Yahoo Lifestyle 
How To Find The Workout You Actually Look Forward To Doing
At the risk of being too on the nose, finding a fitness routine you love is a marathon, not a sprint.
For me, it was an actual marathon. I was raised with a minimal, if not non-existent, relationship with exercise. Running the New York City marathon in 2018 completely changed how I viewed strength, working out and “fitness goals.” My body carried me 26.2 (sometimes sluggish) whole freaking miles. I marvelled, maybe for the first time ever, at what being in touch and in tune with your body feels like without thinking about physical appearance.
Helen Phelan, a New York City-based Pilates instructor who offers online classes through her website, said re-conditioning that mindset is what it takes to commit to finding a routine you love.
“Our culture frames fitness as a chore or punishment for something you ate, which is extremely damaging,” she told me. “Part of the work is trial and error and making sure you final a modality that is at least mentally stimulating and interesting, but I think the most important part of getting your brain to kind of enjoy moving is the training of feeling strong.”
By finding strength in fitness, you are able to find a stronger sense of self in your everyday life, off the mat.
“When you learn a new skill, it’s communicating to your brain, ‘Strong people do this, I’m strong if I can do this, I can do hard things,’” Phelan said. “It’s a reconditioning, and people really see a change in self-perception and confidence-boosting both in exercise and in daily life, seeing yourself in this stronger, more empowered way.”
A post shared by helen phelan (she/her) (@helenvphelan) on Mar 24, 2020 at 2:22pm PDT
Still, finding the actual workout ― and community you want to do it in ― is important.
Ariel Padilla is a New York City-based SoulCycle instructor who also hosts weekly virtual workouts. He did not grow up with fitness. He said he first attended a SoulCycle class (which are both praised...
