Does anyone else here get extremely bored during strength training? Whenever I am weight lifting I get so darn bored! I try to lose myself in my iPod but during my rests I get so bored that I just don't want to continue on with my sets. I just want to leave the gym. I never get bored while I'm doing cardio because it's constant movement. I've tried switching up my routine but every time I do switch it I never stick to it because I find it all so boring. Anyone know any techniques to get past this boredom? It wasn't so unbearable when my friend used to workout with me but unfortunately our schedules just don't work with each other anymore.
Yep, it's why I do no strength routines at the gym. The only weight work I do is at home in front of the television. Not ideal, but I don't want to get back to that place where I hate exercise which is what would happen if I forced myself to do something I find boring.
Last edited by caryesings; 06-22-2010 at 10:09 AM.
I am so there with you. I find ST so boring that I find reasons to skip it. So I'm really interested in what others have to say about this.
Since you say your boredom kicks in during the rests, why not do supersets? For instance, instead of doing three sets of bicep curls (resting between each set) followed by tricep dips, do one set of bicep curls, a set of tricep dips, back to bicep curls and so on. That eliminates the time you spend doing nothing, but it still gives each muscle a short rest period.
I quite going to the gym last fall when I got the flu and the lingering cough lasted for 6 weeks. When I finally wasn't hacking during a workout I did not have the umph to go back to the gym because I was bored with my weight routine. I tried switching it up, tried doing different things, but I also was bored. I still haven't found my way back to the weight room.
I have weights at home too and won't use them even though I could do them while watching TV.
So, here is my 2cents.
1. Try to find a workout partner that you can workout with. My hubby has a partner/friend who he meets at the gym 3 nights a week. They love their workout as they chat it up while working out and they encourage each other. If you don't have a friend that wants to join you, try placing an ad on the gym bulletin board and see if you can find someone. Having someone to socialize with while working out and being encouraged might help
2. Try videos or training series. There are so many out there these days that work on strength training that you won't get bored. The group I'm training with now are using the CrossFit series.
I can't imagine ever getting bored with weight training, I love it so much... BUT I do what Nelie said, keep moving working an opposing body part or working abs and doing push ups inbetween sets of rest... I change my workouts often too... I rarely do two workouts the same....
i use my "rest times" in between sets to do my stretching and mobility exercises! They are so important to do, yet almost always neglected! i KNOW i wont do the exercises at the end of my workout, because i find them so boring
Dont take this the wrong way, but perhaps you arent working hard enough, and thats why you are bored? If you are truly pushing yourself, then you will CRAVE the rest time!
Also, you could try doing cardio finishers in between your sets.....jumping jacks for a minuts, or mountain climbers, or jump rope, etc, to keep your heart rate up...
OR maybe you need a new strength routine?
I always get excited and fired up when im doing some new program. Have you heard of the New Rules of Lifting for Woman? Has comlete programs to keep you occupied for 6 months or more
There is also the Womans Health Big Book of Exercises, which you can get for like 15 bucks at barnes and noble, or cheaper on amazon. Not ONLY does it have like 700 (literally) strength training exercises, but it also teaches you how to put together your own programs, as well as gives you like 10-15 full on programs (8 weeks or more) plus another 20 or so "quickie" strength routines...
Or you can google "Full body fat loss strength routines"
or "full body workouts"
or Body part split routines for fat loss"
or Body Weight fat loss routines
or whatever, and come up with all sorts of free routines on the internet
Stay consistent with your strength training, but change it up often (every 4 weeks or so, give or take), and you will reap the benefits!
Also, step away from the weight machines, and piick up some free weights!
For a fun change go to your local elementary school and do bodyweight strength training on the equipment! Dips off of steps, monkey bars, using the swings for rear foot elevated lunges, and to put your feet in for planks, etc, inclined pushups on benches, step ups on stairs. Scramble up the slide for cardio in between sets...the possibilities are limitless
I like the ideas you have been given. Find a workout partner or get chatty with the people in the gym. Do supersets (I dont have the energy to be bored with supersets)
If all else fails, focus during the exercise on what part of your body you are working and how sculpted it will look if you keep doing this.
Rest periods bore me too, so I don't do them. That is to say, I use a lot of the techniques mentioned above to fill up the time. Since I train at home before work, I sometimes use that time to do little tasks that get me ready for the day (packing my lunch, getting my clothing set up). I really should probably start doing mobility exercises during rest times, too. That would help me a lot.
I do get bored if the weight is too light, because it all feels kind of pointless. But lately I've stopped picking up things that are really light in my hand, after reading advice everywhere mocking the use of the pink Barbie dumbbells & the idea that women should never lift anything heavier than 3 lbs. or so.
Basically, I'm never bored when my muscles are trembling with the accumulated effort of lifting something slightly too heavy for me a few too many times. I mean, I'm a lot of things at that moment, and I do pretty much want it to end -- and sooner, rather than later -- but "bored" isn't the word I'd choose to describe it.
Also, I am always hunting out new tunes. Lifting music doesn't have to be as rhythmically propulsive as cardio music, so that gives me some range. I do find some highly-testosterone-charged screaming metal-ish stuff appropriate at those moments. Probably I am one of those ideal subjects for brainwashing who can be easily influenced & amused for an hour or more by loudly played rock music.
Basically, I'm never bored when my muscles are trembling with the accumulated effort of lifting something slightly too heavy for me a few too many times. I mean, I'm a lot of things at that moment, and I do pretty much want it to end -- and sooner, rather than later -- but "bored" isn't the word I'd choose to describe it.
What saef said. I am too busy paying attention to my form, listening to my muscles screaming, to my sweat dripping, etc. Boredom is the last thing on my mind. I always wonder how Bill Phillips (the author of Body For Life) is able to squeeze the exercises into a 45 minute period. When I lift weights at the gym, it usually takes me between 1 hour to 1 hr and 15 minutes (not that I am doing his sets, I do my own, but the principle is the same).
1. Try to find a workout partner that you can workout with. My hubby has a partner/friend who he meets at the gym 3 nights a week. They love their workout as they chat it up while working out and they encourage each other. If you don't have a friend that wants to join you, try placing an ad on the gym bulletin board and see if you can find someone. Having someone to socialize with while working out and being encouraged might help
I agree with this My father and I go to the gym together and lately we've been doing the same work outs. We switch off and so for my break I can just watch him, and when he's done it's my turn again. It really makes the time go by.
If this isn't an option for you though... then maybe, if you can, add some videos to your media player?
Boredom during strength training
My father and I go to the gym together and lately we've been doing the same work outs. We switch off and so for my break I can just watch him, and when he's done it's my turn again. It really makes the time go by. 
