Does strenuous exercise make you miserable, or does it make you feel good? I know there are people who truly hate to exercise, so this isn't a loaded question, I don't think.

I used to hate exercise; now I just occasionally get out of the habit. Once I'm back into it, I look forward to it. On particularly bad, stressfull days, I sometimes focus on the fact that as soon as it's all over, I can go home and work out, and then I'll feel better. And I usually do.

How about you? Does exercising make you feel good? Are some forms of exercising better than others for that purpose? What are your favorite things to do after a stressful day?

-- Anonymous, February 03, 2000

Answers

Funny that you wrote about this today. I went out last night and bought my first Tae-Bo tape (yeah- Thanks Pamie) and the reason I did it is because of all the reasons you said here today. I feel better physically, it puts me in a completely different frame of mind, I ten to treat myself better when I am working out, and by that I mean that I eat better, drink more water, cut down on my thousand cups of coffee a day, and I buy the lowfat hostess cupcakes instead of the regular full o'fat ones. I DO get a high from working out. But BY GOD I HATE IT while I'm doing it. I hate Billy Blanks and that face of his already.

-- Anonymous, February 03, 2000

Whether my body produces a lot of endorphins that make me feel good after a strenuous workout, or whether it's self- (I mean mind-) induced by mentally patting myself on the back and the head for being such a good little workoutbee, I couldn't say. But it feels pretty good and I'll take it.

-- Anonymous, February 03, 2000

It depends on the workout. The guys I train with, we keep changing the workout. We meet three nights a week and work some combination of karate, sword, calisthenics (pushups, abs, lunges), and weight lifting. Sometimes I can barely crawl out of bed in the morning, and my big goal is to get healed up before the next session; other times, when I'm walking around the next day I feel like a goddamned superhero, like I'm on springs and there are little motors pushing me around, so moving is effortless.

When we first started, most of us weren't in the greatest shape, so there were a great many more of the painful days than there are now. I definitely look forward to the workouts; it's great knowing that I can do 500 pushups or crunches in one night, or practice kicks and punches for an hour and a half. Makes my little computer-geeky heart proud, and profoundly confuses my parents, who were convinced I was well on my way to pear-shaped-intellectualhood.

-- Anonymous, February 03, 2000

Exercise makes me feel great.

It also makes me feel great to be *able* to exercise as much as I do and in the ways that I do. I love being able to walk up and down hills, and walk on beaches, and walk in the redwoods, and do yoga when I feel like stretching. It's wonderful to be able to release stress in those ways, and do things that are good for my heart that way, and for my mind.

On the other hand, I really admire people who are physically handicapped in some way and hwo can't exercise in normal ways - the fact that those people are often the strongest people mentally and emotionally is very inspiring to me.

-- Anonymous, February 03, 2000

I love to exercise--- AFTER the fact. I love the way it makes me feel, I like the way it makes me look, I love it as a stress reliever.

But in the middle of it--when I'm lifting that weight for one last set--I occasionally get the thought, "Okay, exactly WHY am I doing this?" as my muscles are complaining and I'm tired and I want to do other things.

The worst part is...I often can't answer myself.

It makes sense AFTERWARDS. In the middle of it, it doesn't make a lot of sense. Anybody else like that?

--Al of NOVA NOTES.

-- Anonymous, February 03, 2000

I wouldn't say I get dispirited in the middle - by that time, I'm just getting on with it, but certainly oooooh, around half an hour before I'm supposed to be at the class (or whatever), my whole body just goes into rebellion: I'm tired, I'm hungry, I'm bored, I'm too busy, I should wash dishes instead...

the sad thing is, that the night before, I'm really enthusiastic and looking forward to it, and (if I do go) afterwards I always feel fantastic. I just need to sort out that half-hour - any ideas?

-- Anonymous, February 03, 2000

Bea:

Eat a small snack, an apple and some crackers, an hour before class. That should take care of the hunger & tiredness, if you are actually hungry and tired and not just getting fooled into thinking you're hungry and tired.

