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Every fitness enthusiast knows the feeling: certain exercises make you want to skip the gym entirely. Whether it’s the burn of push-ups, the challenge of squats, or the awkwardness of burpees, some movements can feel more like punishment than progress. Yet, these exercises are among the most effective for building strength and preventing injury. The real issue often lies in their perceived difficulty or improper execution, leading to negative associations that make them easy to avoid.
With the right approach and realistic expectations, these dreaded movements can become satisfying parts of your workout routine. Here’s how you can learn to love the exercises everyone dreads.
Building Confidence with Bridges
The bridge exercise targets your glutes, back, and core muscles simultaneously, engaging some of your body’s most powerful muscle groups. These muscles are crucial for everyday activities such as rolling over in bed, getting up from the floor, or lifting heavy objects. To perform a basic bridge, lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor, hip-width apart. Place your arms at your sides with palms down, tighten your glutes, then lift your hips as high as feels comfortable and hold for five seconds.
By focusing on what your body can do right now rather than forcing perfect form, you’ll start feeling accomplished rather than frustrated. This success builds positive associations, making you look forward to bridges instead of avoiding them.
Making Push-Ups Achievable
Push-ups are a full-body exercise engaging everything from arms to legs, making them one of the most efficient exercises available. However, many avoid them due to their reputation as a strength test or memories of gym class punishments. A simple way to ease into push-ups is by starting against a wall or kitchen counter. Adjust your distance to modify the difficulty, allowing focus on proper form and muscle engagement without the full weight of your body.
By removing the intimidation factor and allowing immediate success, push-ups transform from a dreaded test into a satisfying movement. This shift from failure to success can turn exercise hatred into genuine enjoyment over time.
Turning Squats into Everyday Movements
Squats activate all major leg muscles, including quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves, promoting a stronger lower body for safer daily movement. Many struggle with squats due to tight hip flexors and hamstrings, and the risk of back pain if executed improperly. A surprisingly simple solution is using a chair. Sit with feet hip-width apart, hands on your thighs, then slowly stand and sit back down in a controlled movement, taking three to five seconds each way.
This familiar movement eliminates the fear and awkwardness that make squats unpleasant. Recognizing that you’re already doing a version of squats daily helps the exercise feel natural and achievable.
Breaking Down Burpees
Burpees combine a squat, plank, push-up, and jump into one challenging movement that tests both your body and cardiovascular system. Despite their effectiveness for building strength and endurance, many people despise them due to their exhausting nature. The key to enjoying burpees is breaking them into manageable parts. Practice each component separately: squats, then planks, then push-ups, and finally small jumps. Gradually combine two movements, then three, and eventually all four.
By deconstructing this intimidating exercise into familiar parts, you remove the overwhelming nature that makes burpees so dreaded. Success at each component turns the full movement into an achievement rather than an ordeal.
Focusing on Form Over Quantity
Instead of fixating on how many repetitions you can perform, concentrate on executing each movement correctly. Five perfect push-ups are more beneficial than ten sloppy ones, as proper form ensures you’re engaging the intended muscles and avoiding injury. Feeling your muscles fully engaged during each repetition allows you to appreciate the exercise’s benefits.
This mental shift from quantity to quality creates positive associations with movements you once dreaded. Celebrating proper form over chasing numbers removes the performance pressure that makes exercises feel like punishment, turning every workout into a win.
Now that you’ve learned how to enjoy your most hated exercises, why not explore some of our other useful guides? Check out How to Build Fitness That Actually Lasts and 5 Power Moves to Boost Your Fitness. And if you’re apprehensive about using the squat rack, here’s how to use it safely and effectively.
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