Bored with working out...

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I've been going to the gym for two months now, and have lost about 20 lbs so far. Going pretty well, but I'm bored to death with the routine of going to the gym. I need inspirations. I need to get motivated. I need my workout to be fun. I'd like input from you on how to make working out something to look forward to.

Here's my background. I'm 38, 5'10", 186 lbs. I played competitive soccer up to college, and used to be very fit. I'm a typical former-athlete who let everything go after my competitive days were over. For the past 15 years or so, my weight has been going up and down in cycle every few years between 165 and 220. I start working out when I hit around 210 and keep working out until I reach 170 or so. Then, I stop going to the gym, and back at around 200 in a couple of years.

The last weight climb began about two years ago when I got married. When my weight hit 210 a couple of months ago, I started watching what I eat and started going to the gym, again. I've repeated this several times over the years. Now I have a child, and I'm almost 40. I want to change things this time. I'd like this to be my last diet, and go into maintaining weight for the rest of my life.

The problem is, I hate working out. I never liked it in my life. Even in my competitive days, I hated running. I hated lifting weights. But I did it because there was a clear goal - to improve my fitness to be a better athlete. I still play soccer in adult leagues, but it's not like you are playing to win. Just to have fun.

I need to get motivated to go to the gym.

With family and work, my workout hours are limited to early in the morning, before work. I get up at 6:15 a.m., at the gym by 6:45 a.m. 45 minutes of weight training and 45 minutes of cardio, then off to work. 5 times a week. After I get home, I play with my daughter, help my wife with house stuff, off to be around 10 p.m. As I mentioned before, I play soccer once a week after work, but it's hard to add any more games with family obligations.

At the gym in the past two months, I've changed my weight lifting routines and changed cardio routines. I hate them, but I still do them, but almost mindlessly and mechanically. I don't get satisfaction from seeing that I'm losing 2 lbs every every week. I've done this so many times. Not a big deal. I know I will reach my target weight.

All of this is just so boring. It's the routine of going to the gym every morning at 6:45 a.m. and spending 1 1/2 hours working out. Like many non-fitness-enthusiasts, I hate working out because of the pain - lungs bursting, muscles burning. But my mind is used to it enough to enable my body to take the pain. Again, all of this is routine, and I'm so bored.

How do you all keep yourself motivated to go back to the gym everyday? Please don't suggest registering for a marathon or triathlon. I don't want to increase my pain level at the gym so that I can do even more painful stuff. Competition is a good goal and motivation, but the only competition that I'm interested in is soccer, and it's hard to find competitive soccer in my age group.

Sorry for this long post. I sound more like whining than asking a question. The bottom line is, I want to be able to look forward to going to the gym every morning.

Thank you.
 
There are several things you could try:

Interval training- works best with cardio or cardio under resistance (eg up the levels or gradient on the machine). Work at your max for 2-3 mins then work at an average pace for 1 min. Repeat 5-8 times then move on to the next machine. An example would be on the elliptical machine (cross trainer, whatever you want to call it.) Speed of 130spm (or 65rpm), level 15 (out of a possible 20) for 3 mins then down to level 10 (out of a possible 20) for 1 minute. If it feels easy, up the intensity, if its too much then lower the intensity. Repeat 5-8 times.

Or HIIT, there are stickes on some of the forum threads about this but its basicly Interval training but the next level up- you work VERY hard for 20-40 seconds- as in your body cannot possibly move any faster, then back to normal for the same time. Repeat till you've done 20 mins. If your able to do this more then 30 mins your not working hard enough. This form of exercise should not be repeated for more then three times a week. It works as it has your body hit an anerobic exercise level where your burning carbs and energy at a far higher level, its designed to keep your body working at a higher threshold for far longer afterwards. Apparently able to cut down on your exercise time as a result but I have never tried this to say either way.

Group exercise- have someone else make up a programme, work in a group, in a team. Things like circuit training and power pump classes are great for this.

Rent a personal trainer, work on a goal or discuss a goal with them, have them help you out with a new programme. If you have a goal it can feel a lot more inspiring, also a personal trainer can see your weak spots and give advice on working on them.

Or if that doesn't work, take a break from exercise- do none for a week and I'd place a bet on you having the best session for a few months when you decide to return- its as if it suddenly meant the world to you, not exercising for a few days or a week (if you can manage that long!) and you end up with twitchy legs, a surplus of energy, not being able to sleep and a huge fear that your going to balloon, result is that you actually want to go back to the gym!
 
Thank you for your reply. I'm already doing HIIT as my cardio, although it sounds like I may not be doing it right according to what you suggest. I do about 10 minutes warm-up on a treadmill, and repeat 45-sec-sprint-then-2-min-walk 10 times, then 5 minutes of trying not to throw up. Maybe I should shorten it and up the intensity. Shorter workout time would make it easier for me to go back to the gym.
I'd really like workout buddies, but they are hard to come by. I tried to get my wife to do it with me, but she's not the workout type. She gets bored literally after 5 minutes at the gym, not wanting to do anything. A class would be nice, but where I go is a corporate gym at work, and they don't have classes early in the morning.
I may try not going to the gym for a week, but I'm afraid to do so. I know one thing that I'm good at is falling off the bandwagon...
Thank you for your suggestions, though. I may try to up the intensity throughout so that I can get my daily workout done in an hour instead of 1 1/2 hours. That still won't make it fun, but at least it'll make it easier for me to go back to the gym.
 
