Anti-exercise? Social media users explain why they don't go to the gym

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Reddit users offered some thoughtful responses after a poster asked for an explanation for why some people don't exercise.

"People who don’t exercise or workout, why don’t you?" one user asked.

Many explained that because their occupations are so strenuous, they don't feel the need to use workout equipment after hours.

Man during bench press exercise in gym (iStock)

"I work construction and honestly after working all day going up and down ladders and moving equipment, I am all set," one user, RocMerc, said.

"Over the last few years I lost almost 20 kg of weight. Went from a desk job to handling a workshop full of machines. Setting up and moving heavy metal parts all day. Plus I commute 2x 8 km a day by bicycle if the weather permits it," another replied.

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"I was big into the gym before I did labouring on building sites," another agreed. "Before that I was working from home on Zoom all day even when the gyms reopened. I was training hard 5 days a week. In the 7 weeks I did construction, I think I made it to the gym twice. Even for a young, physically fit and strong guy, most days I barely had the energy to play drums after work."

It wasn't just those in construction jobs who said they were able to keep the pounds off without going to the gym.

"This is me," another user said. "I’ve spent years trying to eat right and go to the gym and couldn’t keep motivated to keep the pounds off. I took a job as a kindergarten teacher in a large city. So now I spend my days chasing kids and walking everywhere. No diet changes and I’ve lost 65 pounds in a year and a half."

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Some said their daily routines are exercise enough.

"I walk my dog every day, do gardening, and housework," one user commented. "I mean that's a good enough workout for me... Keeps the weight off and I don't need to follow any special diets or anything. Good enough."

Others said that they lack motivation, or that working out was "boring." 

"I wasn’t athletic growing up," another user said. "I hated gym class almost as much as gym class hated me. We never reconciled. I also have zero discipline. I was the kid that never did my homework but got by on the tests and papers. I still blow off daily routines. Edit: I do lack discipline for things I don’t enjoy but I ended up finding my passion, worked very hard and now have career doing what I love. I just still really hate running!"

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Others explained that ailments kept them from enjoying exercise, such as muscle soreness, chronic pain and fatigue.

One person simply wrote, "Pain."

One of the most highly engaged comments on the thread about exercise was from user tryin2staysane, who wrote, "I'm going to start tomorrow."

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More than 75 percent of Americans aren't getting enough exercise, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention standards found. Data collected in 2020 by the National Center for Health Statistics published in an August 2022 data brief showed that only 24.2% of adults over age 18 have met the Physical Activity Guidelines for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening exercise. The 2018 standards encourage at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week. But three-quarters of the American population has altogether failed to meet the recommendation, with only 22.7% meeting aerobic guidelines and 6.8% meeting muscle-strengthening alone.

The remaining 46.3% of the population met none at all, the data concluded.

Fox News' Angelica Stabile contributed to this report