photo credit: lilivc

How do you get someone who hates exercising to start? This can be a difficult task and I have recently dealt with it myself. A good friend of mine is very stubborn when it comes to exercising. It is seriously like pulling teeth to get her to start. She used to belong to the same gym I belong to and even hired a personal trainer for a couple of months. Unfortunately, she ended up canceling her gym membership and stopped exercising all together. But guess what? I got her to exercise again and below is how I did it.

Figure out what they hate the most about exercise

I asked my friend to pinpoint exactly why she dislikes exercising. Below were her answers:

• Laziness
• Doesn’t like the smelly gyms
• Doesn’t like boring cardio
• Exercise takes too long

Everyone will have different answers but her answers were some of the most typical reasons most people do not exercise.

Interval training to the rescue

Laziness – This probably stems from the fact that she is lacking energy and doesn’t see exercise as an enjoyable activity. Intervals can help by boosting energy levels and providing a challenge with the different workouts she can do.

No Gym – Since she doesn’t like the gym, intervals will work out great for her because she can do them right at home or outdoors in her favorite locations (park, beach, etc.)

Boring Cardio – With intervals the typical cardio sessions no longer have to be boring. Even a boring cardio machine like the treadmill can be fun again.

Exercising Takes Too Long – Sure you can exercise for an hour or more but for people who lack time or don’t want to devote long hours to exercise, interval training fits in well. A good interval session takes no more than 30 minutes.

After pointing out how intervals may be what she was looking for, she decided to give it a try. We began exercising together and I showed her a sample body weight circuit video by Craig Ballantyne. She likes the fact that the routines are always different and she doesn’t have to go to the gym. I think she will stick to it – at least I hope so. She seemed really enthusiastic which is a great sign.

The video below is a good example of a body weight circuit: