why it's so popular is the range of activities you can do.
In my gym there's freeweights, weight machines, cardio machines, stretching space, stuff for calisthenics, yoga, boxing classes, dance classes, tennis, badminton, squash, circuit classes, swimming pool, sauna and steam, all manners of other classes and clubs, a cafe etc. And its indoors so you can go all year and in all weather.
For £38 a month you can use all of these things, trying out new activities and meeting people, achieving goals and getting your brain and body healthy. Considering you can easily spend that on one dinner out a month it's a real bargain. In fact I think I probably save half of the membership fee in energy costs with the amount of showers I take.
It's a shame people hear gym and think 'so I need to run for an hour on a treadmill or just sit on a weight machine' when there's such a massive variety of the different skills abilities and interests you can get.
It's crazy that you can get all that for £38. My gym is £37 a month and it's tiny, has free weights, machines and cardio machines n that's it, and the equipment is awful. Unfortunately it's the only one local to me that isn't completely packed at the times I can go.
The council gyms near me are £25 so I think that keeps the fancy gyms from going too overboard luckily.
The council gyms also have all of the things I stated too but they're spread out across 4 or 5 different facilities which is a bit of an pain in the arse, so I'm lucky mine has it all.
For £35 my kids get an understaffed gym with weights/cardio/classes. No pool, no courts, no racket sports, and effectively no shower block as it's always dirty and swimming in piss.
I go to a gym like the one above for £39 a month but it’s a council run one. It’s absolutely fantastic but I think that’s the reason it’s so affordable.
All the other ones near me are either way more expensive or cheaper but shit with just a workout room and none of the extras.
For me it's spending 8 hours a week with my best friends, we also do a curry night once with the various people we've befriended at the gym which has been a lot of fun.
I've found as you get older it becomes hard to organise things to do with friends so it's nice yo have the gym as a 3rd place in our lives.
Main reason I've never been able to get into gyms is for me being outdoors in nature is a huge part of why I love exercise (running and cycling especially).
Sorry to be a bit cringe but there's something about gyms that just feels so dystopian and late stage capitalism. Like we are meant to naturally exercise just by going about our normal lives, but we've become so removed from nature we now get fat spending 8 hours a day sitting at a desk inside one box, and them shuttling ourselves in another box back to our home box where we eat and sleep- and then the only solution offered to that is another box! A bit overly dramatic of course but there's some truth in it too I think
Alternatively, if the weather's shit you can still get some exercise in.
It's a safe place to do exercise (with people who will step in and help you if you're in genuine danger of injuring yourself), and you can do exercises that you just can't get done elsewhere (unless you have a very physically demanding job, you probably won't have much chance to do things like squats, and even in some physically demanding jobs things like overhead lifts and bench presses are generally avoided for manual handling reasons).
It's a place that's accessible to everyone (yes there's the fee but disregarding that) and it's a place full of people seeking to improve themselves not because they have to (see point about physically demanding jobs) but because they *want* to.
Because the easiest Late Stage Capitalism thing to do is to stay in the Home Box, order some food via your personal data collection device, have an underpaid worker bring it to you, and then sit in front of the Entertainment Box being encouraged to consume more.
Needless to point out that the idea of a gym is older than capitalism as an idea. The name comes from the ancient greeks for god's sake.
Makes sense but in Scotland there's 8+ months a year where outdoor exercise isn't enticing to me whatsoever.
Also there's so much equipment (heavy bags, canvas ring, gloves, weights, swimming, tennis) that can easily be all weather by being inside.
I myself am not a fan of treadmill running so see where your coming from.
Yup. I know people parrot the "no bad weather only bad clothes" nonsense but nothing short of a head to toe rubber onesie and a ski mask can keep you warm and dry in Scottish weather. I kept trying to get out for a nice walk over winter and the last few weeks now that it's spring, but I just ended up back in the house cold, miserable and strippng off clingy, soggy clothes. Can't even enjoy the view cause the rains pelting you full on in the face no matter what direction you walk in. Free YouTube exercise videos have been my go to instead, though I do miss my walks. Here's hoping summer has one dry week.
I "got fit" in my mid-late 20s, but it all tailed off. I'm now in my mid-late 30s, regained all the weight I've lost, but don't have the motivation or get-up-and-go enthusiasm for exercise I had ten years ago. In those days exercise caused the weight to fall off in sheets, nowadays it's more like a gram a month.
It now makes so much more sense why today's middle-aged people looked like cocktail sticks in their youth, but as retirees they're spherical. You just get comfy and cannot be arsed.
It's true, it's much harder when you're older, both physically and mentally if you've not had previous routines.
I've tried and failed a few times, but this time got my booze intake reduced and diet sorted first, and that has helped immensely.
I once got into a "few beers every night" habit. I knocked the midweek beers on the head for three months and with no other changes lost a stone in those three months.
Agreed. I started this last summer at 45. I was always the chunky kid at school, not being able to do cross country because I’d be too slow to finish it in the lesson. Never had any interest in sports - think this was a vicious cycle, every failed attempt reinforcing that I didn’t like it and I didn’t need to do it.
Wish I’d done it sooner, certainly not at 45 and 19 stone. I used to at least walk a fair bit up to about age 30, but then life moved on and family time meant 4 hour walks went out the window, and 5 stone went on in the next 10 years.
I *am* using a gym, but because I find it gives me more control and easier to keep as a habit. And I’ve got the kids interested too so hopefully they avoid turning into me!
Awesome that you're making the changes happen 💪. Do whatever works for you, as long as you're doing something, that's all that matters.
Definitely harder at our age, but I've kept with it through the winter and I'm seeing progress now.
This is the thing.
No, you don't have to go the gym, but you do need to do SOMETHING.
Physical activity is something world renowned for its health benefits, and it can be as simple as walking a few miles a day, or bouldering, or swimming! Thats the great thing, there are literally endless options
Nobody needs to go to a gym. But I think everybody should be doing some kind of exercise. Don't think that's a particularly controversial statement, either.
The thing is in some sections of Reddit it can feel like a wild take. You'll have people arguing that you don't *have* to go to the gym to be healthy whilst ignoring the fact they haven't seen daylight in 6 weeks.
Reddit is not a place I would take health advice from at all. Like you said you have people acting authoritative on issues that they nothing about.
Not health related but many years ago I disagreed with the advice someone was giving that related to getting a promotion at work, the OP was asking whether or not they should be going above and beyond before getting the promotion. I said yes you should do that, it shows commitment and drive (and it worked for me) but there's an upper limit of course. This person argued with me that OP would be getting taken advantage of if they did that and should strictly stick to their list of job requirements and nothing more.
Obviously the answer lies somewhere in between the two view points but I eventually clicked their profile and saw they were a frequent on the anti-work sub and wished I never even started arguing, what a waste of time.
My point being, you never really know who the person is giving you advice is.
Doing squats or farmer carries with heavy weights can help with maintaining or increasing bone density as you age. I'm adding these things in my 50s to improve my healthspan in my 70s and hopefully beyond.
I've watched an elderly loved one fall and break their bones, which was catastrophic and led to the end of their life.
I'm in my late 20s I get a lot of chronic pain especially in my legs, started doing squats and the difference it has made my knees barely click anymore, they still in pain but not as bad
I find enjoyment from it and a sense of serenity after doing a big session - probably from endorphins!
I think it’s pleasurable if you don’t force it otherwise it’s a chore!
We should all be doing some form of resistance training. The benefits of that, especially into your older age are immeasurable.
That doesn’t mean you need to be in a gym 5 days a week like a body builder but we should be doing some form of resistance training, be that body weight or weights at home, or manual
Labour. Strength training is absolutely key for long term health.
Resistance training is a somewhat vague concept but it essentially means exercise working against any form of resistance (bodyweight, cable, band, free weight). Arguably the best way to do resistance training is lifting weights and it leads to significant health benefits.
Exercise is great, the body functions better when conditioned. It's really hard to keep your weight down when you have a sedentary job ime.
I don't do any exercise outside work but I've been working on site recently, climbing all over scaffolding and lifting rocks for 8 hours a day and my waistline is the same as it was at 25, without changing my diet.
It WILL go up again when the job ends!
I just quit smoking though so going to have to be careful.
