Annabel Lee
I used to have a complicated relationship with exercise. I saw working out as hard, difficult, and punitive, and felt like I was bad at everything.
At school, I always avoided PE and came in last at sports day. In my 20s, exercise was a necessary evil, useful only for burning calories. Over the past few years — with the pandemic, being a parent of small children, and recovering from a hip injury — exercise had become a low priority on my list. I did it rarely with limited enthusiasm and certainly not for fun.
In a bid to better my relationship with exercise, I embarked on a challenge to work out every day for 30 days. I decided to challenge myself to work out for a minimum of 30 minutes a day but decided I could do anything from running to yoga.
While I did wonder whether the challenge might feel restrictive, I'd found things like Dry January helpful in the past, so I thought the accountability might keep me on track. I also told myself that even though the goal was to succeed with the 30 days straight, I could have a day off if I was unwell or tone the intensity down when I needed to. I decided that my goal was not to change how I looked but to try to enjoy it and feel good, and I would figure out how to make that happen.
To make my challenge work, I needed to make it fit around work, my schedule with my kids, and other things in my life. I started a list on my phone to plan what I'd do and when, booked classes at the gym, and scheduled time to run or work out at home. Ticking exercise off my to-do list was a daily dopamine boost; it kept me motivated and reminded me how far I'd come.
It was useful to have options to choose from at home, outside, and at the gym so I could still do something if I had limited time, it was raining, or I felt tired or uninspired. I eased into the challenge with exercise I felt comfortable with, and as I got more confident, I started trying new things. The variety also stopped me getting bored. Over the month, I tried running, yoga, Pilates, spinning, badminton, high-intensity interval training, circuits, and lifting weights.
Logistically, working out every day was challenging. After three days, I'd already used all my clean exercise clothes, and exercising every day messed with my hair-washing schedule. While these things might have stopped me in the past, I noticed my overall mood was already changing for the better. Rather than put off a workout because I didn't have a fresh outfit or want to wash my hair, I simply rewore my clothes and embraced messy hair — and dry shampoo.
My everyday outfit now is leggings, a tank top, and trainers, which means I'm always ready to work out even if my mind isn't quite there yet. Because my priorities changed over the month, I started caring less about whether I was perfectly put together and more about having the time to exercise.
I did notice that the challenge made me more mindful of what I ate and drank. Because I wanted to feel good while exercising, I tried to make sure I was suitably fueled, which meant drinking more water and less alcohol, as well as eating more nutritious, protein-rich meals and snacks.
The greatest surprise to me was realizing running could be fun. My previous jogging attempts had included obsessive clock checking or counting steps, and I'd wondered with envy how people could run with smiles on their faces. But by keeping my expectations low and deciding to run without setting goals for distance or pace, I started feeling more comfortable.
My form isn't great, and I'm not fast, but I run because it makes me feel good. I've even experienced some elusive runner's highs while jogging, with endorphins flooding my body and a sense of joy and freedom I've found hard to match. I was also surprised that though I'd expected to love spinning class after seeing many high-energy videos online, I found it to drag when I was in the saddle and realized I'd rather be running or in a HIIT class.
It's wild to me that I hated gym class at school but now love group exercise classes. HIIT is one of my favorites. The classes are challenging but feel great, and I enjoy pushing myself, knowing I'm getting stronger. I've stopped caring about how I look or whether I'm keeping up with everyone else. I focus instead on trying my best.
At points throughout the 30 days, I lacked the motivation to get going and found my classes or runs hard — especially if I was tired or sore from working out the day before — so I did try to stagger the workouts. On days after a particularly challenging session, I'd opt for yoga or Pilates.
Exercising every day removed my fear around it. I feel less self-conscious and even started lifting weights in the gym, something I never would have been confident enough to do before. I've realized no one is watching me, no one cares what I'm doing, and everyone else finds it challenging, too. In fact, challenging your body is often the point.
There are many barriers to exercise — childcare, cost, feeling safe, and having access to activities that you enjoy, to name a few — and this challenge wouldn't have been as doable for me at other stages of my life. But with it, exercise has become a habit I want to continue, and I've broken through a major barrier: seeing it negatively.
I came to love my workouts, and I've stopped seeing exercise as an unpleasant burden. Now I see this as just another part of life that makes it better, not worse. No, not every second of my challenge was joyful, but I feel better in my head and in my body as a result, and some of it was really fun.
I'm still working out every day and nearing a 50-day streak. I feel stronger and faster — I'm able to keep up with my children when they race home from school and love it when I realize I can lift a heavier weight in the gym. While I sometimes feel sore after working out, I've noticed that overall, the chronic hip pain I've had for four years has felt better since I started my challenge. I feel more confident and at home in my body, which has made exercise even more appealing and enjoyable.
