i know when i work out at the gym, i get bored really quickly and feel the pain of the workout a lot more if i don't keep myself occupied with something. What do you find to be the most effective distraction when you work out, or do you not need distraction? how do you cope with 'the burn'?

i think once i can afford an ipod, my entertainment problems will be solved, but right now i'm content to read a book or magazine and listen to my very old, very skippy CD player.

I find that if I need to be entertained, I am not working out hard enough. One can only feel bored when there's not enough physical or mental stress put on the body.

Besides injury, boredom is the worst thing that can happen in a workout. It kills momentum and drive. Continual boredom will only lead one to quit.

Rather than looking for entertainment, I suggest you do any of the following (or a combination):

- increase your workout intensity (do heavier weights, run faster).
- change your workout duration (shorter duration is OK, as long as you mix it up. Works best with increase in intensity)
- change your workout routine. Try new machines / techniques. Mix it up.
- get a personal trainer. A good trainer will find many ways to get you out of boredom.
- if you are weight training, make sure you eat some healthy carbs (e.g. oatmeal, grains) before you go. You lose your drive to push weight very quickly if you don't have the glycogen reserves to burn.

I let boredom got me in the past, and gained over 50 pounds at one point as a result. I have lost significant weight now, but I am still paying for it. Now when I feel bored, I know it is time to change my workout.

I hope this helps.

I envy you your ability to read while you're working out! I can't do it... all the bouncing makes it too hard to concentrate on lines of text. :) I also don't find TV entertaining enough to work out to. It kinda drags me down, and inevitably, if I pick the wrong machine I get a crick in my neck from angling my head to watch it.

I HAVE to have music to listen to. I build a bunch of playlists that go from slow to faster to fast to slower to slow, so I can take intensity cues from the music and totally zone out. I just pick a workout playlist from whatever artist/style of music I feel like that day and I'm good to go...

I will second Eric's note about intensity-as-entertainment, though. When I'm going really hard I don't think about anything else... Actually I kinda use high intensity workouts to get me distracted from bad days at work, sometimes. (One time I went straight to the gym from work because I was SO ANGRY at this one passive aggressive guy yanking my chain all day... I ran for a personal record length of time that day. And then I really couldn't have cared less about the guy at work 'cos my legs were freaking jello. ;-) But, whatever works, right?)

If you do get an iPod for working out, I suggest an iPod Shuffle. One, they're pretty cheap, and two, they're also really hardy. Mine is so lightweight that even if I catch up the headphone wires with my hand accidentally and yank on it, the ipod won't come unplugged or fall on the floor and smash or get stepped on.

HTH. :)

I bought a used xbox on craigslist and set it up in front of the recumbent exercise bike in the basement.

Six weeks later, it's still working out great. Feel the need to play a game? Gotta pedal the bike too. That's my rule.

Some games work better than others: racing games work best (I find myself pedalling harder when I need to catch up), sports games are good too.

I was a bit worried that the gamies might be distracting from the intensity of the workout, but my heart monitor says they're not. Besides, even a slightly less intense workout is better than no workout at all. (Which is what I was doing before, because it was so tedious and boring.)

With the attention span of a sugar-doped toddler I too have a problem focusing on my workouts; if I am not mentally engaged I bore easily. I have a "weight room" (better described as a "weight closet") at home that I used to have a treadmill set up in. I would listen to music as I ran but found myself drifting mentally and actually launched myself off it - more than once. Now, with the ellyptical I watch TV and go through flash cards I make to help me study whichever course I am taking in night school. But that's just cardio.

Weight training and heavy bag work is all focus and angry music. The faster and more gutteral the music, the more intense a workout I can achieve.

As Eric and Sabrina pointed out, with distractions you aren't getting as good a workout, but as Dan said "even a slightly less intense workout is better than no workout at all". Try varying your workouts, try different types of music and/or TV, but whatever you do, don't let boredom get in your way. Through trial and error you'll find what works best for you.

When I'm doing cardio, I listen to podcasts on my iPod, preferably humorous ones. My favorite has been Extra Life Radio. I also listen to This Week in Tech and Diggnation. In fact, listening through the archives of Extra Life Radio actually helped me get focused on my workouts, because I look forward to the next time I'll be able to do a workout and listen to a show.

If you like to listen to music to motivate you, the great thing about an iPod, as sabrina has pointed out, is creating custom playlists. When I was running, I worked really hard at creating a custom playlist that had pretty much the same beat per minute all the way through to help maintain my rate of speed.

