I Hate to Exercise!

“I hate exercise just for the sake of exercise.”

How many people can relate to that statement? Maybe you’ve said that yourself, from time to time… when someone asks you if you exercise aside from riding your horse. That was my excuse for 20 years. I loved “activities” – team sports, working in the yard, riding horses – but the pain and discomfort of exercise was too much to deal with when I had nothing else to think about except the pain and discomfort of the exercise! And to bore and torture myself for an hour a day? Forget it! I’d much rather go groom my horse!

One day, though, I could no longer escape the hard reality: despite my riding and horse activities, without a regular exercise program my lack of exercise was very quickly going to become a medical condition. I was depressed, 20 lbs overweight, hypoglycemic, in constant pain (fybromyalgia), and suffering from adrenal fatigue. Perhaps just as compelling for me as a rider, I knew that my lack of fitness was not only affecting my riding skill, but was actually making it dangerous for me to ride. I simply did not have the fitness to deal with a riding “mishap” and could have easily been injured if the chips fell the wrong way. My life circumstances brought me to the point that the pain of not exercising was becoming greater than the pain of exercising, and I made a long-term commitment to my personal fitness.

I could tell you that it was wonderful, I felt great, and I’ve not looked back since, but that would be a lie. It took SIX months of nearly daily workouts before I ever experienced the feeling of being energized from working out. It was excruciating for those 6 months, and I vowed never to allow myself to get that out of shape again.

Yet, a few years later I moved away from the gym where I worked out, and, too busy with my new home to bother finding a new gym to workout at and not wanting to spend the money, I let my fitness go to the back burner. I had at least 10 great excuses why it was ok for me to let it slip. Within a few months I had gained 20lbs back and become so out of shape that I sprained both my ankles tripping over a rock in the driveway, and another month later suffered from a more serious ligament tear in one of the ankles stepping wrong off a step. My body was telling me that it couldn’t protect itself without help!

So, back to “exercise for the sake of exercise” I went, painful as it was.

Now, I am absolutely certain that I am not the only person in the world with a love/hate relationship with exercise. In fact, I’m sure that there are more people in the world who hate to exercise than there are who love it. That is clearly visible in the show ring, as I have watched professionals riders/trainers who ride many horses a day becoming heavier and heavier each year. And riding breeches are being made in Plus sizes as the norm, whereas 20 years ago you’d have to have your breeches custom-made to get them in plus sizes. Our entire society hates exercise, and we are paying for it with our health across every ethnic, social and economic boundary.

It is because of my love/hate relationship with exercise that I created the Ridefit program. I wanted a workout for myself that didn’t feel like a workout. I wanted it to be conveniently located at the barn, where I was going to be anyway to groom and/or ride my horse. I wanted to not have to change clothes in order to ride, and I wanted the workout to actually IMPROVE my riding at the same time. It wouldn’t just be exercise for the sake of exercise – it would be exercise with a purpose that I am already 100% invested in. And that is exactly what Ridefit is: a workout that works for everybody’s fitness level, convenient to where we already are, and with the added benefit of making us better at what we love to do already.

Does it get any better than that?

If you’re a rider who hates exercise, but you know that you are going down a dangerous road by avoiding it, or perhaps you already are experiencing the effects of years of exercise avoidance, give Ridefit a try. You may just find you learn to like exercise after all!

Let Ridefit help you look better, feel better, and RIDE better in 2015!

To find or schedule a Ridefit session near you, check out our News and Events page, or e-mail info@ridefitnow.com.