Do it anyway

We all have exercises we feel good doing (yes, all of us, even if we have to search deep…) and ones that we dread.  Usually, the ones we dread are the hard ones.  Here are some reasons to do them anyway.

1.     You don’t want to look like Popeye.  If you only do the exercises you like, you only develop certain muscles (“muskles?”).  We don’t want to have enormous forearms and no chest to speak of.  We suck up the exercises we don’t like to bring balance to our bodies.

2.     You want to age well.  Many of the exercises we avoid target the back of the body.  We need those hamstrings for walking and running and squatting.  We need those glutes and spinal muscles to keep us from hunching forward.  We need those rhomboids to keep our shoulders back so we can have lovely posture no matter what our age.

3.    You want bragging rights.  Almost all of us hate burpees.  But I notice that when someone wants to emphasize that it was a killer workout, that’s what they mention.

4.     You offer yourself a reward for doing them.  I believe in self-bribery, although I think it is best if the bribes have no calories.  If you do those over-yets, you definitely deserve that bubble bath.