Exercise makes me miserable

Cc That made me laugh!

I’ve got lots of friends in their 80’s and I can honestly say that the ones who have regularly exercised are no fitter than the ones who haven’t. Two friends who ran and cycled very frequently have Parkinson’s and another who more or less devoted his life to sport can hardly walk due to knee and hip problems. Another friend who spends lots of money on a private trainer has recently had breast cancer. I think unless you drink or smoke to excess or take drugs life is a lottery and there’s not a great deal you can do to control your health, unfortunately.

Can you video the physio demonstrating the moves?

Sorry typo there, it's two or three times a week, not a day! I am certainly not that much of a gym bunny!

I was sent to some exercise classes at the hospital run by the physios. It turned out to be more about balance than exercise and was really a complete waste of time for several of us there. However they did give me a referal to a council owned gym in a leisure centre where they have "e-gym" equipment which adjusts to suit your abilities. I just go for 45 minutes, two or three times a day and it really has made me feel much fitter and helped me to lose weight (very slowly!). I've actually joined the gym now and hope to keep going until I fall off my perch.

Grantanow

Yes, foxie48, I always stick with the physio exercises but general exercise is boring. I don't get a 'lift' from nature walks.

I walk our dog for an hour most mornings although I'm fortunate to have a lot of choice in where we walk if the weather is foul or I don't feel much like going out, I download a podcast and listen to it while I walk. That's when I listen to most of the TRIP podcasts!

Yes, foxie48, I always stick with the physio exercises but general exercise is boring. I don't get a 'lift' from nature walks.

I’m another believer in “use it or lose it”. If the 6 week course has been prescribed for you, I’d stick with it. But after that, find something that you enjoy and just keep moving.

I’m also another Michael Mosley fan - he always had good tips for incorporating “exercise” into everyday life. Walking’s free - getting out in nature lifts the mood, or just walking anywhere where practical instead of using the car can make a huge difference. Dancing might suit you? Or there are plenty of free exercise videos on YouTube if you prefer to do your own thing in your own time, as I do. I’d recommend Fabulous Fifties, Fit with Rick, Leslie Sansone’s walking workouts, but there are sessions and ideas out there to suit any mood or level of fitness, many of them NHS. Tai Chi is something I have recently tried and enjoyed, though I didn’t think I would. Hope you get through the six weeks then find something that suits you!

Any exercise, with your own choice of music, a good stretch first.

I try to do what exercising I can, but it has to depend on how my back and knees are coping at the time. It is that difficult balance of doing something, but not pushing it so much that it pays you back the next day. So at the moment am not swimming as much as I used to , when I did 2 or 3 a week and got up to doing 30 lengths, not all at once but did 4 or 6 lengths and then stopped and did a bit of exercising in the water. Less painful than on land. But the eye operations meant that I wasnt able to get in the water for about 12 weeks and havent yet got back to the good routine of swimming. Love the autumn colours, so try to go in the car to a wood or somewhere like a park with good colours, so that my walking is done in a place that I enjoy , rather than starting from my flat when most of the walking would be on the path to get there etc. Also of course there is quite a bit of exercise in the garden, and when I am concentrating on that I am not trying to second guess how to move about and that is better. But the other thing is of course my music. It is very important to me and I have radio 3 on for a lot of the day, which allows me to have impromptu dances throughout the day. Something just appeals and I start leaping - well jumping - about and then walzing round the room or whatever. These moments are just fun and pleasant to do , so that I dont look at them as exercise but of course they are. So occasionally I go to a ceildhe , or a barn dance, and now it is getting to winter there will probably be more of them about. Haven never fancied line dancing or exercise classes as they would be more boring to me and tend to show up the things that I can no longer do and so rather depressing. I do think that pleasure in something allows you to relax and enjoy without actually thinking of how much exercise you are doing so you are more likely to keep something up if you enjoy it. I would really like to do a Tai Chi class but nothing on locally and those that I have seen are expensive so leave that for another day.

