Six Ways To Lie To Yourself About Not Needing Exercise

Just as we are great at talking others into trying something new, we are just as good at talking ourselves out of the things we need the most, especially when it comes to diet and exercise. 

Here are six ways we lie to ourselves about not needing exercise: 

1. My Doctor Says I’m Fine: So you got your lab results back and your cholesterol looks good and you aren’t even borderline diabetic. Is that really enough to keep you from taking a walk a few times a week? No. Your lab work may be great, but you still have to be preventative. 

2. I’m Not Overweight: Great! You’ve managed the same weight for many years now, which means you’re probably pretty good about counting calories and eating a variety of healthy foods. However, you might be lacking in some physical strength. 

3. I Am Always So Tired After Work: Sometimes it seems that if we do a lot of walking and lifting at our jobs, we’ve somehow accrued a decent workout. However, some of that activity doesn’t necessarily build strength in certain areas. So even if you’ve walked a lot during the day, you may still need to build strength in your core and you’ll have to set aside a bit of time at home to exercise that part of your body. 

4. I Already Do Yoga: Yoga is great for toning and gaining flexibility, but you would still need some light aerobic exercise. If your yoga studio is in walking distance, it might be good to ditch your car and get in a brisk walk that way. 

5. I Have Back Problems: You will want to discuss this with your doctor so that you can manage your exercise around your back problems. Strengthening your core muscles can help take some of the pressure off your back and reduce the pain you’re experiencing. But because every back issue is unique (for some it’s muscle strains, for others it’s slipped discs), you want to discuss with a professional first what would be the best exercise for your condition. 

6. I Feel Fine: Again, the key thing is to be preventative. On a day-to-day basis, you probably feel great.  Feeling great, however, doesn’t mean that you don’t have to watch out for ways to prevent future accidents. For example, a bad fall could reveal that you weren’t strong enough and you’ll need to work on some flexibility and muscle-building. 

We can talk ourselves out of exercising and come up with tons of reasons why we don’t need it, but it really would be best for us to prevent injuries and disease as much as possible. And given that certain medications can lead to loss of bone density, it would be helpful for us to be wise about how we can watch out for ourselves so that we don’t suffer any unnecessary injuries in the future.