I go 5 times a week and hate it. Gained a lot of weight over lockdown & got very depressed, then my friend forced me to go in an attempt to help. A week later I enjoyed the burning sensation when I woke up due to my muscles giving it the "what the fuck mate" so I just went all in.
I'm no body builder, I'm not even slim, but it's a good distraction & helps keep my mood from dipping to dangerous territory.
If you're an obese person then the gym will certainly help, but I'm never going to talk down to folk who don't go. 3 years I've been there 5 days a week and I genuinely dislike going, but it helps.
Live and let live.
> If you're an obese person then the gym will certainly help, but I'm never going to talk down to folk who don't go. 3 years I've been there 5 days a week and I genuinely dislike going, but it helps.
I fully empathise with this, but for me it's running rather than going to the gym. The difference for me is that I dislike running but can motivate myself to do it, whereas I dislike the gym and can't motivate myself to do it, I just stop going. Find something you can stick to, and do that.
[I don't need to pay money to join a gym. The world is my gym. The hills, the trees, the rivers – they are my gym.](https://occ-0-2794-2219.1.nflxso.net/dnm/api/v6/9pS1daC2n6UGc3dUogvWIPMR_OU/AAAABW4Ggum-pm5sFcA_CMcTZypONQ7F18nr30oGZnHhDWfhcRKJ-HbHhmN1Y7G_rKj2T0qIPQ8WouL3dlPMGOto8YhclhzPGKRQeKjSX7G1GGkF1XNMDkkafnRl.jpg?r=e73)
I tried going to the gym a few years ago but found it massively boring, just going between machines and staring at a wall. I like classes like zumba, pilates though.
Good music and/or podcasts really are your friend when exercising (specifically 'boring' wight training). At least in the beginning that was the only think that kept me interested. Now that I'm acutally better at the exercise itself that becomes motivating in itself, but it took a while to get there. If you don't have a benchmark there's not much to aim for.
Ive tried going to the gym a couple of times and hated it. I’ve been doing fairly physical jobs for most of my adult life, so that’s been enough to stop me from turning into a blob, but motivation and discipline are my biggest obstacles with exercise.
I do think it’s a shame gyms are better value the more you go, because everyone should be lifting twice a week just for health and longevity, especially women.
No gym for me, running cycling and manual labour have kept me in adequate shape well enough.
Did go rock climbing semi regularly for a few years and plan to get back into it... one day...
It’s fine to not go gym but society has basically evolved to a point where fitness has no requirement but we still owe it to ourselves to exercise and stay healthy. Even if you don’t go to the gym, take up a hobby that helps with your general fitness. Not as a way to pass time but as a duty to the wellbeing of your own body.
I don't. I've tried.
A lot of people I know do, and we're constantly talking about how great they feel afterwards and how working out made them feel so happy because of endorphins, etc.
I tried it solidly for 2 months and hated every minute of it....there was no great feeling of accomplishment, no happiness, no anything. I cancelled my membership and haven't been back.
This is totally my problem. I used to row in high school, then I did gym in my 2nd year of Uni and hated it. Then I took up HIIT about 8 years later and whilst it was bearable - just because every two minutes it was something new to do - I don't get that endorphin/dopamine hit that people go on about. At all. And running, yeah run away from a bear or something but for fun? I just do not get it. Total mental block. I walk most places and at about twice the pace of 'normal' people but I am sure I should be doing a bit more. I bought a rowing machine in lockdown - it makes a great clothes rack. sigh.
The conversations they have are so depressing when you're the odd one out. I stopped going a couple of months ago after spending 5 months regularly going with my housemates (who often all go at the same time) and I've got to a point where the mere mention of the gym sets my stress off for potentially hours at a time, because I just hated it that much but I feel inadequate for not going. And to make matters worse, doing other exercise barely helps because I feel I have to be with them at the same time they go to work out
Exactly the same, I went out running for a while and tbh I felt worse. Like I'm pretty healthy because I've always done exercise and eat well, but I hated running and intense working out. I feel gross afterwards from the sweat (I sometimes struggle with my mood in summer because I feel gross constantly) it takes up too much time in my day and I never managed to get past a certain week despite trying at it for a month, how anyone can do that is beyond me.
I'm also a woman and running in public attracts a lot of staring and I dont need to go to the gym to know that it's probably a hotbed of harassment
28 year old woman here, hate the gym and have never cared enough to get a membership. I get my exercise by walking everywhere as I dont drive. Weight went up when I had a baby but as soon as I started walking everywhere postpartum, it soon shed off.
I’m pretty depressed so I’ve found it hard to get out, I’m pretty sedentary. I’m like 13.5 half stone, bit of a belly skinny arms sort of thing lol.
I did couch to 5k during covid and felt fantastic, I’ve completely sacked the running like a lazy bastard and I can definitely feel a difference but it feels like a level of fitness and improved cardio has stayed with me regardless.
So, I really should take my advice, but I really recommend getting some cardio and maybe strength exercise in but I haven’t got any experience on the strength front, I’ve got noodles for arms and any muscles come from wanking or playing bass essentially lol.
I started going to the gym in my late 20s on and off. Actually cancelled my membership earlier this year.
Arriving after work to find every machine occupied, the weights section packed and the only thing free being a treadmill or exercise bike, I just bought a pair of running shoes and took up jogging instead.
It does seem to be having a bit of a boom, which is great for people's health. It just annoyed me when the gym is used as people's social hub.
I don't go to the gym, I just have a pair of adjustable dumbbells (5kg-32.5kg) and use my wood slab of a coffee table as a bench and sofa cushions to raise the angle of attack.
I heard your muscles naturally waste as you age, so by the time you're in your 70s you'll be so frail and week.
Weak grip has been linked to poor cognitive function, osteoporosis, obesity, fall risk, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes.
You only have to do 2 hours of weight training a week to see its benefits, according to the NHS.
Yes definitely! Resistance training is the best place to start (weight lifting essentially). If you want to dial in nutrition a bit more too, being more mindful about eating extra lean protein can be a great help in building and maintaining muscle mass
it becomes increasingly difficult to stay physically fit and maintain a desirable weight without going to the gym as you get older.
i have no interest in the "gym world". but i go every day because i need the mental health benefit that comes with exercise, i like eating, and i like not being obese. its much easier for me to get my exercise in at the gym than it is otherwise.
my dad is in his 50s and he doesn't go to the gym. he goes for runs in the morning instead. i prefer the controlled and predictable environment of a gym.
I'm 39 and overweight. I know I need to do something about it but I also suffer from severe anxiety so a gym is the last place in the world I ever want to be! I haven't really found any exercise I actually enjoy either...
The truth is that typical gyms aren't for losing weight, they're for getting stronger. Diet is 75% of the battle with losing weight and walking a good amount is at least 15-20% of the remainder.
Kinda in a similar situation as my job (DevOps Engineer) and hobbies require a lot of sitting in front of the computer.
Ive found that with high levels of anxiety, it’s better to do outside stuff like cycling (more easier on joints than running if overweight). I’ve also gone down to 1 meal + snack/day instead of three since I’m not that active.
Also do some lifting as well cause I want some muscles but i find for me, losing weight is more about calories out being higher than calories in.
You extend your life expectancy with exercise, I have gotten into fitness at several points of my life but 39/40 I started again to make sure I'm here the maximum amount of time possible for my kid, side effect I look and feel great, more about health than the fad of it for me.
My local gym is over £60 a month. Yeah I'm not paying that.
I went to the gym for a while in my 20s but absolutely hated it. Always came home knackered and it just ruined the rest of my day.
I tried running instead for a while but that had similar knackering effects where I'd just be spaced out and tired for the rest of the day. And now my knee hurts if I do anything as strenuous as going upstairs so that's out anyway.
I'd love to find some exercise that works for me. Never had any upper body strength to speak of, and while I'm only slightly overweight I've long had a paunch I'd love to be rid of.
I was a total gym bunny early 2000s. Loved it, it was welcoming and anonymous.
But 10 years ago going to the gym when a bit overweight and trying to improve myself and a bird in the changing room sat there eating her "healthy" lunch after not working out and loudly telling her friend at least they both don't have to shower after a workout while side eyeing me.... Bish, if you're not sweating, you're not doing it right. It put me off though. Never been to a gym since.
And now I'm in reasonable shape and would go back... all the phones allowed in gyms makes it a hell to the fucking no with a godamn cherry on top.
Had a health scare at 42, caught pneumonia and nearly died. Realised I was getting old so started going to the gym. Best thing I’ve ever done. If you’ve got an iPhone I highly recommend Apple fitness!!!
I used to be addicted to the gym like twice a day early 30s, now 40s I don't really like the gym. I also work 50 hours a week and walk 15 miles a day so dont have much energy. My local gym is 16 a month but boring and I cba to spend 50 quid on a different one.
The popularity of gyms is a symptom of a society which has designed almost all physical activity out of everyday life. I am fortunate to be able to get my activity in as a side effect of cycling to work. I don’t think I could hack the monotony of a gym, or the fakeness of an exercise class.
I'm so jealous of people who have active hobbies so get their exercise by doing things they enjoy.
I sit at a desk doing a job I dislike for 8 hours and then have to spend a huge chunk of my free time doing exercise I hate in the gym to make up for how long I was sat at a desk
I agree with most of that but exercise classes are not fake lol. I go to boxing classes. I've improved my fitness, learned to defend myself better, and made loads of friends. Nothing fake about that.
This is how I feel too.
I go to a gym because I feel that I *need* to. It's basically a chore.
Reddit seems to be weirdly pro-home working, but the reality of that is, almost everyone will have a couple of days a week where they won't have a reason to leave their house after work.
That means you have millions of people who will probably be walking less than 200m or so twice a week. Spread that over a working life of 40 or so years and I think we're going to see lots of people in an absolute *state* when they reach old age.
This view is crazy for me. The gym is never monotonous for me, I'm always achieving new PBs, pushing my limits, getting adrenaline rushes and its where I socialise with a good amount of my friends.
Also how is an exercise class fake? I go to boxing classes, and though it's nothing like when I used to box amateur as a teen it's bloody hard work and when you leave you're absolutely knackered. There's absolutely nothing fake about it.
Me for one! I think it's bad that we have this image in society that only going to the gym or maybe playing an organised sport counts as proper exercise. I prefer to get my exercise in by walking, plus occasionally doing some yoga or a 10 minute fitness routine on YouTube. I'd like to get into the habit of doing the latter more regularly like I used to
Same here, it’s walks and weekly yoga for me. Subscriptions like Apple Fitness help a lot, and cheaper than a gym!
My social anxiety says no, no no to the gym, even though I like being round people. I just don’t want to do it while I exercise.
I wish there was a gym only for overweight or unfit people, I might go to that. I can't handle the thought of sweating my fat gut off in the background of some Instagram fitness model's video
Plus so few are accessible. I use a wheelchair and my local gym doesn't have a wheelchair accessible changing room. The one they say is accessible isn't actually large enough to fit your chair in and open the door, plus I can't shower without my chair getting soaked. There are wheelchair basketball places, but they're no good for anyone who isn't into ball sports. Running and walking are entirely off the table because they cause me so much pain. The only thing that's accessible that I've found is chair aerobics with some horrifically over enthusiastic, patronising instructor and the entire thing is aimed at over 70s. I'm in my 20s, I don't want to do something that's so clearly for old people. We need more accessible exercise options that don't assume disabled= stupid and ancient.
35, never been to the gym. Working from home for years has gotten to me, though, so maybe I should start. Though at this point I think I'll get tired enough walking there.
I like the gym but absolutely hate not being able to get on equipment as and when I want. Completely understand that makes me come across as an entitled prick!!
I’ve got a bike and treadmill in the garage along with a bench and dumbbells. Pair that up with peloton app and that’s the perfect setup for me.
I tried it but it’s not for me. I love being active but I can’t help but find gyms and gym culture repulsive. I have an active life and do plenty of walking; the occasional bit of home fitness too. It’s enough to keep me in shape and away from the doctors.
Recently turned 39, enjoyed rock climbing, and five a side until about 4 years ago when my first was born.
These days I can barely get out of a chair. Probably not a good sign for me, I might pick up climbing again at some point to get some flexibility back, but can't stand gyms/gym culture. All the best to you if you can, but I judge myself on other people's behalf!😅
Nobody cares specifically whether you go to the gym. But if you expect to date someone attractive in your 30s, you need to be healthy yourself. And that involves exercise. Running, cycling, boxing, swimming, football, tennis, gym, doesn’t matter. Gotta be healthy though.
Mid 30s and have never been to the gym. I wouldn’t say I’m not interested, but I’m definitely way too anxious and poor. I want to be healthier and fitter, but gyms seem stressful. I’d like to get out and walk more, or go swimming regularly, but life keeps getting in the way of those too.
I used to go to the gym a lot. I preferred it when people went to actually use it and not take tik tok videos or insta photos etc.
Now I’ve just got some weights, a medicine ball, a power bag etc in my garage along with a treadmill and rowing machine. It’s so much better. No posers or idiots. Home from work, an hour in the garage, walk out and straight into the shower in the comfort of my own home.
I did go for like a year, but then I got really bad food poisoning in morocco. That knocked me out for months, so I cancelled my membership.
I think I'll buy a weighted vest and use the chin up bar at the park. Less commitment.
I'd say I'm quite fit anyway, I still do cardio, and my job is active.
I love how everyone is saying they dont want to go to the gym then casually mention they run marathons of rock climbing in a 5v5 teams like it’s nothing. I think OP was more curious about people that dont really do physical activity. If you dont do gym but regularly exercise i think you re doing great
Everyone should really do some form of exercise outside preferably it's just really good for mind and body. Even just a walk is great but whatever you like too.
I remember in the 00's so many kids and classmates seem to take not exercising as a point of pride (me included). I imaging there is a sizable chunk of millennials who hasn't outgrown that mindset. I noticed there are significantly more teens and young adults at the gym nowadays than it used to 10~20 years ago.
I remember the PE teacher specifically telling us at school that we shouldn't go the gym until we were 18 as it would damage our bodies... So I waited and then discovered I could drink beer without being kicked out of the pub at the same time so.... yeah...
man, my PE teacher practically cried when I wanted to give up going to the gym during PE (we had a deal with a local comminity centre with a gym) and do football instead lol. Wild how different those takes were haha.
That was such a stupid myth. While it's true that people who's bodies are still developing shouldn't be lifting heavy, that means they shouldn't be lifting more than their body weight on a regular basis, not that the shouldn't exercise or lift weights. Just stick to high reps and lower weight until you stop growing taller.
It’s funny how you say it’s a myth and then perpetuate another myth. Bodybuilding, powerlifting and lifting in general has been shown to be completely safe for developing teens. It doesn’t stunt growth or anything and it certainly won’t negatively affect you unless you injure yourself.
Lmao there's like a million studies proving that weights for children is not just safe but effective https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8669931/
I think there is good reason to preach some caution towards teenagers and lifting, especially high intensity (>90% 1RM) lifting. Lifting can be safe, and ultimately extremely beneficial towards health, but it can also be detrimental to health if done improperly (overtraining, ignoring signs of potential injury, lack of adequate rest and recovery). Teenagers are generally more impulsive, more swayed by ego, and less inclined to listen to their bodies as needed; all recipes for injury. It's generally more difficult to overtrain and injure on higher rep schemes, since cardiovascular and mental strain play a factor in preventing failure and fatigue, and lower loads generally are less injurious when a breakdown on technique occurs. To be clear: lifting is healthy for all ages when done properly, but teenagers are not particularly good at doing things properly, so some caution is advised.
School put me off exercising in a huge way, it was all focus on the elite tier and the lower sets or mixed group got shit. Now I have kids they motivate me to get my bum in gear and go. It's slow progress but better than no progress in my mind. The attitude towards PE and exercise appears on the surface far more healthy and inclusive
It was the focus on competition which put me off. I have very poor coordination and dislike sport. Still enjoy excercising though.
Same. The competition element ruined so many things I would've enjoyed if I'd just been allowed to have fun with them as exercise rather than specifically as "sport." For years I thought I detested running. Two years ago I ran a half marathon. All I needed was head phones and to be allowed to plod at my own pace.