Rehabilitation exercises tend to be boring because they are targetting certain muscles and tendons but they are usually time limited and aimed at getting the full use back following an injury or operation. Boring? yes, necessary? Definitely! Just do them is my motto. I've had lots of friends who have had replacement joints, the fit active ones who do the exercises always seem to get the best results.

I do find exercise boring. I really have to tell myself to keep going with physio exercises. Even a physio told me her exercises would bore me stiff!

Be warned that if you are doing the exercises to improve a problem please do them whatever you feel like. In my thirties I learned I had scoliosis (many people do and don't realise it but for me it caused severe pain) and after several months the improvement was stunning. I still suffer from time to time and a few exercises for a couple of weeks sort me out. Had I not improved I'd not have been able to work or even function as a wife and mother.

My DH was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy about% 12 years ago and prescribed physio. He never did the exercises as advised cos he said they hurt him (no gain without pain) and bit by bit he has deteriorated to the stage when he can now barely walk, shower or dress himself and is a major burden on me. He was prescribed physio FIVE times on the NHS and simply wasted their money. His lack of effort has ruined our older years and I resent him for it. Yes, he might have deteriorated anyway but didn't even give it a try.

He spends a major part of every day in a reclining chair, half asleep. He has no life really and mine is grossly limited.

You might not see an imrovement but it will likely stop you from getting worse, or at least slowing down the decline.

Apart from a walk almost every day, I try to swim twice a week - 20 lengths of a 20m pool, which TBH isn’t much. When I joined (David Lloyd) they offered me a free personal trainer session, even though I’d said I was joining only for the pool. As I told them, thanks but no thanks!

I still do some exercises (core strength and balance) given by a private physio when I was left weak and wobbly after a very nasty dose of pneumonia and pleurisy. But in general I’m fitter and more mobile than many of my age.

I could have written this post!

I have been going to a healthy living group and felt my anger rising when I was told about how great exercise classes and gyms are.
No!
I have tried group exercise at different times in my life and apart from one yoga class years ago, I have hated them all!
It's the same with walking groups and lane swimming- not for me any more.
The group advisor suggested I try some resitance band exercises at home and they have made a big difference to me- I felt the difference in just a few weeks.
The bands are cheap to buy from local sports shops, and I use videos on my lap-tops for my exercises. If the instructor is going too fast for me, I turn the playback speed down so I can do them at my own pace.
I don't have to pay out any money or use my car to go anywhere, and I do them a few times a week when it is convenient for me. It suits me prefectly.
In addition I walk two or three times a week and although I may meet someone for coffee half way I let them drive off and then continue my walk. I enjoy it so much I usually don't want to go home!
Please don't listen to people saying you have to force yourself to go to classes or gyms or pools- you just have to find what it is that works for you and ignore what other people think and do.

It is only for six weeks, two sessions a week and is free, NHS funded. I am hoping some of it gradually sinks in as it is mostly stretching exercises to keep the various important muscles strong. I thought I needed to do this in a group rather than on my own to try and get into the habit. I know I need to do more than just short walks and there really is no other activity I would choose to do. I am quite busy already.
I’m really not enjoying it at all, but I will persevere a bit longer. Two others in the group are less able than me and in obvious pain, whilst two seem quite fit and show no signs of pain, and are very enthusiastic, so the instructor seems to think we are all like them. I was quite shocked that it actually made me feel so miserable as mostly I am a very stable person emotionally.

It's worth spending even 5 or 10 minutes on the balance exercises. I don't enjoy long walks much but when I first fell I couldn't put on my socks or stand on one leg. The exercises did help.

Poor you .
Not everyone enjoys exercising ,but if exercising is going improve your mobility -please grin and bear it !
Promise yourself a treat-in your case it's singing .
I wasn't very good at sports at school and felt a fool not being chosen for teams.
But I did a lot of ballet and as a result I was a very good rider . Being horse mad helped.
I've always really loved dancing and now since not doing any for so long-I'm struggling with yoga .
I was in a lot of pain during my last session .
But I'll persevere.

