What is your favourite form of physical exercise?

WordPress now has a feature which suggests prompts for writers to respond to. I am rarely taken by any of these prompts, as they’re not often on topics I write about. This one however caught my eye. I have written and thought about exercise quite a lot over the years (see here, here and here for example!), but this isn’t a question that I have really considered! It is one I’d be really interested to hear your thoughts on, and I’ve popped a poll at the bottom of this post with some suggestions for what I think are likely to be people’s favourite forms of exercise. As with all ‘favourites’, I think this is be quite hard to narrow down, so forgive me if I can’t choose just one!

Running

When considered according to almost all criteria, it certainly looks as if running is my favourite form of exercise. It is the one I have spent the most time doing, covered the most miles in, and have ‘competed’ in. ‘Competed’ is the wrong word, but it is the closest that captures the fact that I’ve taken part in races – something I have never done in any other sport. I have a bit of a chequered history with running. I tried it a fair few times when I was younger, during my army cadet days and while I was at university. It’s only really been quite recently that I’ve got into it with any degree of seriousness. While working in Oxford I got into it more regularly, and did my first running challenge, the Oxford Town and Gown 10k run. This was a huge challenge for me, as at the time I didn’t regularly run that distance (in fact I’m not sure if I had run 10k before the day itself!).

But it was when we moved to Australia that I really started taking my running more seriously. In my early unemployed days before I’d found work, and during lockdowns, the structure of running was a real relief, and it helped to have something to work towards. This kickstarted my running, and led me to a place where I was comfortable taking part in much more challenging races, like the Great Ocean Road Half Marathon. This has stalled a little bit since I became pregnant, but I’m really looking forward to easing back into running now I’m postpartum.

What is it you actually enjoy about running, you might ask? I know lots of people find running fairly torturous, and I can certainly understand that. In the early days especially you have to be really careful to not push too hard – it’s easy to put yourself off by being over-ambitious. But I really enjoy the sense of freedom that running gives me: I don’t need a gym, I can be outdoors, and I barely need any special equipment. You just put on your trainers and walk out the door. Running has helped me explore new places, see things I wouldn’t otherwise, and feel confident in my body’s abilities in a way that no other exercise has. It may be painful at first, but once you push through and become familiar with what you can do, it is incredibly rewarding.

Cycling

This is a slightly strange one for me to talk about, as I hardly do any outdoor cycling. However, during lockdown particularly, having my bike on an indoor trainer in the garage was a lifesaver. Running for me is a satisfying mix of relaxing and challenging. But cycling is something that really pushes me. Sure, you can pootle along for fun, or just crank out some hours, but my preference is to put on a GCN or GTN training video, and really make a go of it. This replicates the experience I used to get through spin or other gym classes, without the need to leave home. Even though they’re not going to know if I don’t try, something about having a human being decide on the workout and coach you through it makes me feel far more accountable! I’m sure I sweat just as much if not more during a hard bike workout than I do a hard run (being indoors probably doesn’t help!), and the burst of endorphins you get from having made the effort is super satisfying.

It was one of my 30 Before 30 goals to take part in a cycling race, but not one of those I succeeded in ticking off. The barrier to entry feels a bit higher for cycling than it does running – you don’t want to be seen to have ‘all the gear and no idea’, but you also don’t want to have such janky equipment that you’re setting yourself back. My jumbled together bike (bought second hand in Oxford!), although technically pretty decent, has never felt quite on a par with the set-up of most cycle ride/race participants. But this is still something I’d really like to do, and perhaps the postpartum year is a time to try something a little less high-impact than a running race, but still pleasingly challenging. Maybe the time has come for a little bike up-grade!

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So there you have it, my two favourite forms of physical exercise! While I do use other forms, these are the two I always come back to, and which I have sunk the most hours into. Between them I have plenty of options for variety, and they both make me feel good in different ways. I’d love to hear what your favourite exercise is, and why! It’s such a personal thing – our experience of exercise is governed by so many factors – so it’s a surprisingly good way of getting to know someone!