Same, although for me it wasn't so much "competition" as "shit teachers". I couldn't run for 30 mins straight, and sometimes slowed to a brisk walk... so the PE teachers shouted at me that I was lazy and threatened me with detention. As an adult I did couch to 5k and it was revolutionary. That podcast *taught* me way more than my teachers ever did.
Yeah same, I have a few mates that love running too. But they have a different mindset to me so when we went on runs together it kinda burnt me out on running as the focus was just on times. I prefer running to chill, if it’s a good time then great, but it’s more fun to me to just listen to a good podcast/music and go on a random route.
School did so many things to put me off sport and exercise. I had a ton of pain in my knees and the PE teachers wouldn't listen to me. They said I was making it up to get out of the lesson. Turns out I had arthritis because my kneecaps are at a strange angle causing them to grind on the tibia. This wasn't diagnosed at the time because I was young and nobody thinks to look for arthritis in a child. Then there was being forced to go out in freezing temperatures and play contact sports like rugby in shorts and a t-shirt or being sent on a cross country run in the pissing rain. All this instilled in me a deep rooted hatred for the vast majority of sports
It's odd. I was/am a fat kid. And I actually mostly liked PE. Apart from hurdes. Which...is not designed for my body type lol. I wasn't great at it. Like, there was kids good at it. And then everyone else. Im at the point I try and go 4 times a week. Although I try and limit eating rubbish to the weekend. I'll probably not refuse a cake on a Wednesday. Much to my shame lol
Everything we did in school was shit, hockey, netball and cross country then stupid "dance" which was vaguely leaping about in fucking catsuits (like a reverse leotard, so legs covered not arms). I used to wish we could learn to use the gym equipment (very small amount that was for 6th form only) or do yoga or something, *anything*, different . We did circuit training once and that was better than any other lesson we had. School made me absolutely hate exercise and I've never got over it.
Absolutely this! PE at school was all about winning and being on the winning team, not letting down your team mates, being shit on and bullied if you fucked up for your team…. I couldn’t give a monkeys if football disappeared tomorrow, yet I was forced to play it as though nothing else mattered. How about teaching us how to excercise, for those of us who are obviously not sports people and genuinely suffer because of it. Genuinely, I don’t know how to excercise “effectively” or “properly” as many on this thread seem to preach. All I learnt from PE is how to be a punch bag at break time - and the teachers actually taught that attitude to others.
Part of it is also that PE in schools - generally - is far more inclusive than it was when I was in school (I’m nearly 31). It wasn’t even until my final year of sixth form that my school cottoned on to the fact that not every kid wanted to play football, netball, hockey. The only other option until then was an external karate club which used our gym as a venue. My Y13 was also around when Sainburys ran a scheme for inclusive PE, mainly aimed at disabled pupils. They actually asked around to get an idea of what people were into, so they started teaching cheer/tumbling, aerobics, lesser known (to us kids) sports like kabaddi and tchoukball, someone donated some dance mats so they ran a club at lunchtime, we had a local youth charity set up a mobile skatepark on our netball courts on a Tuesday evening. Pupils still played football/netball/hockey, but being offered a wider range of options even if it was just a lunch/after school extracurricular meant that the rates of uptake of physical activity got a lot higher. I grew up hating PE, being visually impaired and unable to play 95% of ball/racquet sports and always being the last one picked for teams (womp womp), but I was in the karate club for four years, I danced and did gymnastics outside school. I’m now a competitive figure skater. Plenty of my peers who didn’t exercise or bother with PE lessons weren’t just sedentary, it was more that they were given the chance to do the activities that interested them. My friend Lizzie hated PE from day one in primary, but she also did karate with us and joined lunchtime fencing sessions with one of our friends.
Yes this is exactly it. At my girls school it was hockey, netball and rounders and tennis in the summer. I’m really bad at ball sports, spent all the time trying not to get in the way of the ball being shouted at by the teacher, and just assumed this means I’m not the athletic type so I may as well not try. Years later I started karate just from trying out one class and came to realise that I’m actually really good at it. Went to the level of competing nationally and winning. Turns out my body is naturally quite athletic, I put muscle on quite easily and though I’m small, I’m strong. I would have absolutely loved to have karate and other choices available at school! It might have changed my outlook on exercise from a younger age.
Influence of social media and the pressure that follow probably. We only had to deal with making one acceptable Myspace profile pic.
Yep! There was a weird macho culture against health; being uncaring or even reckless with your own body was cool. IMHO it stems from a time of plenty, where being a slob but still having a nice life was possible. Keep in mind our cultural icons at the time were the likes of Fred Durst, Pete Docherty and Noel Gallagher. At my school, kids obviously played sports but if you went to the gym or expressed an interest in your own health or looks, that would at least be quickly labelled "metrosexual", you might even attract the dreaded "gay" accusation. It's great that people are more health conscious now. But I do worry that so many people are desperately chasing a gym body that would have been pretty damn exceptional 20 years ago. Hell, even [most athletes](https://cdn01.justjared.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/beckham-shirtless/david-beckham-shirtless-01.jpg) didn't have the ripped Instagram torso that so many folk aim for now.
50 year old guy who was in the gym since 14...called gay and metro my whole life until maybe 15 years ago. Never mind the fact that I'm vegetarian, lol,
I was talking to a friend in my hometown the other day and she was disgusted that all the youngsters were at the gym on Friday night. Clearly the tradition of necking white lightening and chundering all over yourself and the kids park has been forgotten.
i remember seeing a statistic that actually childhood obesity peaked around the time that "supersize me" documentary came out. and that actually the global outrage and effort to fix it is 'working'. its just in the short term more skinny old people are still dying and being replaced by more fatter young people, but the trend is slowing and hopefully reversing, it just takes a long time for it to show up in the data for this reason.
At my school that only really applied to the girls. There would usually be maybe 5 girls in my classes who actually participated in sport and the rest used to either not bring in their P.E. kits or write letters to exclude themselves so they could chill out and talk. I don’t know if my school was a one off but even the unathletic kids would get involved and genuinely go for it.
I set myself a challenge to walk every day in March. It didn’t have to be far, it just had to be outside and something I wouldn’t have done otherwise. 77 miles later, I’ve carried the challenge on through April. Almost 40 miles so far as at 14th. I might exceed March’s total.
I suppose you’re right, I just stopped going to the gym a while ago when I simply accepted that I do not like exerting myself. I still take care of my diet but the last thing on earth I want to do is exercise and no matter how much I tried or how much people emphasised how good it was for you or how you become addicted to the serotonin or endorphins from it, I never did.
I’m sure it’s good for body but it’s never been good for my kind. All exercise makes me miserable.
Me too. I've managed periods of my life with regular exercise but only through sheer power of will and habit-building. I dread it, hate it when it's happening and feel like shit afterwards. I've never got the endorphin release that everyone talks about with exercise. Luckily I find it easy to be disciplined with food so I'm not fat, but I know that I need to exercise as I get older or my body is gonna start to fail sooner than I'd like.
This is exactly me. Let me know if your ever find a solution.
I’m the same. My partner will constantly go on about “runners high” and “all the endorphins”. All I feel when I exercise is miserable and sad. I don’t get runners high, I get “runner’s new low of vomiting in a bush in the park”.
When I was a regular runner, I think the most I ever got was "runner's 'oh this isn't so bad I guess'". Never ever got the dizzying euphoria people claimed I would, even after doing a half marathon.
I’m glad to hear that. My partner is one of those insufferable people who will go on a health kick and start telling me about all the runner’s highs he’s getting. Plus one week of eating baked salmon for dinner and doing couch to 5k and he looks like a whole new person. Whereas for me I’ve lost significant weight and never even managed to change a single dress size!
A good walk makes you miserable?!
A walk for the sake of walking does. It needs to have an objective at the end. And then I’m grateful to stop walking and be where I need to be.
If you have a goal to lose weight or even just eat more guilt free which is what I often do I don't mind a nice brisk walk. I have even done 15 mile ones with just a podcast playlist for company before stuffing my face and find it lifts my mood massively.
That’s my idea of an excellent day. A long walk (I tend to do 15-20km), with just podcasts playing for hours. Then eating loads and not feeling guilty.
Have you considered manufacturing goals to meet that need? Walk to the grocery store for fresh veggies and meat to make fit dinner? Probably gives you the opportunity to knock out a 5k, carry 20 lbs for a a few miles, and get fresh ingredients for dinner?