-- Anonymous, February 03, 2000

Yes. We finally went back to the gym after nearly two months away -- due to illness. And boy did it feel gooood.

I love getting on the treadmill and working up to a good sweat, then there's that phase that my calves get to where they're burning just enough that it hurts a little and you have to push through it to keep going without slowing down and then that tension eases and I'm moving fluidly and hitting my stride just right and I feel so MONDO when I can push through the burn.

Hem.

When I get down off the treadmill, I feel so _relaxed_. That may seem weird, but after sitting in a chair all day it feels wonderful to shake all of the kinks out with a nice brisk walk -- I can literally feel my spine straightening out and my neck relaxing.

I sleep better after a work out too which is a huge boon.

I'd like going to the gym more if it weren't so loud I think and there was something more interesting to look at than the TV and other people doing exercise. That's the part of working out I don't like.

I also get bored easily and need to vary my workouts so that I don't lose interest. So I think that when we move, I'll look for a club that has _windows_ so that I can look out while I tread ze mill and pump ze iron.

-- Anonymous, February 03, 2000

Yes, exercise makes me feel great. I'm back at the gym after being away for 2 months for health reasons, and it's hard, but I love it. I love losing weight, too, and I'd rather exercise more than eat less, if I have the choice.

We have a new weight training teacher and I hear she has an aerobics background. Yesterday was the first time I did the circuit routine she has us do on Wednesdays. We warmed up, then did a circuit of 7 or 8 weight routines, then she led us in a aerobic / strengthening thing, another circuit, another aerobic session, then cooldown.

I HATED it. First, she played music, which was that speeded up disco music that aerobic teachers always have tapes of. The circuits were okay but the aerobic parts were nightmarish. She led us in things like squatting and pressing alternate heels down (yelling PRESS it! PRESS it!  always yelling about this it) and led up to kick boxing type moves. She squealed WOOO! Are you FEELIN IT? a few times which just made me want to smack her. The routine was confusing and I felt like a total klutz, although Ive done aerobics before and was good at it then. I was almost crying from exhaustion and annoyance. I come here to lift weights and get STRONG. This aerobic stuff is GIRLY. I dont want girly weight class with squealing women singing along to a speeded up version of Never Can Say Goodbye. I hadnt noticed but there are more women than men in the class this session. Does that mean its going to turn into Weights Lite?

I was furious, I started planning to quit class and do weights on my own.

But by the end, I had to admit it was a great workout. The cardio stuff was more challenging than my work on the precor (though we didnt check heart rate and maybe we should) and the weight work was good. Im sore all over in a good way. Ill grit my teeth and go back.

-- Anonymous, February 03, 2000

...hey there -- doing a little recycling of my own -- here is my original e-mail response to beth's forum post:

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"do you feel better when you work out?"

...i'm hoping that by now i've answered this somewhat --- yeah, i do feel better...i'm definatetly 'one of thoses' who do...for me it's about maintaing the proper attitude about the entire process of 'being a healthier person'...i refuse to deny that there are other cultural pressures that effect my desire to be thinner, but i need to make sure it doesn't effect my overall attitude about health...and given my track record, it isn't always easy for me...

-- Anonymous, February 03, 2000

Beth K. and Bea: the problems you just cited are exactly why I work out at home. If I have to think about going to the gym, I'll make a million excuses not to. Instead, since I work out at home, I can just jump in and do it when I'm having that, "Oh, yeah, gonna work out ..." energy rush.

And like Beth said, I get bored. I need to do different things. I used to take an aerobics class four nights a week, and it was so boring I could hardly convince myself to go. I need TV or at least a nice view. (Keith Cook, on the Kathy Smith tape I just bought, works really well for that "nice view" part.)

-- Anonymous, February 03, 2000

Hee. On the whole view thing -- part of that is also that I don't have any windows at my office either. So after spending the whole day indoors in a windowless stuffy room, the last thing I want to do is spend another hour, even after dark in a windowless sweaty room.

But I don't do aerobics -- don't like 'em, never have. I prefer to lift and walk, or bike or swim.

