Is Fun and Exercise the Winning Combo?

How easy is it to enjoy an activity that’s supposed to put your body to the test? Now that’s a question that has a million answers within the fitness sphere. Should it be “no pain, no gain” or “all fun and games”? What’s the best approach for you and YOUR goals? What role does fun play in your workouts? The FizzUp trainer knows…

NO PAIN, ALL THE GAINS

“Fun” means something different to anyone you ask. It’s an extremely subjective topic. Bearing the idea of fun in mind when you’re coming up with an exercise routine to keep you progressing over the long term is key. For those who think that amusement should be kept to the bare minimum during a workout, you’ll find most athletes, who have specific goals based on performance. For them, progress and exerting maximum effort are their priorities. What’s fun for them is achieving results. They love feeling the victory of accomplishing what most people just can’t do and enjoy the touch challenges and progress they make over time with their training routines.

On the other hand, you’ve got those who take absolutely no pleasure in exercise or don’t really care about improving their fitness.

But between these two extremes sits 80% of those who get physical on a regular basis. For the majority of people who exercise, their goal isn’t to improve their performance to compete in high-level sporting events. Most of them just want to lose some weight, bulk up their muscles a bit or simply feel better in their own skin without feeling like they have to push their absolute limits. What about you? What do YOU expect from exercise?

WHAT’S SO FUN ABOUT BREAKING A SWEAT?

Fun is one of the best motivators there is. No matter what their ultimate goal is, people who actually enjoy exercising have a much higher chance of sticking to it and changing their bodies than those who loathe it or do it because they have to. Just remember how you felt about PE when you were a kid!

The thing to remember is that everyone has their own idea of what fun is and how it can be tied to getting results in exercise. Some find it really gratifying to write down the number of repetitions they did in a spiral notebook as they impatiently wait for the next time they do their maximum number of squats, while others love that burning sensation and exhaustion they feel after an HIIT workout.

And then there are those who think workouts are just a way to stay healthy and keep their wellness in check. Although exercise isn’t their cup of tea, they do it because they know it’s important.

Fun is a relative concept that should be measured. But does there need to be a “norm” when it comes to fun? And more importantly, can you make progress and have fun at the same time?

Don’t get us wrong… you DO need to put in the work in order to make enough progress to reach your goals, but you don’t have to do workouts that put you through the wringer for weeks, months or even years on end! Sadly, the biggest problem is that a lot of people view exercise as a chore, but they shouldn’t! It needs to be a clever combination of fun, effectiveness and safety. The “fun” part is there to keep you progressing over the long term, but it absolutely shouldn’t be the main driving force.

THE REALITY OF IT ALL

To get results, you have to do exercises that are enough of a challenge for you in order for your body to adapt through progressive overload and adequate recovery. In essence, if you want your body to progress, you have to come into close contact with your limits without ending up in a world of hurt or in the hospital. All you have to do is carefully plan your workouts based on your goal, or just let the FizzUp trainer take care of that for you!

It might be hard for you to grasp this concept if you’re just starting out on your fitness journey and that’s to be expected. You don’t have to commit your entire life to exercise and fitness in order to get results. The most important thing is to make sure you’ve got a routine that’s right for your goal and works with your definition of “fun” that you can stick to before you try to go beyond your limits. Remember, both your goal and your idea of fun can and should evolve over time!

The bad news is that always opting for what’s easiest will hardly get you any results. You’ll get discouraged in no time if you’re hoping for a change, so what do you need to do to make exercise fun?

No matter how seriously you take your fitness training or how motivated you are, any routine you do has to have an element of fun that satisfies your definition of that word. Thinking hard about what fun means to you and what your goals and needs are is what will keep you working out and on the right track to results.

The progress you make on the mat shouldn’t come at the cost of your happiness. The kind of exercise you do should be right for you so that you’re able to handle its physical challenges, but it should also be fun enough to make you want to keep it up. Remember that when you’re creating your routine, or just follow the FizzUp trainer when you open your app!