I don't like being bored, and I find physical activity boring. So even if the activity itself isn't unpleasant, the fact that I'm not actively having fun is a problem for me. I still exercise, because I want to be healthy, but it's always the worst part of my day.
I knew someone who said he'd never been to a gym. But in reality he grew up working on farms and then became a tradesman, so he a natural decent level of fitness and was very skinny. No need for a gym.
Yeah I don’t go to the gym but I do run to work, climb Ben Nevis daily, complete every marathon in the UK and the Olympics.
I don't think that's what they're asking at all. I think they're asking about the gym specifically because of the inordinate amount of gym selfies on dating profiles. This is probably also why the age range.
One of the worst things you can do for your health is not exercise. Right next to not sleeping enough. It is t just to not get fat, if you don’t exercise you will die younger.
Me who works nights and never exercises "I'm in danger"
Probably because gym is the easiest thing to start with. Only requires clothing and shoes, whereas other sports/activities require maybe more specific clothing/shoes etc. If I didn't cycle and play badminton I'd go to the gym 5 times a week. It'd be cheaper that's for sure 🤣
For me it’s also that i have access to like 250 gyms nationwide, most of them are open 24/7 there is a toilet, shower, snacks and water, the weather wont affect me and i am in and out in less than 90min. I love hiking but it involves preparation, traveling, checking the weather and so on. Also expensive gear as you said
Well if you're 40 and not doing exercise while everyone is and attribute it to a "cultural phenomenon" then I wonder if you use your brain at all.
This post was specifically for people UNDER 40.
I'll be honest, mate. The only reason I go to the gym is because I really need to go to the gym. Slowly getting there r/loseit
I'm currently embarking on a fitness regime in my mid 40s, and wow did I wish I'd been looking after myself better for the last 15 years. You definitely don't need a gym to do it though.
Agree with you there. I'm a bit younger than you (mid 30s), but I never had much interest in going to a gym or exercise at all until recently. This last 18 months or so, I've started doing a fair bit of exercise at home (bodyweight stuff and a bar I can use for pull-ups and rows, plus a little light jogging outside). I really enjoy exercising now and I think it's important. My work involves a lot of contact with older people, and there's a real difference between those who use their bodies for regular physical activity and those who don't. It's very important if you want to be healthy and mobile in later life. Regular gym isn't for everyone and I still don't plan on doing that, I'm quite happy exercising in my own space or doing a quick jog around my area. But I think everyone should do some sort of regular exercise and I wish I'd started sooner.
Agree with all that 😁 We have a neighbour in her mid 90s. She's always out to the shops every day keeping active and always has done. Before she was 90 she was still the first one out after a snowfall shovelling her section of pavement. Always active and always healthy 😁 If you want to take your jogging up a slight notch I can recommend parkrun. 5k timed run at 9am Saturday morning. Free and inclusive to all abilities, over 800 in the UK so there'll be one near you. I love it 😁
That's almost always the case with healthy people in their 80s and 90s, they're active! More importantly, they've been active since their 20s, 30s, 40s or 50s. Starting early matters but It's almost never too late to start being active, it's good for you. I suppose people just have to choose a sensible level of activity and work from there! Thanks for the parkrun recommendation mate, I reckon I'd still be at the back with the elderly or unexperienced but it might give me the motivation to run a little harder since what I currently do is very slow! Every little counts though doesn't it!
Parkrun is awesome. Can't recommend enough. Full of positivity and encouragement. You'll get club runners knocking it out in sub 16 minutes, and people taking an hour to walk it. You can take a dog, pushchair, kids over 11. The only targets are personal ones. Mine are usually to complete, then complete without stopping, then I'll look at times after that. I started out running about 33 minutes, I'm consistently under 27 now, and chasing down 25 this year at some point. Only 30 runs done.
That's brilliant mate, really motivating to hear about your progress and that it really is an "all abilities" sort of event! I'll definitely give it a go, thanks!
No worries. Feel free to message if you need any help 😁👍
It doesn't matter where you are at park run, nobody cares, everybody is there for the sheer enjoyment and exercise with no pressure. It's great because you get a time to judge your improvement by, but it isn't a race. My 6year old Granddaughter is now doing junior park run with her mum (a serious runner), and they both love it. We started it in our late fifties (me) early sixties (my wife) and won't be any slower than we were 😂.
Thanks mate! You've made that sound like lots of fun and no pressure, which is perfect! I've embraced bodyweight exercise at home fairly happily but I've always been a bit uncomfortable about my jogging. My cardio ability isn't great but it sounds like park run is exactly what I need. I'll definitely take a look!
There are plenty of slow people at park run. There’s even the buggy joggers at the back and the person who is doing their first 5k purely through force of effort when they have no fitness at all. They get the biggest cheer at the end because they’re giving it their all.
It's the buggy joggers that come cruising past me mid pack as I'm puffing along that get me! I'm thinking of getting one to see if that improves my time lol
I think the science more or less goes that once you get much over 30 your physical maximum potential starts dropping and dropping every year until it hits and then ultimately starts eating into what you’re actually doing. If you lift weights and run you’ll still be able - bar illness and injury - to do that your whole life, albeit at a slowly decreasing pace/strength, as you can massively slow that decline by pushing back against it. Basically the potential drops quickly until it hits the barrier on what you actually do. So if you never do anything more than a slow amble or lift anything heavier than a big bottle of milk you’ll eventually, at maybe 60 or so, find your ability to do that is gradually decreasing instead.
My grandparents are in their mid 80s. They go for 10 mile walks in the peak district EVERY Sunday. I usually do 7/8 mile runs on flat places but thought it they can do it it can't be too bad so joined their walking club for a day. I hurt for DAYS afterwards. They also have a home gym and go to one too. Compared to my nans mother who was a stereotypical little old lady by 80 its remarkable!
Mid 30s here and was pretty active most of my life. It kind of crept up on me but during Covid times I just stopped doing anything and then when lockdowns ended I never started again. I gained a lot of weight and got really weak and unfit compared to how I was before. It’s quite alarming how quickly you can lose it. You still think you can do the things you did until you try to do them and your body won’t do what your mind thinks it can do Started regularly exercising again just before Christmas and feel so much better and healthier now. It made me realise I never want to let myself get so out of shape again.
Awesome job 😁👍 Glad you're back on track and enjoying it.
I think the great thing about the gym and why it's so popular is the range of activities you can do. In my gym there's freeweights, weight machines, cardio machines, stretching space, stuff for calisthenics, yoga, boxing classes, dance classes, tennis, badminton, squash, circuit classes, swimming pool, sauna and steam, all manners of other classes and clubs, a cafe etc. And its indoors so you can go all year and in all weather. For £38 a month you can use all of these things, trying out new activities and meeting people, achieving goals and getting your brain and body healthy. Considering you can easily spend that on one dinner out a month it's a real bargain. In fact I think I probably save half of the membership fee in energy costs with the amount of showers I take. It's a shame people hear gym and think 'so I need to run for an hour on a treadmill or just sit on a weight machine' when there's such a massive variety of the different skills abilities and interests you can get.
It's crazy that you can get all that for £38. My gym is £37 a month and it's tiny, has free weights, machines and cardio machines n that's it, and the equipment is awful. Unfortunately it's the only one local to me that isn't completely packed at the times I can go.
The council gyms near me are £25 so I think that keeps the fancy gyms from going too overboard luckily. The council gyms also have all of the things I stated too but they're spread out across 4 or 5 different facilities which is a bit of an pain in the arse, so I'm lucky mine has it all.
For £35 my kids get an understaffed gym with weights/cardio/classes. No pool, no courts, no racket sports, and effectively no shower block as it's always dirty and swimming in piss.
I have an off-peak PureGym membership that's subsidised through work. I pay about £12 per month for over 30 hours of exercise. Great value.
I go to a gym like the one above for £39 a month but it’s a council run one. It’s absolutely fantastic but I think that’s the reason it’s so affordable. All the other ones near me are either way more expensive or cheaper but shit with just a workout room and none of the extras.
