I like to watch shows/videos while I workout. Made a rule that I can only watch certain things while I’m exercising. I look forward to watching those things and ‘tricked’ myself into being excited about the exercise, too! Also I feel much better after I’ve exercised, so I really look forward to that post-exercise feeling.

I like to walk, I pick nice places with good/interesting scenery. It’s good mentally too, helps me unwind and work out problems and come up with new ideas.

Knowing I won’t feel like shit for the rest of the day.

I try not to think about it as a punishment for what I ate, and more a celebration of what my body can do.

Play is a good one for aerobics. Going for a run or bike? Try to find new routes or go places you haven’t before. Maybe run an errand. Maybe try to study wildlife or plants around while running one to another.

For strength training IDK. just pop in some absurd music and know that later it will feel good either just post exercise or weeks later when the exercise itself feels nice. It’s also going to be nice when you go to lift a thing or hike and recognize you’re actually stronger. Always a rewarding feeling!

In either case, it’s important to reflect positively on your progress. "Hell yeah i can do this thing now thanks to my effort!“ and not negatively e.g. “my goals are so far away I’m so weak”.

I’ve always loved sports; so that part’s easy, personally. But I’ve also learned to kind of savor the feeling of using my muscles and getting tired. Whatever I’m doing, or even on days where I didn’t have time to “exercise”, I make a point to check in on different parts of my body, maybe tense them or stretch; just trying to notice what feels good and then really savor that feeling. I find that building that mental practice helps motivate me to seek out exercise, or power through when I’m not really enjoying a particular activity.

I got a kid but not a car. Just walking to the kindergarten and back twice a day is movement. We spend a lot of time outdoors at playgrounds or parks and I have to do all the grocery shopping by bike or walking. I don’t do other physical exercise admittedly, but this kid is a fitness machine. We be running, playing, I need to lift her, carry her, carry her stuff, clean up, wrestle - for real having a kid made me the most physically fit and active I’ve ever been.

When I was younger I liked to dance. Trying to lose weight I’d just put headphones on in my room and dance for hours. A friend of mine actually lost a crapton of weight this way, think obese to normal weight.

Also, making a kid (and training for it and reenacting it) is great exercise.

Experiencing the benefits of strength training day to day (being able to move heavy shit easily and not struggle with things that I used to) also seeing how I look in the mirror after I do it helps.

Fast speed hike incline on treadmill

Put in earbuds, drum&bass

Disassociate for 1-2 hrs while staring at the food channel

I just do it until I physically cant

I like to bike, and my motivation is to see what is around the bend…. And so i needed to spend a week recovering after biking 50 miles, and hard bonking 35 miles from my car. But hey i absolutely had the motivation to do that to my self.

Now my next motivation is survival, because the Sun has totally gone down, and if i don’t make it back to my car, i might actually die. A very powerful motivator that one.

Dance

Dance

REVOLUTION!!

(That rhythm game with the arrows on the screen and ground that you stomp on)

Sports or recreational activities, as opposed to going to gym for the sake of exercise. The physical exercise is a part of the activity rather than the sole focus.

I’m trying to do stuff that’s quick that I can do every day. I do pushups before my morning shower and some squats whilst I brush my teeth. Do it every day, I feel better for it and it only takes like 3 minutes. You can do extra sets around the house if you have a spare 30-60 seconds too.

Find sports that you actually enjoy - try out different things. In my case:

• Cardio: running fucking sucks, swimming is boring as shit. Cycling, on the other hand, is pretty fun. Feels like flying when everything aligns.
• Strength: lifting weights at the gym is doable, but boring. Climbing? Hell yeah, give me more routes where I have to tie myself into a knot while pulling up all my weight with my fingertips.

It can be an exact opposite of it for you. Or you’ll find out that team sports are the bees knees because support from other people is what you’ve been missing.