Your Hard Work Deserves A Workout That Feels Fun

As women entrepreneurs, we already give so much of ourselves and our time to the people and things that matter to us.

We spend all day, every day pouring ourselves into our businesses, our teams, our customers, our family, and our friends. And somehow there are always still a million little things waiting for our attention. Our to-do list never ends.

So when we manage to carve out time for ourselves, even self-care can start to feel like one more responsibility. Exercise becomes another thing we should do. Another box to check. Another way to prove we are disciplined and can “have it all.”

Yes, you should exercise to support your physical health. Your 80-year-old self will thank you! But it can also be one of the few parts of your day that actually gives something back to you.

This idea is what led me to start my company.

I wanted joy from my workout, and I wasn’t getting it

In January, I was balancing a lot. I was a new mom and the VP of the company. Needless to say, I was getting very little sleep and spending zero time taking care of myself. So my New Year’s Resolution was to take 30 minutes every day to go on a walk.

On January 5th, I joined a gym, got on the treadmill, and watched People We Meet on Vacation for 30 minutes. As I headed home, I thought to myself “that was incredibly boring.”

I desperately needed a release, needed time for myself, and needed something that was truly for me. I wanted to feel joy. I wanted fun! Walking on the treadmill, alternating between staring at a wall and a TV, did not bring me joy, and it was not fun. It felt like checking off the “exercise” box to say I did some form of self-care.

Because of that experience, I built GOODWALK, a group fitness studio designed to give walking the fun, joyful experience I couldn’t find and desperately needed.

But that experience also made me start questioning something bigger: Why are we taught to think about exercise in terms of discipline, results, and obligation instead of enjoyment?

Research supports enjoying your exercise

A systematic review of 24 studies found that having a more positive experience during exercise was associated with being more physically active in the future. Other research linked exercise enjoyment with stronger exercise habits, greater exercise frequency, and a stronger intention to keep going.

In other words, the workout you enjoy has a major advantage over the workout you think you should be doing: you’re more likely to come back.

When you think about it, that feels obvious. Of course you are more likely to keep doing something you like. So why do we keep picking exercise that we don’t like?

Find a routine you LOVE even if it’s not “optimal”

Exercise is an area where our founder brains can work against us. We are used to optimizing everything. We want the best ROI. We want to set goals, track progress, and measure outcomes. But your workout doesn’t have to be so complicated if you don’t want it to be.

If running and lifting weights make you feel amazing, great! But if you hate running and developing a weightlifting routine feels like another thing on your to-do list, then why are you forcing yourself to do it? You won’t get extra credit for pushing through a workout you hate. It’s a waste of your precious time to do something for yourself that you don’t love.

Let your workout give something back to you

For me, I wanted fun and joy. I wanted to laugh, sing, and dance to music I loved while I walked. That’s ultimately the experience I built GOODWALK around.

But joyful exercise may look completely different to you. So ask yourself, “What do I need from this time?”

Maybe joyful exercise is getting outside and shooting hoops with your kid for 20 minutes after school instead of spending all day behind a screen. Maybe it’s 15 minutes dancing like a maniac to your favorite music. Maybe it’s riding your bike on a local trail, taking in the nature around you, and shutting your brain off for 30 minutes. Walking counts. Dancing counts. Playing counts. Moving your body in a way that you enjoy counts.

You already have enough things in your life that you do because you have to, or because you think that you should. Let your workout be something you actually look forward to.

Additional articles by Sarah Gardner:

What Founders Should Consider Before Using AI-generated Images of Their Product