I will definitely agree that less intense workout is better than no workout at all. If distrations are absolutely necessary, then go for it.

For me, I will listen to music / watch TV during a cardio, but only if I am not doing intervals. And I never have a distraction during weight training.

I used to need TV or music during workouts, but I find now that my workouts are generally more rewarding without them. Like Sabrina, I simply find intensity consuming my conscious thought. And it feels very good too. Having your entire psyche focus on 1 singular motion, when we live in an age of multitasking and over stimulation, brings a zen-like experience.

I want to Colin's points about what to do when you do get an iPod. I also agree that if your getting REALLY bored it might be worth kicking up the intensity to see if that helps.

The other trick I have found really helps is a heart rate monitor. Being a bigger guy it is essential for me to keep my heart rate in a manageable range. So constantly checking my progress and using that to meter my intensity has proven a good distraction. Once I started that no more hurling midway through my cardio workout or seeing spots (yeah I know, I know, both signs your over doing it).

The last is pretty simple and kinda silly. I wear a Spartan Utilikilt (look at my profile picture) when I work out and it looks cool when on the elliptical and treadmill. Not to mention it is good to check that your not flashing anyone. Not for most people. But the hardest part about getting into a gym for me is mental. Everyone else seems so svelte and skinny. If I am gonna be the fat man on the treadmill I might as be blatant about it.

I get so bored when I'm working out too! lol so I upload my IPod with high-energy songs and listen to it and that keeps me going. :)

i always go to the gym during white sox games and yell at the tv when they do something stupid. yes, i'm that guy.

watching sports is a great time-waster at the gym because you don't need the sound as much.

Ah, but Josh... if you're yelling at the television every time the Sox do something stupid, how are you getting enough air to keep going?!

</die-hard south sider, who's been cranky lately... I mock because I love...>

Game shows are good too... Especially the "text-heavy" ones. For example today I watched some twit on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire win 50k because she knew an answer to a question about Carson Daily.

I mean if that's not motivating I don't know what is... :P

I've so got to buy an iPod. I need to let the novelty of my iRiver wear off first.

Just make sure you get the nano. I've tried runnin with my 60gb a few times. It's like having a toaster strapped to your arm.

Plus, the hard drives in most ipods are crap. Shaking them causing them to either freeze, or alternately, reboot. The nano is small enough that in the little arm holder it won't get all shaken up...

Yes the Nano is flash based, so won't skip. The 60gb isn't all that heavy - don't you remember tape walkmans, Sadrhino?- but because it has a hard drive it may skip. You wouldn't want to drop it either...

Why not just get a shuffle? Cheap, simple and designed for exercise. Of course, you can wire the nano to your shoes now. What a world.

I say 'wire', but of course I mean 'wire' in the sense of a 'wireless' wiring. You see.

I'm a geek and I hate single purpose equipment. I'd rather spend the extra money on a nano than a shuffle (not having a screen ticks me off). My wife has a shuffle I sometimes take with me to work out with. I listen to podcasts and watch videos, I tend to leave the shuffle at home and take my HP iPaq cellphone to watch video and audio podcasts on.

As nice and light weight as the shuffle is, I'd like to do more with a device during the times that I'm not working out. I try to rid myself of single purpose devices. I think I'll end up getting a nano or the next ipod that comes out that has multi functions and can be use for multiple purposes.


Check out my fitness podcast at: http://www.geekfit.com

When I work out I listen to podcasts or audio books on a 30GB Ipod strapped to my arm. It is a little big but I love having good stuff to listen to so I don't mind. Although sometimes I find I'm not really listening properly because of the exercise.

I like to watch and listen MTV videoclips while running on the threadmill at the gym. It's really entertaining and the beat keeps me going!

A hint for iPod users.

If you have large arms like I do, or you don't like the weight on your arm. I have found using a belt clip type case and wearing the iPod in the small of my back works the best. That is for cardio anyways. For lifting and I focusing on form right now so I don't listen to anything. I am sure that will change in the future but that is where I am at right now.

I listen to hour long techno mixes so I don't have to fiddle with it while I am sweating.

