Tired of exercise?

Timber99

Timber99

Cathlete
I know it sounds silly, but have you ever felt "tired" of working out after so many years?

I have been an avid exerciser since 1995. I was in college, overweight and one day, for no reason really, started exercising and eating healthier. I lost 80 pounds and live an entirely different lifestyle since. I've always gone through brief periods of not being as motivated to work out or letting myself do less workouts than usual. I know we all go through that now and then. But in the past year, I have been struggling to maintain a regular workout schedule and good performance in workouts. It's almost as if I have burnt out or something. On some days, I literally have to force myself to get down there, let alone turn on the tape and do the workout! I tried taking a couple of weeks off and coming back, which didn't help at all and maybe even made it worse. I tried lightening up the workouts (shorter versions for a while). I tried just doing my favorites to motivate or getting something new to conquer. Yes, my life is more stressful and I am a little older, but I'm almost worried that I will never get that fire and ease with workouts back!

Am I alone?
 
maybe its time for

a check up, it seems like you may be fighting something like a virus or some thing else like depression. If you just don't feel like it any more which is out of character for you I think you may need to get checked out for a hormonal imbalance or vitamin deficiency.

I hope the desire returns! I always feel better after even if I did not want to start.
 
No, you are definitely not alone.

I think it's normal for enthusiasm to cycle like that. The last time I went through this, I started doing another type of exercise (yoga), and I got hooked on that for quite a while. Eventually I came back around to running, and then after I found Cathe, weight training.

Everything changes, and the burnout you may be experiencing will too...it won't last forever.
 
Oh, I forgot to mention that I did have a physical and blood work done as well, though I'm not sure they check for hormones and that kind of thing.

I do feel better after the workout, always, but sometimes it's just tough getting that far these days.
 
Timber, I have felt the way you described before, but found that I was just suffering from burn-out. Taking anywhere from a couple days, to a full rest week has always resolved that issue for me. Sometimes just switching things up helps :)
 
Something that helps me tell the difference between physical tiredness and mental doldrums is to track my morning pulse. When I'm overtraining (physically burning out), my morning pulse tends to be higher by ten percent or so - from my normal 52/54 to 60 - and my sleep is broken. That means it is time to do fun things only, working out lightly and at different times of day, mainly to preserve the habit of having that as part of my life.

When it's mental doldrums, I like to switch things around entirely. This year, learning kettlebells are part of that process of doing a new and different activity; they are more 'playful', in a way, and that's fun! I'd also gone through a period where I was truly enjoying doing regular cardio on exercise machines and suddenly became entirely bored with that after two years. The cardio machines are now off my list except in 'emergencies', and I'm adding different ways to get the cardio, including step. Ellipticals et al will probably be interesting again in six months to a year. Same thing happened when I was in a gym, doing group workouts.

It's just as possible to burn out on exercise as it is on a job. There's nothing wrong with you :) And nothing wrong with setting aside a strategy that isn't satisfying you both mentally and physically.
 
Shadowpup said:
When it's mental doldrums, I like to switch things around entirely. This year, learning kettlebells are part of that process of doing a new and different activity; they are more 'playful', in a way, and that's fun! I'd also gone through a period where I was truly enjoying doing regular cardio on exercise machines and suddenly became entirely bored with that after two years. The cardio machines are now off my list except in 'emergencies', and I'm adding different ways to get the cardio, including step.
Click to expand...

ITA with Shadowpup, I used to do elliptical for most of my cardio, and enjoyed it, I usually did about an hour, but one day I just got sick of it, to the point, where I just can't even fathom being on one, it's been about a year now, and I still won't get on one. So now I'm doing different dvds, mainly kickboxing and bootcamp, and mostly taking a live kickbox class, which has been just the best to fight the "boring" cardio blues.

I also added in kettlebells, which is not like anything else, and they do have a fun factor attached to them.

It might just be time to really shake up your workouts and try some things that are fresher/newer for you.
 
What about trying something totally different, like hiking, rock climbing, mountain biking, triathalons, synchronized swimming, belly dancing, salsa, Muay Thai, capoeira, etc? Maybe it's time to think out of the box and just try something you've never done before.
 
I have been through one period when I felt the way that you do. I finally realized that I was suffering from burnout. Now, I recognize the symptoms and back off before it becomes to severe.
 
I saw that you got your blood work done. I'm not sure what the results were, but for me, when my hemoglobin is on the low side, I always find it hard to get motivated.

This time for me, it turns out my red bloodcell count was low, so I'm upping the read meat while taking iron supplements.

Maybe it's vitamins, or the food you eat.

I have a fabulous doctor who is very knowledgeable in the area of nutrition and exercise as well as hormones. If you can find someone like that you could talk it out and trouble shoot.

Best of luck to you and don't give up!
 