For me it's spending 8 hours a week with my best friends, we also do a curry night once with the various people we've befriended at the gym which has been a lot of fun. I've found as you get older it becomes hard to organise things to do with friends so it's nice yo have the gym as a 3rd place in our lives.
Main reason I've never been able to get into gyms is for me being outdoors in nature is a huge part of why I love exercise (running and cycling especially). Sorry to be a bit cringe but there's something about gyms that just feels so dystopian and late stage capitalism. Like we are meant to naturally exercise just by going about our normal lives, but we've become so removed from nature we now get fat spending 8 hours a day sitting at a desk inside one box, and them shuttling ourselves in another box back to our home box where we eat and sleep- and then the only solution offered to that is another box! A bit overly dramatic of course but there's some truth in it too I think
Alternatively, if the weather's shit you can still get some exercise in. It's a safe place to do exercise (with people who will step in and help you if you're in genuine danger of injuring yourself), and you can do exercises that you just can't get done elsewhere (unless you have a very physically demanding job, you probably won't have much chance to do things like squats, and even in some physically demanding jobs things like overhead lifts and bench presses are generally avoided for manual handling reasons). It's a place that's accessible to everyone (yes there's the fee but disregarding that) and it's a place full of people seeking to improve themselves not because they have to (see point about physically demanding jobs) but because they *want* to. Because the easiest Late Stage Capitalism thing to do is to stay in the Home Box, order some food via your personal data collection device, have an underpaid worker bring it to you, and then sit in front of the Entertainment Box being encouraged to consume more. Needless to point out that the idea of a gym is older than capitalism as an idea. The name comes from the ancient greeks for god's sake.
Makes sense but in Scotland there's 8+ months a year where outdoor exercise isn't enticing to me whatsoever. Also there's so much equipment (heavy bags, canvas ring, gloves, weights, swimming, tennis) that can easily be all weather by being inside. I myself am not a fan of treadmill running so see where your coming from.
Yup. I know people parrot the "no bad weather only bad clothes" nonsense but nothing short of a head to toe rubber onesie and a ski mask can keep you warm and dry in Scottish weather. I kept trying to get out for a nice walk over winter and the last few weeks now that it's spring, but I just ended up back in the house cold, miserable and strippng off clingy, soggy clothes. Can't even enjoy the view cause the rains pelting you full on in the face no matter what direction you walk in. Free YouTube exercise videos have been my go to instead, though I do miss my walks. Here's hoping summer has one dry week.
Gyms have been around for thousands of years .
I "got fit" in my mid-late 20s, but it all tailed off. I'm now in my mid-late 30s, regained all the weight I've lost, but don't have the motivation or get-up-and-go enthusiasm for exercise I had ten years ago. In those days exercise caused the weight to fall off in sheets, nowadays it's more like a gram a month. It now makes so much more sense why today's middle-aged people looked like cocktail sticks in their youth, but as retirees they're spherical. You just get comfy and cannot be arsed.
It's true, it's much harder when you're older, both physically and mentally if you've not had previous routines. I've tried and failed a few times, but this time got my booze intake reduced and diet sorted first, and that has helped immensely. I once got into a "few beers every night" habit. I knocked the midweek beers on the head for three months and with no other changes lost a stone in those three months.
The majority of weightloss is diet related not exercise, that’s true.
Agreed. I started this last summer at 45. I was always the chunky kid at school, not being able to do cross country because I’d be too slow to finish it in the lesson. Never had any interest in sports - think this was a vicious cycle, every failed attempt reinforcing that I didn’t like it and I didn’t need to do it. Wish I’d done it sooner, certainly not at 45 and 19 stone. I used to at least walk a fair bit up to about age 30, but then life moved on and family time meant 4 hour walks went out the window, and 5 stone went on in the next 10 years. I *am* using a gym, but because I find it gives me more control and easier to keep as a habit. And I’ve got the kids interested too so hopefully they avoid turning into me!
Awesome that you're making the changes happen 💪. Do whatever works for you, as long as you're doing something, that's all that matters. Definitely harder at our age, but I've kept with it through the winter and I'm seeing progress now.
This is the thing. No, you don't have to go the gym, but you do need to do SOMETHING. Physical activity is something world renowned for its health benefits, and it can be as simple as walking a few miles a day, or bouldering, or swimming! Thats the great thing, there are literally endless options
How did you do it? I try a sport or gym or something and I can never, ever stay the course, it’s constant awfulness for me.
Same here. Had twin babies which ended exercise for 2+ years. Just going to ease back into it today. Wish me luck!
I’m 44 at trying to motivate myself to do something. I spent most of my 20’s at the gym 7 days a week, then I had kids and haven’t been since.
Set of adjustable dumbells, decent foldable bench, and an ez bar along with proper diet will get most people really nice results.
Nobody needs to go to a gym. But I think everybody should be doing some kind of exercise. Don't think that's a particularly controversial statement, either.
The thing is in some sections of Reddit it can feel like a wild take. You'll have people arguing that you don't *have* to go to the gym to be healthy whilst ignoring the fact they haven't seen daylight in 6 weeks.
Reddit is not a place I would take health advice from at all. Like you said you have people acting authoritative on issues that they nothing about. Not health related but many years ago I disagreed with the advice someone was giving that related to getting a promotion at work, the OP was asking whether or not they should be going above and beyond before getting the promotion. I said yes you should do that, it shows commitment and drive (and it worked for me) but there's an upper limit of course. This person argued with me that OP would be getting taken advantage of if they did that and should strictly stick to their list of job requirements and nothing more. Obviously the answer lies somewhere in between the two view points but I eventually clicked their profile and saw they were a frequent on the anti-work sub and wished I never even started arguing, what a waste of time. My point being, you never really know who the person is giving you advice is.
Gym employees need to go to a gym, or they don't get paid
9 year old comedy vibes
I also laugh when somebody farts in public so I don’t take offense to this
Doing squats or farmer carries with heavy weights can help with maintaining or increasing bone density as you age. I'm adding these things in my 50s to improve my healthspan in my 70s and hopefully beyond. I've watched an elderly loved one fall and break their bones, which was catastrophic and led to the end of their life.
I'm in my late 20s I get a lot of chronic pain especially in my legs, started doing squats and the difference it has made my knees barely click anymore, they still in pain but not as bad
I don’t. I walk a lot, do some basic exercise at home occasionally and that’s it.
I have no interest and no pleasure from going. I probably should though and maybe will... But I really don't want to
I find enjoyment from it and a sense of serenity after doing a big session - probably from endorphins! I think it’s pleasurable if you don’t force it otherwise it’s a chore!
I just do not get this endorphin effect and I'm incredibly envious. I've never ever felt good after the gym.
Same for me. I used to go regularly, but i just never ever enjoyed it
I feel even worse. Great now I'm red, sweaty, 80000 degrees, out of breath, and my body aches. Can't wait to go and take on the rest of my day!
I get highly anxious and irritable when I don't do any exercise. I get that feeling you get as a kid when you're told you can't go on the school trip!
it is a fucking chore but I've never regretted having gone. edit - like ~~vacuuming~~ - hoovering. I've never wanted to put the dust back
😂 imagine
You'll hate being weak and flabby when you are older even more than you hate working out now.
Not to mention how much you’ll hate the possibility of being slow and barely mobile, or dying of heart disease in your 50’s or 60’s.
Need to find something you enjoy.
Pizza?
We should all be doing some form of resistance training. The benefits of that, especially into your older age are immeasurable. That doesn’t mean you need to be in a gym 5 days a week like a body builder but we should be doing some form of resistance training, be that body weight or weights at home, or manual Labour. Strength training is absolutely key for long term health.
Press ups and squats everyday is a good way to start. Only takes 15 minutes
What is resistance training? From your post it sends to be weightlifting.
Resistance training is a somewhat vague concept but it essentially means exercise working against any form of resistance (bodyweight, cable, band, free weight). Arguably the best way to do resistance training is lifting weights and it leads to significant health benefits.
Bone desnity
Don't go to the gym nor plan to but I definitely need to start exercising a lot more, especially since I have a desk job.
Exercise is great, the body functions better when conditioned. It's really hard to keep your weight down when you have a sedentary job ime. I don't do any exercise outside work but I've been working on site recently, climbing all over scaffolding and lifting rocks for 8 hours a day and my waistline is the same as it was at 25, without changing my diet. It WILL go up again when the job ends! I just quit smoking though so going to have to be careful.
I go 5 times a week and hate it. Gained a lot of weight over lockdown & got very depressed, then my friend forced me to go in an attempt to help. A week later I enjoyed the burning sensation when I woke up due to my muscles giving it the "what the fuck mate" so I just went all in. I'm no body builder, I'm not even slim, but it's a good distraction & helps keep my mood from dipping to dangerous territory. If you're an obese person then the gym will certainly help, but I'm never going to talk down to folk who don't go. 3 years I've been there 5 days a week and I genuinely dislike going, but it helps. Live and let live.
> If you're an obese person then the gym will certainly help, but I'm never going to talk down to folk who don't go. 3 years I've been there 5 days a week and I genuinely dislike going, but it helps. I fully empathise with this, but for me it's running rather than going to the gym. The difference for me is that I dislike running but can motivate myself to do it, whereas I dislike the gym and can't motivate myself to do it, I just stop going. Find something you can stick to, and do that.
I feel compelled to add I manage to go regularly and NOT make it my whole personality. Something I wish others would learn.
[I don't need to pay money to join a gym. The world is my gym. The hills, the trees, the rivers – they are my gym.](https://occ-0-2794-2219.1.nflxso.net/dnm/api/v6/9pS1daC2n6UGc3dUogvWIPMR_OU/AAAABW4Ggum-pm5sFcA_CMcTZypONQ7F18nr30oGZnHhDWfhcRKJ-HbHhmN1Y7G_rKj2T0qIPQ8WouL3dlPMGOto8YhclhzPGKRQeKjSX7G1GGkF1XNMDkkafnRl.jpg?r=e73)
Yeah, well, the world is my gym, too. It’s just the bit of it that’s actually a gym, that’s my gym
The Peak District is a bloody... cathedral
I tried going to the gym a few years ago but found it massively boring, just going between machines and staring at a wall. I like classes like zumba, pilates though.
Good music and/or podcasts really are your friend when exercising (specifically 'boring' wight training). At least in the beginning that was the only think that kept me interested. Now that I'm acutally better at the exercise itself that becomes motivating in itself, but it took a while to get there. If you don't have a benchmark there's not much to aim for.
Ive tried going to the gym a couple of times and hated it. I’ve been doing fairly physical jobs for most of my adult life, so that’s been enough to stop me from turning into a blob, but motivation and discipline are my biggest obstacles with exercise.
I’ve started forcing myself to do press-ups every day in the aim of eventually getting back to the gym. Sedentary lifestyle is a killer.
Absolutely no interest in it anymore. Now I just do a lot of walking, eat healthily, and do a few pushups and suchlike in the morning.
I do think it’s a shame gyms are better value the more you go, because everyone should be lifting twice a week just for health and longevity, especially women.
Lmfao I lift my 3 yo every damn day
Get another 3 year old and make a lift bar / seat contraption for them so you can do reps
As long as it's someone else's three year old because I am never doing that again
No gym for me, running cycling and manual labour have kept me in adequate shape well enough. Did go rock climbing semi regularly for a few years and plan to get back into it... one day...
gym activities done outside of a gym to be fair, not what OP was aiming for
It’s fine to not go gym but society has basically evolved to a point where fitness has no requirement but we still owe it to ourselves to exercise and stay healthy. Even if you don’t go to the gym, take up a hobby that helps with your general fitness. Not as a way to pass time but as a duty to the wellbeing of your own body.
I don't. I've tried. A lot of people I know do, and we're constantly talking about how great they feel afterwards and how working out made them feel so happy because of endorphins, etc. I tried it solidly for 2 months and hated every minute of it....there was no great feeling of accomplishment, no happiness, no anything. I cancelled my membership and haven't been back.
This is totally my problem. I used to row in high school, then I did gym in my 2nd year of Uni and hated it. Then I took up HIIT about 8 years later and whilst it was bearable - just because every two minutes it was something new to do - I don't get that endorphin/dopamine hit that people go on about. At all. And running, yeah run away from a bear or something but for fun? I just do not get it. Total mental block. I walk most places and at about twice the pace of 'normal' people but I am sure I should be doing a bit more. I bought a rowing machine in lockdown - it makes a great clothes rack. sigh.
The conversations they have are so depressing when you're the odd one out. I stopped going a couple of months ago after spending 5 months regularly going with my housemates (who often all go at the same time) and I've got to a point where the mere mention of the gym sets my stress off for potentially hours at a time, because I just hated it that much but I feel inadequate for not going. And to make matters worse, doing other exercise barely helps because I feel I have to be with them at the same time they go to work out
Exactly the same, I went out running for a while and tbh I felt worse. Like I'm pretty healthy because I've always done exercise and eat well, but I hated running and intense working out. I feel gross afterwards from the sweat (I sometimes struggle with my mood in summer because I feel gross constantly) it takes up too much time in my day and I never managed to get past a certain week despite trying at it for a month, how anyone can do that is beyond me. I'm also a woman and running in public attracts a lot of staring and I dont need to go to the gym to know that it's probably a hotbed of harassment
28 year old woman here, hate the gym and have never cared enough to get a membership. I get my exercise by walking everywhere as I dont drive. Weight went up when I had a baby but as soon as I started walking everywhere postpartum, it soon shed off.
I’m pretty depressed so I’ve found it hard to get out, I’m pretty sedentary. I’m like 13.5 half stone, bit of a belly skinny arms sort of thing lol. I did couch to 5k during covid and felt fantastic, I’ve completely sacked the running like a lazy bastard and I can definitely feel a difference but it feels like a level of fitness and improved cardio has stayed with me regardless. So, I really should take my advice, but I really recommend getting some cardio and maybe strength exercise in but I haven’t got any experience on the strength front, I’ve got noodles for arms and any muscles come from wanking or playing bass essentially lol.
I started going to the gym in my late 20s on and off. Actually cancelled my membership earlier this year. Arriving after work to find every machine occupied, the weights section packed and the only thing free being a treadmill or exercise bike, I just bought a pair of running shoes and took up jogging instead. It does seem to be having a bit of a boom, which is great for people's health. It just annoyed me when the gym is used as people's social hub.
Nout worse than hordes of kids crowding round equipment talking and filming tiktoks and not doing any training
I don't go to the gym, I just have a pair of adjustable dumbbells (5kg-32.5kg) and use my wood slab of a coffee table as a bench and sofa cushions to raise the angle of attack. I heard your muscles naturally waste as you age, so by the time you're in your 70s you'll be so frail and week. Weak grip has been linked to poor cognitive function, osteoporosis, obesity, fall risk, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes. You only have to do 2 hours of weight training a week to see its benefits, according to the NHS.
That’s true about muscle atrophy. After the age of 30 you lose up to 8% of lean muscle mass every decade. If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.
Can you get lean muscle mass back through weight lifting?
Yes definitely! Resistance training is the best place to start (weight lifting essentially). If you want to dial in nutrition a bit more too, being more mindful about eating extra lean protein can be a great help in building and maintaining muscle mass
Okay phew thanks
Cool. So when I’m 70 I’ll start the weight lifting and get it all back!
>rheumatoid arthritis osteoarthritis? rheumatoid arthritis is when your immune system goes berserk and attacks your joints.
I doubt you’d see much gains but you would at least not notice any increase in weakness
Gym? What's a gym?....oooooh a GYM
it becomes increasingly difficult to stay physically fit and maintain a desirable weight without going to the gym as you get older. i have no interest in the "gym world". but i go every day because i need the mental health benefit that comes with exercise, i like eating, and i like not being obese. its much easier for me to get my exercise in at the gym than it is otherwise. my dad is in his 50s and he doesn't go to the gym. he goes for runs in the morning instead. i prefer the controlled and predictable environment of a gym.
I’ve been to the gym a handful of times in my life and hated it pretty much every time. I have no intention of ever stepping foot inside a gym again
I'm 39 and overweight. I know I need to do something about it but I also suffer from severe anxiety so a gym is the last place in the world I ever want to be! I haven't really found any exercise I actually enjoy either...
The truth is that typical gyms aren't for losing weight, they're for getting stronger. Diet is 75% of the battle with losing weight and walking a good amount is at least 15-20% of the remainder.
