Exercise Obstacles
Updated on November 24, 2007
It's easy for fitness experts to say "you can do it, get up!" but not so easy for the rest of us.
Behind the Excuses
Excuses aren't actually reasons why you can't or shouldn't exercise because we all know that if we really, seriously wanted to do it and stopped lying to ourselves, we would find a way to do it, the same way we find time to take a shower or practice our favorite hobby. There's a way to easily overcome every exercise excuse. See Common Excuses to Avoid Exercise
The real problems are the core beliefs and fears you have about exercise.
Exercise Core Beliefs
A core belief is something you believe as a fundamental truth. You may not realize that you even use it to make decisions, but you do. For example, you probably have a core belief that gravity will keep you from flying off into the sky, but you don't think about it every time you stand up, walk, sit down, throw a ball, etc. You don't have to ask yourself "Should I hold on to something, so I don't float away?" You know at a core, fundamental level that you can expect gravity to be there, so it never enters your mind (consciously). However, it does influence your decisions. You decide not to stand to close to the edge of the cliff, run around on your steep-sloped roof, or willingly try to fall down. Likewise, you don't make plans to float over to your neighbors house or bolt down all of your furniture to keep it from floating away.
Core beliefs about exercise are just as strong as core beliefs about gravity, but what if your core belief is wrong? Let's say you have a core belief that you will exercise and exercise but never lose weight. That would seriously destroy your motivation to exercise. In such a case, you'll need to change your core belief.
The fastest way to change your core belief is to test it. Start small (try jumping off of a box before you decide to jump off of a cliff). Let's say I have a belief that all exercise is uncomfortable to perform. I could test this by performing some simple exercises. I will probably discover that it is true that some exercises are uncomfortable (for me it's jogging or running), but I'll also probably discover that there are many exercise that aren't uncomfortable for me (like dancing). So by conducting a simple test, I've destroyed the validity of my old core belief. Not all exercises are uncomfortable. Instead, I could make a list of comfortable and uncomfortable exercises. Now when I exercise, I can decide to only choose exercises that are comfortable for me.
Exercise Fears
Fears are based on core beliefs. I know that gravity exists on Earth, and if I stand to close to the edge of the cliff I might fall and be seriously injured or killed, so I have develop a fear of standing close to the edge of a cliff. Now, what if I was rigged up in harnesses and ropes and needed to go over the edge of a cliff to save a family member who was trapped on the side. I would have to overcome that fear.
There are several ways to overcome fears. I could change my core belief, and this is a good thing to do if your core belief is wrong, but if your core belief is true (and in this case it is), it probably won't be in your best interest to change it. I could repeat a mantra to myself like "I'm not going to fall," but if my core belief is that I am going to fall, then my mantra will be as useless as repeating "I'm a butterfly" and expecting to turn into a butterfly. However, if I developed a new core belief as an amendment to my original core belief, such as a "I won't fall as long as I'm locked into these ropes and this harness," I can re-enforce that core belief with my "I'm not going to fall" mantra. Now, I can overcome my fear and climb over the side of the cliff.
We can overcome exercise fears in a similar way. If I have a fear of failure because I have a core belief that if I fail people will think that I'm weak or stupid, and I'll lose their respect and ultimately their love and acceptance. Because I have this fear of failure, I just don't do things that I think I might fail at, and if there is the chance that I might fail at losing weight through exercise, then I'm not going to exercise, and I'll just keep getting fatter. I might be able to make an amendment to my core belief, so that my fear will be lessened or removed. I could say something like, "People who don't love and respect me even though I sometimes fail, don't deserve to be with me anyhow, so I don't care if I lose their respect." I could also change my core beliefs about what failure is. If I think that failure is not losing 100% of the fat I need to shed, then until I reach my goal, I'll always feel like a failure (and that's not very motivating). If I change my failure definition to "Failure is simply failure to exercise at least 5 days per week" then as long as I get my 5 days of exercise in every week, I'm a success no matter how much weight I lose.
Rewrite Your Exercise Philosophy
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List all of your excuses for not exercising.
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Look at each problem, and come up with a solution (write it down).
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Write down how you feel about exercise.
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Write down all the benefits of exercise.
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Write down all the drawbacks of exercise.
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Write down your fears or worries about exercise.
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Look at each fear or worry and ask yourself where it came from. What's the core belief behind it?
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Look at each core belief, and challenge it. Is it true all of the time, some of the time, or never? Are there amendments that you can make? Are there definitions you'd like to change? (This step takes the most time and effort, but it's the big one that's going to change you forever.)
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Think about your new beliefs. How do they feel? Do they feel comfortable and realistic or like you're lying to yourself? If you don't feel comfortable with your new beliefs, challenge them just like you challenged your old beliefs.
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Create a little mantra for each new belief as a reminder whenever you catch yourself slipping into your old habitual beliefs and excuses.
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