At my gym attached to the cardio machines are individual mini tvs, so i tend to watch sports or even better, So You Think You Can Dance - when it was still airing of course.

something else, I just have to say it... if you have a crush at the gym, you never get bored! im serious! It also helped me keep a steady workout schedule... not only are you getting a work out but you also get the chance to talk with your crush... i know, im lame. but hey, it helped me keep up my workout plans =)

I rock, therefore I am. Nothing like a hot dish of high tempo rock and roll to keep it going.

Mark

i get bored listening to music, since i work in caraudio i hear all day to begin with and like to drive home and to the gym all quiet and work out quiet. OR just talk to the guy im working out with.

A couple of thoughts:

I'm in an iPod related business (but in advertising, not retail, so I have nothing to sell), and even I balk at the prices of the new ones. Keep in mind at places like Price Grabber you can find prices at a veriety of stores on refurbished iPods. Both my 20 Gig and my son's Nano were bought refurbed, under warranty, have worked perfectly and cost significantly less than the newest ones. I paid about $170 for mine, and similar 20 GB are about $150-$170 now refurbished. 20 GB, even for an obcessive music and audio book guy like me, is more than enough. It holds maybe 50 albums (or more... unsure). Since electronics are more or less built by machines today, refurbished means it was sent back and some human had to go in and fix something. Refurbished electronics are, in my opinion, a great buy. Price Grabber is just one of many places you go go, enter something like 20GB iPod, and find dozens of stores selling them and instant price comparisons. I literally bought the cheapest one, and 2 years later I am still loving it. Mine is 3rd generation, where the current iPods are 5th. I can't watch movies on it, but I didn't pay $500 either.

Altho I am never without my iPod at the gym, music is more just a rhythm. It energizes, but I don't think it distracts really, because in my opinion of you are able to read, watch television or listen closely to music, you're not working hard enough. I listen to albums I know well and which energize me because I love them. I don't listen to new things I am learning about, or things with serious lyrics. For that matter I don't listen to audiobooks. When running, there is no way I can learn about Greek Philosophy or develop a complex analysis of the new Bob Dylan album. I think if you are doing cardio the way it needs to be done, your thoughts narrow to pretty much that... survival, and some very basic games you can play with yourself

So I don't want to "distracted", but I think I know what you mean in that I still want to have something to think about. And for me it's usually little games with myself based on performance. Beating my previous times, or breaking a big run into smaller minute by minute goals to get me to the end. I'm pretty much thinking about "am I going to die?" and "ok, if I do three minutes fast now, that will be 60% of this run at some intensity, and I might approach my best time." In fact that's a bit more complex than it really is. I actually prefer treadmills, because the numbers on the panel in front of me can be infinitely fascinating in this way.

But setting little goals and sub goals during exercise itself as a way to getting to the end is all the mental stimulation I need to keep going. There are many times I run where I didn't plan to go long, but I get into a series of dangling carrot games with myself that keep me going for long periods. I love the iPod, but I tend to listen to metal and hard rock because the lyrics are simple (or inconsequential) and the energy high. And these little mind games and races against myself are the real "distraction"

Might I suggest not calling this thing you are seeking "distraction" at all? it suggests you don't like being there doing that activity, and you need to trick yourself into not feeling that way. That may well be (I certainly feel like that many times) but we coach ourselves with our language. You become what you think about, and if you articulate your need for distraction you become a person who needs be distracted. Perhaps think of whatever you do in your mind as something else... your meditation perhaps. Or just refer to the thing you need as "stimulation" or "energy".

The positive feeling that will result (eventually) from getting out of that language that suggests workng against yourself may transform your workouts. My workouts were magically lifted to a new level the day I stopped thinking of it as something I had to do and instead as something I was privileged to do. A simple shift in vocabulary can send a completely new message, and make you a new athlete.

Jeremiah,

Do you have a specific brand name for your small of the back belt accessory? I use an arm thing called iSnug, and I lilke it OK, but there is a bunch of surplus headset wire in my armpit I sometimes have to fiddle with while on the run and your small of the back thing sounds better.

I used to just keep it in a pocket, but not all gym shorts have pockets. I can't really understand why.

I used to listen to music but it doesn't really help for me. I like to watch football while I run. It distracts me in the beginning until I get into the "rhythm" of the run. It also prevents me from concious thought while I'm running so I'm able to clear my mind. Once I get into the "groove" I focus on form + intensity and less on the TV.

Hey Everybody,

It might sound weird, but I love to watch the Comedy Channel - particularly stand up when I'm exercising. I love watching comedy, however I enjoy watching music clips as well.

Cheers,
AJ