I find exercise boring. Agonizingly boring. If it's easy enough I can do it for a while (walking) I just can't believe it's worth it and I'm thinking of the million other things I could be doing.

The only type of cardio I like is competitive sports - in particular I love playing racquetball; in college I played twice a week for an hour (my only real activity) and I would play till I was gasping for breath, beet red in the face, and often threw up in the bathroom afterward from overexertion. (Yes this was all very attractive to my semi-cute racquetball partner, I am sure.) But my god chasing that little bouncing ball around a tiny room was fun.

So I have some questions for you chicas who have more experience than I with fitness and maybe started out somewhere not too far from me:

1) Is it normal to turn bright, bright tomato red when you exercise? I wouldn't even feel "that" exerted by the time I turned bright red and it was incredibly embarrassing. It's so red people get really concerned and think I'm actually about to pass out or die. As in:

"You ok?" "What? Oh yeah, this is fun!" "No really, are you.. okay??"

We are not talking a lovely blush in the cheeks. We are talking full-red-face from ears to nose to neck. I literally cannot find a Google image of a person with something comparable. I'm 28 and was "overweight" but not "obese" at the time so I don't think I'm really about to have a heart attack.

2) Is 1 hr twice a week not enough to get "some" level of fitness? I felt like after months of doing that I should have gotten better but I still consistently got incredibly out of breath / turned bright red / sometimes threw up. Admittedly it's hard to tell - maybe I was playing harder because I could. But I'm not convinced.

Before that in highschool I played soccer and had practice 2 hours twice a week plus a game every weekend.. and I would still turn bright red. Ridiculous.

3) Does anyone know how to find group racquetball classes for adults? I figure I would start off in a beginner's class, but everywhere I look I see "leagues" and I really just want a "class" (where there's no expectations of actual ability ). Local gyms that I'm familiar with offer one-on-one classes but no group classes.. and half the fun is meeting random people and playing with a variety of skill levels till you find someone who is a good match. (Really, playing against someone who is the exact same skill level as you is the most enjoyable and irritating thing in the world because you're always so close to either winning or losing and you just have to try a little bit harder.)

I'm in a pretty urban area (Cleveland, OH if that helps), so any tips are appreciated. For a good beginner's racquetball class I'd drive up to an hour.

No, it isn't normal for anyone who wants to be healthy, toned and maintain a goal weight.

One hour a week is not enough for anything. Better than nothing but it won't tone you or help with weight loss. For health, you need a minimum of 30 minutes 6 days a week and to aid in weight loss at least one hour. Exercise is what keeps the weight off you when you get to maintenance.

If you don't exercise you will lose muscle right along with the fat and be flabby and unhealthy.

You don't have to go to the gym and you don't have to do it all at once.Three 10 minute sessions are as good as one 30 minute. You don't have to go to the gym. Walking costs nothing. Get a MP3 player or IPOD and listen to music or books on tape while exercising.

The problem with competetive sports is some don't raise your heart level for a sustained time. Racquetball is excellent - lots of movement.

You need weight training to be toned (at least twice a week). Just cardio isn't enough.

Ever since I was a kid, I've turned bright red just looking at people work out, haha. I laughed at your post - I was asked by a gym teacher once if I was alright and they recommended I take a walk. I would've been walking forever if she wanted my redness to go away. Today, I am still like that although I am admittedly in much worse shape than I was as an active kid, but even at my leanest I was still getting red. I'm not sure about you, but I'm very fair with pink undertones. I don't know if that might contribute to it, but I just feel like I am a "red person," meaning that I get red in the sun,and I blush easily and obviously.

I've played squash at my school's courts - SO FUN. I'm excited to play more this fall. I know what you mean about exercise not being fun or interesting. I put a TV show on my laptop and skip in my basement for cardio, which makes it go by a bit faster. Right now, my boyfriend is my running partner but he's about to leave for 2 months so I'm not sure how I'll get through my jogs alone!

QuilterInVA - just read your signature, holy crap your loss is amazing! Congrats!

YES! This is me! I used to be a martial artist, like 10 years ago. I was a martial arts instructor for three years and had an extremely high level of fitness...I was JACKED. I still turned BRIGHT red in the face when working out, even at peak fitness. What's worse...I sweat BUCKETS. Like literally waterfalls of sweat down my face...it looked like someone dumped scalding hot water over my head. Nowadays I prefer to exercise at home because I definitely get looks from people when I attempt to run outside, and non-PTs telling me I should drink more water.

I was so embarrassed one day last year when I decided to volunteer at a food pantry helping to bag groceries to be delivered to shut-ins. It was a hot day in an open warehouse with no air conditioning...the activity was moderate at best (lifting a box, cutting it open, putting cans into bags coming down a conveyor belt until the box was empty, rinse/repeat) and people were asking me if I was okay because my face was BRIGHT RED. I was pumping out bags of food like a champ and didn't feel tired at all...I just looked like I was about to keel over!

I'm a girl, and I just can't compare myself to those women who go to the gym and run for an hour while looking flawless and without a drop of perspiration. Within the first 5 minutes of cardio...red face, sweat city. UGH! I can take a picture tomorrow if you like after I do 30 day shred level 2 (which isn't even that intense for me...I just can't do HIIT every day without getting shin splints), but it certainly won't be pretty.

Well guess what? I asked a friend of mine who is going to school specifically to become a physical trainer, and he said that it's 100% genetic. It's just how your body is designed to release heat. Your capillaries in your face dilate and you sweat from the top of your head, which is where your body is designed to dissipate the most heat anyway. I'm also very fair skinned, so that doesn't help either!

