I’ve always hated exercise but this one thing has finally converted me

If you’d asked me a few weeks ago how I felt about running, I’d have told you there was just about anything I’d rather do, than go for a run.

I’ve always detested the sport. This hatred likely stems from the cross country runs we were forced to do in the freezing cold and wet mud for several years at high school. As soon as I no longer HAD to run, I didn’t ever want to do it again. 

As such, I’ve never been able to understand why some people willingly get up every Saturday morning for Parkrun — let alone opt to run 26.2 miles for a marathon. Ew.

And it seems I’m not alone in this. New research from sportswear brand ASICS has found that adults no longer enjoy exercise. 

ASICS spoke to 2,000 adults (18+) and 1,000 children (aged six to 11) and their survey revealed that 77% of adults view exercise as a chore, compared to 77% of children who say the key reason for doing exercise is to have fun. 

As a child there were one or two types of exercise that I did enjoy, such as gymnastics. But as an adult my only real form of exercise has been power walking to get on the Tube before the doors close. 

However, all of that changed recently thanks to an impulse purchase.

My TikTok feed has been full of people racking up 10,000+ steps during the working day thanks to the help of a walking pad, or under the desk treadmill.

As someone who occasionally works from home, and is guilty of binge watching one too many episodes of Gilmore Girls in an evening, I thought it might be an easy win to combine these activities with a bit of exercise, so I gave in to the influencers and decided to order one from Amazon.

I spent a while reading reviews and ended up going for the Jupgod 2.5HP Folding Treadmill which cost £167.99 as part of the Black Friday sale. It’s currently listed for £189.99, but prices vary depending on the colour you choose. 

As a rather self-conscious person, exercising in public just was never going to be for me, so the walking pad would be a real godsend for letting me do my own thing, in the privacy of my own space — and as an added bonus, I don’t have to go outside in the cold and dark either. Hurrah!

Initially I was only using it to help get my steps in, as working on a computer all day doesn’t exactly do wonders for this. As I don’t have a standing desk, I was mainly using the walking pad of an evening, while watching TV.  

I’d briskly walk with it on a speed setting of about 7.5 for an episode or two of a show, before slowing down to a more casual pace.

But a few weeks ago I decided to experiment and see what would happen if I used it on the maximum speed setting, which is 10, and I found myself jogging.

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I didn’t keep it up for very long, less than 10 minutes, but when I stopped, I realised I hadn’t completely hated doing it. Weird.

So the next day I gave it a go again. This time I came prepared with an energetic playlist on Spotify to motivate me. I ran for 15 minutes before feeling like I couldn’t possibly do anymore. I then walked at a slower pace for 15 minutes. 

When my half an hour was up I was feeling pretty good. I’d enjoyed the experience, from the music (lots of Taylor Swift, obviously) to the way my body felt having worked up a sweat.

I could see a glimmer of why people actually enjoy exercising. It felt like an achievement and I was already keen to get back on the little treadmill and see if I could improve my stamina.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been fitting the half hour of exercise into my day either during my lunch break if WFH or of an evening and the amount of time I can run for has increased.

When I started I could barely run for 10 minutes. Now I’m running for 25 minutes at a time, and doing five minutes of walking to cool down. For actual runners, this probably doesn’t seem like a lot, but any amount of running for me is some kind of miracle.

Seeing the minutes ticking on really spurs me to keep going for just a bit longer, as does the distance which has been clocking in at 5k — the same length as those aforementioned Parkruns.

Despite not loving exercise, I definitely have a competitive streak and like to keep pushing myself to do better. So each time I manage to run for a bit longer and a bit further gives me a little thrill. 

I’ve also found that if you really pace yourself, once you reach a certain point with it, running can actually be a pretty pleasant experience (who knew?!) and I’ve started to look forward to my little spin on the treadmill each day. 

I’m not sure if I’ll ever become an outside runner, but I never thought I’d be doing any kind of running at all. Yet here I am, some kind of exercise convert. So I guess never say never… Except when it comes to running a marathon, because that’s always going to be a resounding NO from me.

But Parkrun, well that isn’t off the table just yet…

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