LogFAQs > #979726086

My two cents, since you asked @Asherlee10

An hour is a good all round time to set aside for exercise, but that's not to say you need to spend a full 60 minutes just lifting weights. Throw in a warm up and some cardio and time flies.

I realise what's really being asked here is whether someone always has the energy to exercise, and the answer is basically...no. But equally, maybe you need to find a level of exercise where it's not a huge mental or physical burden.

Countless people get super motivated and inspired to start working out, go in way too hard and then burn out in a couple of weeks or months. If that happened to you, you almost certainly overcommitted, to a point where you could only carry out your goals when your motivation was at an all time high. The way I see it, you should find a level of exercise that you can do even on a low day. It should be a tonic for your low energy, not a poison. It should make you feel energised, not take all of your emotional strength to carry out.

I highlight emotional strength because generally that's the real issue. If you were being chased by a tiger you would find the physical energy to start running. The actual issue is that your heart is just not in that 10k run you promised yourself you would do, and that's probably because you've set "exercise" up in your mind as this huge ordeal that will ruin your day.

This is what Pow Pow is talking about when he says go in with the view of doing 2 minutes of exercise. Mentally that's a lot more achievable that overcommitting to a big 1 hour routine you're not prepared for.

If anyone wants a long-form talk in this topic, check this out. It's a little corny at points, but the overall message is very good. You have to build up a tolerance for exercise so that it takes little to no mental energy to carry on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8K7ifs2Db4