Hence I'm looking forward to moving closer to the YMCA. We're moving in April at the latest, so I'll cancel my gym membership then, join the Y and start _really_ varying my woorkouts.

They have group volleyball every Friday night for 2-3 hours, open swim in the evening and of course a weight room and various exercise classes. I'm thinking of adding Yoga to my spread as well, to help with that whole mental well-being thing.

And of course, when the snow melts, I'm going to bite the bullet and start biking the 7 uphill miles to work.

But all this must be done in "small moves" or I won't get there at all:)

-- Anonymous, February 03, 2000

Ohh... I love to excercise, but on my own time. I get the biggest high before and after I excercise. I run/walk, do sit ups and I started to do pushups. The only bad thing about that is, it has to be light out for me to do it, so I can't do it that often. I feel so much better after a run. I've only started, so I stop all the time. I need to get some kind of excercise tape, that'd pump me up.

I started this the other week because I heard that excercising releives stress, and it was Final's week, so I went out and did it. I felt so much better than I did before, I had energy and a clear, focused mind.

Would someone request an excercise tape, I don't want to do Tae-Bo, but one that really worked for them? Thanks.

-- Anonymous, February 03, 2000

I get no high from excercise. Nor do I get a kick from champagne. The most either does for me is make me tired and nauseous.

-- Anonymous, February 04, 2000

I do feel good after I exercise, but it's apparently not enough to make me actually do it. I think it's the whole pain thing.

-- Anonymous, February 04, 2000

I don't like "exercise," per se, until after it's over. After it's over I like the way my lungs feel cleared out and the way I could totally relax. And I like the long-term effects of being much less wimpy. But I don't like going to the gym or things like that.

What I love are ultimate frisbee and ballroom dancing. Ultimate frisbee pits me against whoever I'm guarding and inspires me to run around much more than I ever would on my own. I suck pretty bad and don't often get to actually handle the disc, but people have learned that it's pretty safe to throw it to me in the end zone, if I could just get open! And ultimate frisbee is one of those sports where people of all levels can play together. You just have the lame people guarding lame people and the killer awesome types guarding each other. (Actually, I enjoy guarding killer awesome types sometimes; they'll get lazy with me and let their guard down, mwahahaha.) As long as you have a rule to throw to whoever's open, even if you know they'll probably drop the disk, then everyone gets to play and have a good time. Long term, ultimate gives me stamina and keeps me in shape--lower resting heart rate, etc.

Ballroom dancing lets me pretend I'm elegant and beautiful and lets me participate with music I love without having to learn to play an instrument. As the follower, I never know what's going to happen next, and have to stay on my guard at all times ("Use the Force, Deb.") And ballroom dancing even helps me appreciate music that I didn't used to like. (I have to admit that ballroom dancing wasn't particularly fun the first year I was learning it--but I went with friends and had fun making fun of the instructor with them.)

Of course both of those sports require other people to be around. But that's how I do exercise best anyway: peer pressure. People always say bad things about peer pressure, but if you hang with people who are the way you want to be, then peer pressure is an excellent thing. I will even lift weights and jog with peer pressure. (When I jog alone, I tend to stop and smell the flowers too much, you know.)

Someone was asking about exercise tapes. I find that it's fun to check them out of the local library. You can have a new tape every week, and if you love one of them, you can buy it. Now, libraries do have a lot of wacko tapes, like "Chair Dancing Around the World (?)," that are only interesting a few times. I also found other weird things I would have never picked out that turned out to be cool like "Woman Warrior Workout." I recommend learning some aerobics moves you like from classes or tapes, and then putting together your own routine with music you love.

I admit that even with ultimate frisbee, I sometimes feel glad when it's pouring down rain and I know it will be cancelled. Before exercise, it's hard to psych myself unless I'm annoyed with something and want to let off some steam in a productive way. During exercise, I only enjoy the fun kinds. Afterwards, I always like it, unless I got some sort of injury or overworked a muscle.

-- Anonymous, February 04, 2000