Well that is both enlightening and incredibly depressing Thanks for asking!! I never have seen anyone else get that red and I know I'm out of shape, but dang, it just seems over the top. I sweat a fair bit too but not insanely so - or at least not more than other people that I've noticed, so at least there's that? Of course they're too busy wondering how many seconds before my head pops off or steam shoots out my ears, so I suspect no one is worried about my sweat level.

I am also very fair and I blush easily, sooo I suppose it makes sense it is my genetic curse.

As for 30 minutes 6 days a week, wow! I will try to work up to that. Racquetball definitely gets my heart rate up if I have a good partner, so I'll start looking for a class and them embarrassment about my lack of fitness will shoo me into working out additional days I suspect (it's worked in the past). And yes, congrats on your loss!! That is amazing.

I actually don't mind strength training too much; I took a weight training course in college and have a few pairs of handweights and a bench at home, so that also might be an easier starting point. It's a bit boring too but because I'm not breathing like a dying racehorse I can watch TV and actually hear what's going on.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I can be really in shape and yet if I exert myself my face is going to turn bright red. This is a traumatic moment.

I disagree with some of the things you say! Most competitive sports can be played as hardcore or as half-heartedly as you want. I played netball for ten years and that was a great workout, plus I loved it so didn't see it as a chore to play 3 x a week. I think an hour six times a week is overkill unless you really want to do that much. If you have a hard time motivating yourself 3 x a week you will give up almost straight away with the prospect of 6 x. I'd build up slowly and build more activity into daily life. I am always amazed by people who drive to the gym, it seems like the biggest contradiction ever (I don't live in the US and we have better public transport so maybe that is why). Cycle and walk places, use stairs instead of lifts etc etc. Don't do anything you think is boring, you won't stick with it!

I think the red faced thing is also completely normal. I am, as you say, "healthy, toned and maintain a goal weight" and I still get a bright red face whenever I run. The week after I ran a 1/2 marathon, I was doing a recovery run (5k or so) and someone asked me if I was OK because I was so red. I also blush really easily and sweat a lot, so I think Mimi is right, it is genetic.

Good luck :-D

Thanks!!

I still couldn't find any local gyms who offer racquetball classes BUT I did find a local university that offers an intro and intermediate level course for 1 credit hour, and they allow "visiting students" with a "streamlined" application process if you already have a bachelor's degree and just want to take a course now and then for personal interest.

So fingers crossed that they're offering it in the Fall! I emailed the registrar to find out.

It's also only .7 miles from my work, so it'd be very easy to walk to! I'm hoping it's at a time I can go too, around work.. so many "if"s, but it's best I have right now, and the closest I've come to finding a class in the 3 yrs I've lived here!

It's only 1 hour twice a week, but like you said - it's a start, and I'm actually looking forward to it, not dreading it like I would.. pretty much any other kind of exercise.

I just have to make sure I avoid any coworkers on the street when I'm walking back with a face the color of a fire engine.

I get so tired of people saying that if you don't exercise 4, 5, 6 times a week you won't lose weight. It simple isn't true. And yes, even an hour twice a week will start to tone up your muscles too. Sure, more slowly. And sure, not as much as is recommended but movement is movement and any movement is helpful and aids in getting fitter and in losing weight.

Go for it and have fun!

i also get the red face when i exercise....i also have had people ask me if i'm okay and i'm like "what? why?" and then realize it's because my face is so red...even if i'm not sweating, i get like that and my face gets so HOT when it's red too...i am caucasian with ancestry from eastern europe (germany, czech) and very fair-skinned with pink undertones

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one Though I suspect I will still have to suffer through other people expecting me to swan dive into the dirt at any moment.

Update on racquetball - I enrolled in the college today and should get my registration materials via email in the next couple of days.. then I'll register for the course! Pretty excited, although it's 2 hours once a week sooo it probably will actually kill me. (Usually after 1 hour I can barely walk, may throw up, and need about 30 minutes to feel semi-normal.)

I think I may have to learn to pace myself a bit better, but in racquetball that usually means letting the ball go by you... which is just not fun. So, we'll see how it goes.


I will try not to let you all down by actually dying while my face is bright red, as this would only perpetuate the myth that we are literally having a heart attack.

YEP, after soccer practice in highschool I used to actually go stick my head in the freezer because it felt soooooo good. Definitely got some odd looks from my parents but they let me do it, probably because my face was so red.

If I can sit here all day on my arse and lose/maintain weight, then altering the "norm" by even 10 minutes of walking or so a week is obviously going to do something! I don't understand why people are so adamant about killing yourself at the gym, either. I like working out at the gym, but it's more for strength/endurance than it is for weight loss...that comes naturally with the X amount of calories my body burns -- doing nothing -- and the X amount of calories, or lack there of, that I'm consuming. Healthy living and a simple math equation=weight loss.

My .02.

Well, I don't want to kill myself playing racquetball, I've just discovered I'm a tad competitive and really can't let that little ball by if I can possibly make it

The exercise / overexertion / subsequent death are just a result of my pathological desire to get there before the dreaded double-bounce.

I'd much rather play twice a week for an hour since I'm actually a little worried about what will happen if I play for 2 hours, but the schedule is the schedule.

I don't see anything wrong with you playing sports however agressively or for whatever length of time, my2cats....

My post was directed to the people that insist you MUST work-out 6x a week. =]

I'm a competitive athlete myself. It still amazes me how I could push through anything when my basketball or soccer coach were screaming in my face ( I remember doing 100 push ups in sets of 20 for losing a game) I did it...no problem...while some of my varsity teammates were in tears. I wish I had that perseverance AND energy still. I can run bleachers for 3 hours as punishment because my coach said so....now I can't run a block.

I wish I still had a coach. But a dang trainer is so expensive! =]