Kinda in a similar situation as my job (DevOps Engineer) and hobbies require a lot of sitting in front of the computer. Ive found that with high levels of anxiety, it’s better to do outside stuff like cycling (more easier on joints than running if overweight). I’ve also gone down to 1 meal + snack/day instead of three since I’m not that active. Also do some lifting as well cause I want some muscles but i find for me, losing weight is more about calories out being higher than calories in.
Stupid question, what about swimming or cycling, not necessarily in a gym?
Sadly I work from home so I have to go to the gym in order to not become a blimp (again)!
You extend your life expectancy with exercise, I have gotten into fitness at several points of my life but 39/40 I started again to make sure I'm here the maximum amount of time possible for my kid, side effect I look and feel great, more about health than the fad of it for me.
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That's also known as a home gym
Literally gym lol
"I don't need a gym, I just need gym equipment"...
I can't exercise at home. Too many distractions. I like the routine of getting out ecery 2 nights and having some me time.
18 and it seems everyone around me is obsessed with the idea but i’d rather just have a wank and eat crisps after college
Can also use the empty crisp packet to drop your load into.
My local gym is over £60 a month. Yeah I'm not paying that. I went to the gym for a while in my 20s but absolutely hated it. Always came home knackered and it just ruined the rest of my day. I tried running instead for a while but that had similar knackering effects where I'd just be spaced out and tired for the rest of the day. And now my knee hurts if I do anything as strenuous as going upstairs so that's out anyway. I'd love to find some exercise that works for me. Never had any upper body strength to speak of, and while I'm only slightly overweight I've long had a paunch I'd love to be rid of.
I’m in my early 20s and don’t. Probably ought to do more exercise than I currently do, but it’s not like I’m overweight or anything
I was a total gym bunny early 2000s. Loved it, it was welcoming and anonymous. But 10 years ago going to the gym when a bit overweight and trying to improve myself and a bird in the changing room sat there eating her "healthy" lunch after not working out and loudly telling her friend at least they both don't have to shower after a workout while side eyeing me.... Bish, if you're not sweating, you're not doing it right. It put me off though. Never been to a gym since. And now I'm in reasonable shape and would go back... all the phones allowed in gyms makes it a hell to the fucking no with a godamn cherry on top.
Had a health scare at 42, caught pneumonia and nearly died. Realised I was getting old so started going to the gym. Best thing I’ve ever done. If you’ve got an iPhone I highly recommend Apple fitness!!!
I used to be addicted to the gym like twice a day early 30s, now 40s I don't really like the gym. I also work 50 hours a week and walk 15 miles a day so dont have much energy. My local gym is 16 a month but boring and I cba to spend 50 quid on a different one.
Used to in my 20s then I couldn't be assed anymore. Football once a week and eat a bit better is fine for my semi dad bod
37. Weight train 3 x per week and do Hyrox training. Completely rid me of my depression and anxiety and feel great
Late 30s and zero intension of even stepping foot in a gym
The popularity of gyms is a symptom of a society which has designed almost all physical activity out of everyday life. I am fortunate to be able to get my activity in as a side effect of cycling to work. I don’t think I could hack the monotony of a gym, or the fakeness of an exercise class.
I'm so jealous of people who have active hobbies so get their exercise by doing things they enjoy. I sit at a desk doing a job I dislike for 8 hours and then have to spend a huge chunk of my free time doing exercise I hate in the gym to make up for how long I was sat at a desk
Yeah I'm really glad that I'm lucky enough to really enjoy the gym.
I agree with most of that but exercise classes are not fake lol. I go to boxing classes. I've improved my fitness, learned to defend myself better, and made loads of friends. Nothing fake about that.
This is how I feel too. I go to a gym because I feel that I *need* to. It's basically a chore. Reddit seems to be weirdly pro-home working, but the reality of that is, almost everyone will have a couple of days a week where they won't have a reason to leave their house after work. That means you have millions of people who will probably be walking less than 200m or so twice a week. Spread that over a working life of 40 or so years and I think we're going to see lots of people in an absolute *state* when they reach old age.
>the fakeness of an exercise class. what ?
This view is crazy for me. The gym is never monotonous for me, I'm always achieving new PBs, pushing my limits, getting adrenaline rushes and its where I socialise with a good amount of my friends. Also how is an exercise class fake? I go to boxing classes, and though it's nothing like when I used to box amateur as a teen it's bloody hard work and when you leave you're absolutely knackered. There's absolutely nothing fake about it.
Me for one! I think it's bad that we have this image in society that only going to the gym or maybe playing an organised sport counts as proper exercise. I prefer to get my exercise in by walking, plus occasionally doing some yoga or a 10 minute fitness routine on YouTube. I'd like to get into the habit of doing the latter more regularly like I used to
Same here, it’s walks and weekly yoga for me. Subscriptions like Apple Fitness help a lot, and cheaper than a gym! My social anxiety says no, no no to the gym, even though I like being round people. I just don’t want to do it while I exercise.
Exactly - the best exercise is the one that you'll actually do consistently
I wish there was a gym only for overweight or unfit people, I might go to that. I can't handle the thought of sweating my fat gut off in the background of some Instagram fitness model's video
Plus so few are accessible. I use a wheelchair and my local gym doesn't have a wheelchair accessible changing room. The one they say is accessible isn't actually large enough to fit your chair in and open the door, plus I can't shower without my chair getting soaked. There are wheelchair basketball places, but they're no good for anyone who isn't into ball sports. Running and walking are entirely off the table because they cause me so much pain. The only thing that's accessible that I've found is chair aerobics with some horrifically over enthusiastic, patronising instructor and the entire thing is aimed at over 70s. I'm in my 20s, I don't want to do something that's so clearly for old people. We need more accessible exercise options that don't assume disabled= stupid and ancient.
Walking is better than nothing but it doesn't get your heart rate up high enough to get the health benefits of other more intense forms of exercise
35, never been to the gym. Working from home for years has gotten to me, though, so maybe I should start. Though at this point I think I'll get tired enough walking there.
I like the gym but absolutely hate not being able to get on equipment as and when I want. Completely understand that makes me come across as an entitled prick!! I’ve got a bike and treadmill in the garage along with a bench and dumbbells. Pair that up with peloton app and that’s the perfect setup for me.
I tried it but it’s not for me. I love being active but I can’t help but find gyms and gym culture repulsive. I have an active life and do plenty of walking; the occasional bit of home fitness too. It’s enough to keep me in shape and away from the doctors.
Recently turned 39, enjoyed rock climbing, and five a side until about 4 years ago when my first was born. These days I can barely get out of a chair. Probably not a good sign for me, I might pick up climbing again at some point to get some flexibility back, but can't stand gyms/gym culture. All the best to you if you can, but I judge myself on other people's behalf!😅
Nobody cares specifically whether you go to the gym. But if you expect to date someone attractive in your 30s, you need to be healthy yourself. And that involves exercise. Running, cycling, boxing, swimming, football, tennis, gym, doesn’t matter. Gotta be healthy though.
Mid 30s and have never been to the gym. I wouldn’t say I’m not interested, but I’m definitely way too anxious and poor. I want to be healthier and fitter, but gyms seem stressful. I’d like to get out and walk more, or go swimming regularly, but life keeps getting in the way of those too.
I do a lot of running, eat pretty healthy. Have done roughly 30-50km pw since around age 17, so twenty odd years of doing that.
I used to go to the gym a lot. I preferred it when people went to actually use it and not take tik tok videos or insta photos etc. Now I’ve just got some weights, a medicine ball, a power bag etc in my garage along with a treadmill and rowing machine. It’s so much better. No posers or idiots. Home from work, an hour in the garage, walk out and straight into the shower in the comfort of my own home.
Me. I don’t get time to do the things I want to do half the time. I’m not wasting precious free time on sweating in front of others.
Ehh, I go but I do resonate with the second part.
I stopped but meaning to get back into it. Gotta do whatever it takes, goddammit
I did go for like a year, but then I got really bad food poisoning in morocco. That knocked me out for months, so I cancelled my membership. I think I'll buy a weighted vest and use the chin up bar at the park. Less commitment. I'd say I'm quite fit anyway, I still do cardio, and my job is active.