Comments on: Loathing Exercise Starts With The Young

By: Alicia, Mental Health Notes

Alicia, Mental Health Notes — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 04:25:37 +0000

For me, it’s more about embarrassing myself (i.e. looking silly if I’m doing something wrong). The last PE class I had was when I was a freshman in high school. My good friend and I would “skip” gym (sit in the bleachers for no visible reason) every time our older boyfriends came in to waste time with the teacher. We didn’t want to “embarrass ourselves” in front of them. Wonder if that mentality has carried on with me?

By: Kelly Turner

Kelly Turner — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:23:47 +0000

Rachel- haha, if you find someone to back it finacially, Id make a video in a heartbeat. I dont know of any videos specifically (anyone have any suggestions??) but Ill definately get some ab videos up soon for you!!

T- ill check and see. thanks for the suggestion!

Angelique- wow, complete opposite of my family. i remember one night I was in my room doing crunches watching tv and my mom poked her head and asked “what are you doing!?” like she caught me in the middle of a satanic ritual. Those were always on Thursday nights, though ;)

and I know exactly what you mean about team sporta except, i was the opposite. I usually excelled at most sports so I had little patience for those that weren;t so fortunate. That makes me sound like an even bigger bitch, so you’re welcome :)

By: Angelique

Angelique — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:35:45 +0000

For me, the loathing came from feeling like I wasn’t any GOOD at athletics. The organized sports in phys ed made me feel like I was the biggest, clumsiest oaf who ever lived. And being a geek (hail the nerds!) didn’t help matters.

What I’ve realized as an adult (thank goodness) is that I DO suck at team sports. But I’m a-okay at self-directed sports where I’m basically competing against myself — running, lifting weights, biking, swimming, Pilates.

Yes, you can do these activities on a team, but you don’t have to. I’m definitely motivated to beat my personal times, but I don’t want to have to worry about how my teammates are doing. (I know — I sound like a freakin’ b**ch, but I’m really not. I just know my own likes/dislikes now.)

By: T

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:35:16 +0000

kelly – see if playcoed is in seattle. they’re in quite a few cities and they have sports ranging from bowling to volleyball to kickball for “young” adults (20s-30s) to do.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:21:33 +0000

I guess I was too much of a “goody-goody” to have to run laps because I never had to run laps or anything. Exercise was more of a way of life in my family. For vacation we would go hike down the grand canyon or hike in national parks. The kids played sports in my family and my parents coached most of the time. We had family walks after dinner and they would go to the gym every night. It was never a chore and was so easy to stay in shape. After moving out it’s definitely more a challenge because it’s not always that easy. I have the city around me or the small apartment gym but that’s it!

Question for Kelly (or whoever)…Do you know of a really good abs DVD? I used to take a kick ass abs class in college for 15 minutes and was looking for something similar. It was nonstop and helped SO much! I think you should do your own workout video bc I know you won’t be a cheesy instructor that plays cheerleader the whole time! :)

By: Kelly Turner

Kelly Turner — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:55:10 +0000

you guys played capture the flag in school? man, what the hell was wrong with my district?

Im off to search craigslist for some sort of adult organized sport. I just realized how much I miss them.

By: JJ125

JJ125 — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:54:36 +0000

I was (and still am) a total tomboy growing up. I did dance, gymnastics and then softball basically my whole life and my family loved to be outdoors and active. So exercise for me was never structured…. which is funny now because I rely on my strict gym routine to stay in shape and healthy! I did hate the gym at first but since I don’t play sports anymore that is how I get the majority of my exercise. I still love being active in my downtime and would love to get back into a sport!

By: Lethological Gourmet

Lethological Gourmet — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:53:24 +0000

I remember liking capture the flag, kickball, and dodgeball. And now as an adult I play in kickball and dodgeball leagues. But I didn’t exercise much as a child. Partly because I live in a city, and partly just because I would rather read. But now I’m a fitness instructor and workout all the time. Go figure. I think if I’d had more fun outlets for exercise I might’ve done it more often. I don’t remember seeing either of my parents exercise, except hiking with my dad on vacation, or skiing with him in winter.

By: Kelly Turner

Kelly Turner — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:43:18 +0000

I was always a big sports person (gymnastics, volleyball, basketball, softball, etc, etc) which I LOVED because it was fun and it was a game. I could never run a lick, but in basketball, Id be in the whole game and barely notice myself out of breath.

as punishment in those sports (or in PE) if we slacked off, or messed up at the last game/meet we had to either run “lines” (back and forth on the court) or run laps, or run stairs. I think thats why I hate it so much. The thought of running brings back groans and blaming other teamates for having to run because of their mistakes and pretending to have cramps to get out of it.

By: Sagan

Sagan — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:32:12 +0000

So true, I always hated gym at school because my teachers weren’t nice or else the sports we had to play were just not FUN.

Luckily, my parents made exercise fun for me. We always did tons of hiking in the summer and tons of cross country skiing in the winter, and I also took lots of swimming lessons and played field hockey for a few years and did gymnastics for a year. They were always really supportive of those kinds of things, so it was gym class itself that I disliked- I never grew up associating it with all exercise, thank goodness!