Pyschological tricks

[forgotten_aria]

I really need to start exercising everyday again. My best bet is DDR. Does anyone have any tricks for tricking themselves into doing things you don't want to do everyday? I've tried the calandar trick, the bribing myself trick, the "I'm not allowed to do *fun thing* until *important thing* is done" trick. Anything else I might try?

Also any other excerise suggestions are also welcome.

DDR is still fun for me, but since I've lost my muscles my joints give out earlier than I would like. I don't know how to get back into shape when I can't play for as long as I would like.

EDIT: acutally it's the fac that I'm overweight that makes my joints hate me. grrr.... catch 22.

Comments

[plymouth.livejournal.com]

the only trick that has ever worked for me is the "taking lots of data so I can make pretty graphs and have records that prove I did it" trick. At least with exercise. I am OBSESSIVE about recording my bike odos. It has actually gotten to the point where now I DO want to bike... but at first it was hard and I would feel lazy a lot of mornings but the appeal of MORE DATAS would get me off my butt.

perhaps I am unique in this way and it would not work for you. but it is an idea.

[forgotten-aria.livejournal.com]

That used to work. DDR give syou grades and I kept records, but now, it's like, "oh I got a B on that? I used to AAA it..."

[katybeth]

Different data, maybe? Record time spent per day?

[forgotten-aria.livejournal.com]

I tried time per day, but that was such a limit of my stupid joints. I even tried cutting back so it was super easy songs, but they just didn't feel like they were holding my interest OR giving me a work out.

[katybeth]

Or accepting that you're starting over and resetting your expectations for grades. The past couple weeks climbing after a long break, I honestly can't tell if some of the routes are hard or if I'm really out of shape on them. It doesn't do any good for me to say "I used to be able to climb most 5.10A's, why am I having trouble with a 5.9?" Better to start from where I am now. That doesn't always keep me from being frustrated with the backslide, of course.

[bdeakin.livejournal.com]

I also treat it as data gathering.

[katybeth]

Setting up some sort of accountability often helps. Either a workout buddy, so you know someone is expecting you and you'll let them down if you're not there; or a reporting system such that you tell someone else when you did and didn't exercise.

If you're going for DDR, can you get Greg to help? Even if he isn't going to do it with you, you could make a deal that at 7pm (or whenever) you will play DDR and he will sit in the same room and do something specific, possibly something he needs to do.

I forget whether swimming was out for you. I always had to force myself to go to the pool (and only succeeded because I was supposed to be meeting people there as part of training), but I always felt much better for having gone. It's excellent low impact exercise.

[forgotten-aria.livejournal.com]

I don't like putting greg in that position. It shouldn't be his job to make me do things.

I love swimming in theory, but lap swimming bores the heck out of me and the only diving is at MIT and it's both costly and a long way away. Also there are some kicks that wig my knee out.

I'm already full of excuses.

[ivorjawa.livejournal.com]

Try spinning. If you get your bike setup correctly, it's the best thing in the world for your knees.
It's getting a bit late in the year for openwater swimming in MA, but if you're doing a front crawl stroke, you're not kicking hard enough to move your knee much at all.

[forgotten-aria.livejournal.com]

Sadly biking is one of the WORST thing for my knees. It's part of what killed them in the first place. I seem to have a "different" knee problem than most people have.

[nacht_musik]

If getting started is the problem, you could make a commitment to play at least 5 minutes of DDR, at least N days a week. But that only works if some days you're going to keep going once you get started....

[lindalee.livejournal.com]

A friend recently posted in his journal about his "It's Not an Option" commitment to himself. More here....