Thanks to all that weighed in here. I am going to try to hit the gym for classes more often, which usually motivates me (once I get there) and then maybe give myself a reward or goal to get through the weeks and month.

It just seems to be going on for a rather long time!

This too shall pass :)
 
Timber99 said:
I know it sounds silly, but have you ever felt "tired" of working out after so many years?

I have been an avid exerciser since 1995. I was in college, overweight and one day, for no reason really, started exercising and eating healthier. I lost 80 pounds and live an entirely different lifestyle since. I've always gone through brief periods of not being as motivated to work out or letting myself do less workouts than usual. I know we all go through that now and then. But in the past year, I have been struggling to maintain a regular workout schedule and good performance in workouts. It's almost as if I have burnt out or something. On some days, I literally have to force myself to get down there, let alone turn on the tape and do the workout! I tried taking a couple of weeks off and coming back, which didn't help at all and maybe even made it worse. I tried lightening up the workouts (shorter versions for a while). I tried just doing my favorites to motivate or getting something new to conquer. Yes, my life is more stressful and I am a little older, but I'm almost worried that I will never get that fire and ease with workouts back!

Am I alone?
Click to expand...

Absolutely! That's when I know I need to change it up. This is why I don't run so much (at all) anymore. I used to run 60+ miles a week when I did marathons and got so sick of it. That's when I took up yoga, discovered cross-training, and weights. Now I absolutely LOVE Cathe because she keeps things interesting and different.
 
I definitely need variety and options to keep my interest going. I like to try new things (and have scads of workout 'toys' that I can incorporate into workouts, and over 200 workout DVD's).

I've been more-than-sporadic with exercising over the past 9 months or so, but I'm finding that CLX is good for getting me motivated again, because it is so time efficient that I can usually talk myself into doing it, knowing I'll only be working out for around 1/2 hour.

(I'm not sure how I'll motivate myself to do STS once it gets here! I'm hoping I'll feel more motivated when the weather warms up and there's more daylight.)
 
Hi Timber99,

You don't mention if you have a particular fitness goal that you're trying to achieve. Is there some part of your body you'd like to change or feat you'd like to conquer? (more definition, improved strength, leaner arms, do a triathalon, etc).

Maybe if you have something specific you are trying to improve, your workouts would have more purpose. Then you're not just doing the minutes because they'll keep you in shape overall. You could track your progress, which is always motivating IMO. Does that make sense? HTH and good luck!
 
I have been working out for 35 years, and I don't think I have ever had that total burn-out feeling. However, there are times that I don't feel like exercising as much. One of those times is always in the fall, the weeks before the time change. It gets so dark in the morning, and it never fails to get to me. So for about a month, I change my work-outs to after work and I just don't fight trying to get up in the dark. Then when the time changes, I switch back. Other times I find that it was a struggle was anytime the life schedule changed, like when the kids get out for summer, or go back to school. I learned to plan for the changes, take a short break, and change up the schedule to match the life schedule.

The other thing that has kept me going is I an always doing different things. I learned to swim, I switched from the gym to videos, but now sometimes pop back in the gym. I added yoga recently, kickboxing, have lots of videos because I am always open to trying new stuff. When people ask me, what I do for exercise, there is such a variety of things I do, I never tell them, they get that glazed look in their eyes.

Keep varying it to keep fresh, and accept there are time in our lives that things change.
 
I went throught this this year and I added on more mineral supplements and vitamin D. I feel alot better and I also got hooked on spin classes for something different. I would maybe try a new activity for a while and increase your vitamins and minerals.

Tina
 
I recently felt the same way about exercising and I found out that I needed more variety. I 've got some walking DVDs and other total body workouts and now I can't wait to work out. I think I was really burned or bored out!
Ellen
 
Do you workout to a variety of instructors or just do Cathe? I have felt the same way as you depending on what's going on in my life. Sometimes, I think brining the number of days and intensity down is helpful then gradually coming back into your regular routine. I also find that I can no longer do one style/instructor all the time. Branching out to a variety of workouts/instructors has kept me motivated and interested. Like Kathryn, I'm loving CLX...it's the perfect umph that I needed and I get it done in 5 days a week, in under one hour, with the option to add in my favorite cardio(s) if I desire.

Try not to be too hard on yourself. I also find that on most days if I hit play and get 5 or 10 min. into it, I can get through the workout and I feel so good when I've done it.
 
Not tired of exercise...

...(after 27 years) but darned tired of watching what I eat!

Because as you get older, you have to be more careful than ever! I'd be happy to exercise like crazy for the rest of my life if it meant I wouldn't have to worry about everything I eat!

I don't have any health advice to add (you've got plenty of good suggestions already), but have you considered that you might have seasonal depression? Maybe spending extra time under full-spectrum lights would help.

I hope you feel better soon!
 
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