Sloth: “If I stop now, it’s going to be /so much/ harder and more painful to start up again, instead of just keeping on keeping on...”
I had taken “painful” to be intended metaphorically, and meaning only “I don’t want to”, but some of the comments below are suggesting otherwise. So can I check what you are actually saying: is exercise literally painful for you, in the same sense as a stubbed toe or a bad tooth are painful?
Before a rather helpful suggestion in this forum, my original plan for a routine was to start with 1 each of a selected set of exercises: jumping jacks, toe-touches, push-ups, etc; then add 1 to each every day, with a goal of 30. (After doing some further reading, I added left-, right-, and front-planks.) Push-ups were my major obstacle—by the time I was doing twenty-odd, the first ten were easy, the next five or six slightly painful, and by the last few my arms were shaking and the muscles /quite/ painful.
Today’s magic number was 26 - and instead of doing them all in a row, I did the push-ups in groups of 6,5,5,5,5, with enough of a break in between to let the ache go down to easily-manageable levels. Since this confirms yesterday’s first trial that this change makes things mind-bogglingly less hurty, I’m going to try breaking out my new wrist-weights tomorrow, even though I’m not yet at my initially-set goal of 30.
(Yes, I started this thread hoping to learn ways to simply keep myself motivated to accept the pain instead of trying to reduce it. I really am only an /aspiring/ rationalist, it seems, but I’m willing to work with all the lessons involved. :) )
Yes, I started this thread hoping to learn ways to simply keep myself motivated to accept the pain instead of trying to reduce it.
The funny thing about that sentence is that pain generally becomes stronger when you “try to reduce it” and weaker when you accept it being there.
Before a rather helpful suggestion in this forum, my original plan for a routine was to start with 1 each of a selected set of exercises: jumping jacks, toe-touches, push-ups, etc; then add 1 to each every day, with a goal of 30.
That sound like a goal that might fit into the beeminder format. I don’t know if the chance of losing money motivates you, but it is at least a possibility.
I had taken “painful” to be intended metaphorically, and meaning only “I don’t want to”, but some of the comments below are suggesting otherwise. So can I check what you are actually saying: is exercise literally painful for you, in the same sense as a stubbed toe or a bad tooth are painful?
Yes, I meant literally painful.
Before a rather helpful suggestion in this forum, my original plan for a routine was to start with 1 each of a selected set of exercises: jumping jacks, toe-touches, push-ups, etc; then add 1 to each every day, with a goal of 30. (After doing some further reading, I added left-, right-, and front-planks.) Push-ups were my major obstacle—by the time I was doing twenty-odd, the first ten were easy, the next five or six slightly painful, and by the last few my arms were shaking and the muscles /quite/ painful.
Today’s magic number was 26 - and instead of doing them all in a row, I did the push-ups in groups of 6,5,5,5,5, with enough of a break in between to let the ache go down to easily-manageable levels. Since this confirms yesterday’s first trial that this change makes things mind-bogglingly less hurty, I’m going to try breaking out my new wrist-weights tomorrow, even though I’m not yet at my initially-set goal of 30.
(Yes, I started this thread hoping to learn ways to simply keep myself motivated to accept the pain instead of trying to reduce it. I really am only an /aspiring/ rationalist, it seems, but I’m willing to work with all the lessons involved. :) )
The funny thing about that sentence is that pain generally becomes stronger when you “try to reduce it” and weaker when you accept it being there.
That sound like a goal that might fit into the beeminder format. I don’t know if the chance of losing money motivates you, but it is at least a possibility.