Top 5 Anti-Exercise Excuses

What things come to mind when someone mentions the word "exercise?" Does your mind bring up slim, sexy women in short shorts doing some moves that seem just impossible to do? Does it make you think of pictures of shirtless men with defined muscles who run long distances? Does it conjure up bad memories of being the slowest and heaviest student in your physical education class?

Let's face it - there are many of you who can't get ourselves to exercise, and there are many bad associations with it, from time to thinness (or strength) of those who work out with. you have probably understood its many benefits according to numerous studies. Doing exercise lowers the risk of cancer, sharpens your memory, makes your skin healthier, and burns fat and calories.

But what top five excuses really makes you resist exercise so much?

The gym is one of the enemies many people face, but the problem is not just the expense of it (especially in gym memberships and hiring a buff-as-heck personal trainer).

In virtually every fitness center and health club, there are many physically fit members in whom many who are either struggling with weight or are just feeling their out-of-shape envy. If you are a man, you may feel jealous of the others who have rock-hard pectorals and defined biceps and triceps as opposed to the excess chest fat and the flabby arms. While they wear sleeveless shirts, tanks, or none at all with shorts or pants, you wear just shorts and a T-shirt.

The same holds true if you are a woman. You would most likely break down in tears because you have to wear those baggy clothes (sweatpants and a loose-fitting T-shirts). In contrast, they wear sleeveless tops with the midriff showing (including the ones that look like bras), fitted T-shirts, small shorts, and slimming jazz pants.

Worst of all, you struggle to keep up with the physically fit and thin/strong because your flab prevents you from going any further.

This issue is not just for you women and men - very fit children also outperform most others (they run better, do more push-ups) and also tease them, especially if they are obese. That sets them for having that excuse later in life. In fact, a Canadian study showed that adults who had their own share of bad physical education class experiences can reduce the willpower to exercise.

The best way to overcome this hurdle is to just move, no matter what you wear. Walking does not require a gym membership or skimpy clothes. All you have to do is to lace up your sneakers and walk around the block. Better yet, host a nightly family walk and get everyone at home involved.

Want to move beyond walking? Borrow some exercise videos from the library, pop them in your player, and follow along. If you have kids, tell them that it's playtime instead of exercise and play tag or swim in the pool with them! They are exercising, but they are just having lots of fun while burning fat!

Unless you work at home or in the gym, your job may be keeping you from exercising. Add additional errands like going to the supermarket, taking your kids to jazz dance classes (which is exercise without being it), and going to that important meeting and you'll think that it's impossible to squeeze in a workout.

There's simply no reason to skip a workout in your busy day. At lunch time, make an effort to go to the gym or simply walk in a brisk pace around the workplace. Also, take your sneakers and/or workout clothes with you and put them near you to remind yourself that you need some fitness. Better yet, wake up a little earlier and exercise earlier in the morning - it's more energizing and you'll burn fat faster.

A lot of you are as tired as they can be, but you have to drag yourselves to the dreaded gym. Believe me, I'm a lot like you: in some days, I feel like I would rather plop down while watching television rather than heading there for my circuit workout in the health club. Also, the rainy, dreary, anti-exercise days make it not worthwhile to move our bodies.

But exercise actually fights fatigue - a University of Georgia study found that those who exercised even at an easy pace reduced fatigue 37%.

The next time you just want to plop your buns down to watch the news, just walk in place while watching it - it's simple as heck, really. Again, if you don't want to be drained the next day, exercise in the morning.

The dictionary defines a chore as a "difficult or disagreeable task," and many people think that exercise takes a lot of effort to begin with. They have to run in place, do grapevines quickly, and hold their bodies in planks - every single day. They have to lift very heavy weights and they have to do a set of push-ups, which really sets them off.

Exercise does not have to be all planks and bicep curls - again, it can just be as simple as walking. You can make walking less of a chore simply by watching TV on the treadmill (make sure you put it on 3.5 MPH or higher) - that would take your mind off the effort.

The main reason why you want to take exercise a pass is not because you are so short on time, you think it's too much work, and you think that you're the only fat member in the gym; it's because you simply don't want to.

The underlying problem behind your excuse is boredom. It's because that you're in a rut sticking to the same old routine. Or it's because you feel that something as common as lifting weights or levers on equipment doesn't interest you a lot.

Exercise is fun, but there are ways to make exercise seem less of a boring thing to do. Playing with your kids is one way to motivate yourself. Instead of watching them play tag or hide-and-seek, join in their games, too. If you live near a state park of sorts, schedule a weekend family hike. You'll find that you're exercising even though you are capturing the beauty of nature.

If you have a pool, organize a family swim (if everyone, you included, knows how to swim) and play some old-fashioned Marco Polo. Also, do your workout in the reverse order of your routine, especially if it ends with core workouts.

Make sure you make time to exercise, stop worrying about how you look and feel, and above all, have fun!