You've probably gathered from the replies that you're not weird. I've never enjoyed exercise, I was hopeless at PE at school, I tried aerobics in the 80's but I had 2 left feet and couldn't keep up with everyone. However, the older I get the more I realise I have to do something to keep fit and strong which will help me to continue to be independant. If you have a local leisure centre, I would recommend trying it out. The trainers are usually very helpful and can help you with a fitness programme. Your GP might be able to refer you for a reduced membership fee. Also, I bought an exercise bike and I use it most days. I listen to the radio whilst I'm pedalling and I feel a lot better for it. Good luck.

Cabbie21 I don't want to pry, but if the exercises are for any specific reason, you might be able to find something which has the same outcome but is more enjoyable. If the exercise is the standard 150 minutes a week, it could be anything - gardening, short walks to the shops, housework, etc. I have some dumbbells by my kettle and do some lifts every time I make a cuppa.

Like you, my co-ordination and balance are appalling. I was told by a physio that loss of balance is one of the first signs of aging, but there are exercise you can do to slow it down.

I actually bit the bullet and joined my local leisure centre a few weeks ago. It's £33 a month, which is quite a lot for me, but I don't want to waste money, so it's an incentive for me to go. I do pilates, aqua aerobics and Zumba. I'm not very good at any of them (particularly Zumba), but I'm not the only one who's useless and we have a good laugh. The instructors are all lovely and help us.

I hated PE at school (I think I was born with three left feet and I can't catch a ball) and developed a hatred of physical activity, especially team games. I don't have the will power to do exercises at home (unless they're part of my routine), so I've actually surprised myself that I like the classes I've signed up for. I've made some new friends too.

The only exercise I’ve ever enjoyed is ballet, and at 85 I can’t do that any more, so I don’t get any exercise other than a bit of walking. I’m still here and enjoying life. I just couldn’t stand the boredom of exercise now.

My brother, almost 90, attributes his aches and pains to too much exercise in middle age. He jogged and ran marathons. My sister in law wrecked her knees with too much running. They are both in more pain than I, the non-exerciser, am. Exercise isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be

Poppyred

Go for a walk….keep telling yourself if I don’t do this I have to go the gym. I agree with you, the GYM is depressing, and I have never ever felt any endorphin? moments! 🤭

Reminds me of my niece. She had to force herself to go to the gym. She said she hated everything about it - getting ready, driving there, exercising, getting changed, driving home. 🤣🤣 she only lasted a few months.

I have always loved exercise because it makes me feel good and I know that it is good for me. I’m 70, have a personal trainer, I go to classes where I’m as good as people half my age. I walk every day and run up and down 3 flights of stairs all day. My average is about 18000 steps a day. My scales which tell me everything say that my body age is 52. I’m lucky that I’ve never had a days serious illness in my life and that I can still do this.
I have the firm belief that if you don’t use it, you lose it. I flatly refuse to give in. Keep going and enjoy.

I am another one who finds no enjoyment in exercise. I would sometimes join DH in his walks but only to keep him company. Since his brain bleed he is completely confined to a wheelchair so that's gone. But looking after him 24/7 and helping him with his stretches and physio has brought my weight down to a size 10/12 so must be doing something right!

After his stroke my DH was given physio for a while then after 6 weeks he was given a pamphlet with instructions and diagrams. Sadly the stroke has affected the executive part of his brain so he finds following instructions impossible so I did them with him but he got very depressed with it all, so now we just walk. Every day no matter what the weather, we just wrap up tight or take an umbrella. He loved walking before so he is trying hard to get back to a normal walking pace but his mobility isn’t great sone days and eyesight impaired. However, it does raise his spirits and mine.