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just a thought here but depending on how old your daughter is then maybe go for a bike ride with her. Obviously it depends on her age but it might help you to see the fun side of exercising, and as it probably won't be high intensity, don't think of it as a workout if it is. :)
 
Its that exact fear: of falling off the bandwagon, that'll have you back to the gym in droves! Its unlikely that fear will subside within a week and a break can make all the difference.

Not sure where abouts you are but see if there is any sort of Army or Military fitness group. They offer classes which is a bit like a circuit class but x10! It really can boost your fitness in a whole new way too as you do things you'd otherwise not do. Fitness is more then stamina or getting to the top of a certain type of exercise, an all over fitness would mean your good at everything (if thats actually possible!) so think about your goals, your aims, don't neglect forms of exercise you've maybe not tried yet.

They may help to break things up, give you a new routine but also they may even enhance the exercise you do already. An example: I took up spinning classes, 3 a week and 45 mins each. I found that about 6-8 weeks later I was able to add with ease another KM to the speed of my running.
 
Well if you board with workout then you have to leave it for some days when feel better then you can continue it . it doesn't matter that you leave it and then again start workout ...
 
"I hate working out because of the pain - lungs bursting, muscles burning."

The only time I train in such a way that produces the above consequences is when I'm in a situation where I have to let someone else train me and they don't care about my wants or needs. There's absolutely no need for training to be painful for general purposes. Challenging? Yes. Painful? No. Think about it - are you playing soccer WRONG when it isn't painful? Of course not! Do you know what "feel[ing] the burn" will train you for? It will train you to endure a burning sensation, and more specifically to endure lactic acid accumulation. If your goal isn't to deal with lactic acid, then I don't see why you should have to. Granted, lactic endurance training may be appropriate soccer, but if you're not playing competitively, then it may not be of much benefit.

One option I can suggest (and this is actually good for making sure that weight lost is primarily fat), is to do a 5x5 ramping program. Basically, you take a light weight and do 5 reps of it. Then you increase the weight a bit, rest and do 5 more reps. You keep this up until your heavy final set - the only set that should be at all difficult. The weights used might look something like this: 5x20kg, 5x30kg, 5x40kg, 5x50kg, 5x60kg. Do this with a full squat, a bench press or overhead press, and a deadlift or row, 3 days a week. It should be enough intensity to keep the muscle mass without all the pain.

There's plenty of other options out there as well, this is just one suggestion. The main point is that if you don't enjoy the burn and don't need it, don't aspire towards it. Often max strength and power training produces little to no burn. It's heavy and hard, but it usually doesn't hurt. Likewise, you can get your cardio by doing acceleration drills, which also don't tend to hurt much. A good acceleration session will be hard work, but it won't have you burning up at all, and in fact you should feel completely fine at the end of the session. This isn't something you can do 5 days a week (well, maybe you can, but you probably shouldn't), but it's more training in a way that may be more enjoyable, or at least less unenjoyable.

I suggest giving yourself a performance goal that isn't pain oriented. Measure your 1RM for some basic compound lifts, and aim to increase it, for example.
 
My daughter is only 11 months. It'll be a while before she starts bike riding... But, I sure would like to get into the habit of working out when she's able!
 
Thank you all for your replies. I was kind of doubtful if I would get any meaningful replies, but this has been an eye opener, actually. "Goldfish" raises a good point. It made me think of myself deeper.

I come from a generation in Japan in which training for any type of sports meant building endurance for pain and fatigue, and build stamina, almost like the old military style - and doing it all wrong.

"The only time I train in such a way that produces the above consequences is when I'm in a situation where I have to let someone else train me and they don't care about my wants or needs" --- This was exactly what I went through pretty much from when I started playing soccer when I was 10 all the way through to college. I mean, these coaches back then for instance believed you build endurance and stamina by not taking any fluids during a three-hour high-intensity training in a 95-degree weather! This you-are-not-doing-enough-if-can-get-up-at-the-end-of-the-training mentality is so ingrained in my brains, I just feel like I have to push myself to my limit every single day, or it's a waste of time.

In fact, when I was doing HIIT this morning, I almost threw up. I stopped for a few seconds, but I kept going. In the locker room afterward, of course, I sat still on the bench for 5 minutes until I felt OK. It's not that I'm just bored with working out - I actually hate it because of the way I do it. Still, I keep doing this to myself because this is the only way I allow myself to do it. It's a really bad habit. I do keep asking myself during workouts -"Why do you do this to yourself? Nobody is watching and nobody cares. It's not like you have a tournament coming up in a month." But the other me says, "you are supposed to stop."

Maybe the military fitness group "summer123" suggests may be better suited for me. But I'm not sure I'll enjoy it.

For me, working out (and my fitness maintenance) is a bad cycle of "pushing myself as hard as I can" --> "hating working out because of it" --> "but I can't stop because I'm not supposed to" --> "ok, my weight is in control, so I can stop now" --> "completely stop working out because I hate it so much" --> "crap! my weight is out of control again, I need to get back to the gym" --> "pushing myself as hard as I can" --> "hating working out because of it" -- and so on.

Maybe it's time for a personal trainer who teaches me how to do it.

I've had two knee surgeries from tearing my ACL while playing soccer, and two bad episodes of not being able to move from a herniated disc. When I went to physical therapy, I thought what they had me do was a joke. One of the places I went to was a sport medicine department at a major university. Even when I was 90 percent back to normal, what they had me do still didn't feel like it was "rebuilding" my body.

I guess fitness trainers would be different from physical therapists, but how do you find good fitness trainers who know what they are doing - the ones who not only tells you how to workout but how to approach working out?
 
I think you just need some prohormones to get you back into the mindset. There are some super foods that might help you, tribulus terristis (i think its spelled) and saw palmetto
 
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