"After I climbed a few times, I had a revolutionary realization: I didn’t hate it. It was different from any exercise I’d tried before, full of static motion and mental puzzles. I finished each session drenched in sweat, but it was a sweat that I had worked for, a sweat during which I had actually done things. It felt so much better than just running aimlessly. Simply getting to the top of the rock wall doesn’t sound all that amazing, and it wasn’t really. It was just something different, and something that has truly changed the way I feel about my body and my physical fitness."

- Katie N.

From ​How I learned that exercise can (and should) be enjoyable

"After college, however, I decided to hang up my tutu and pointe shoes, so nowadays I like to run for exercise, because it's cheap and makes me feel good afterwards. During the actual run, it's always a challenge to find songs and podcasts to listen to that will either distract me from the fact that running is boring, or motivate me to run harder. But, last winter, I put on The Nutcracker just for kicks, and it was exactly what I needed.

When I listen to the Nutcracker soundtrack on the treadmill, I mentally review the choreography that I grew up doing. I also "mark" the arms, which is a dancer habit in which you half-heartedly go through the motions to remember a piece. If you're picturing a weirdo flailing their arms on the treadmill, I get it. But trust me when I say this works."

- Cory S.

Via The Weird & Specific Trick That Gets Me Through Winter Workouts

"Without exercise, I feel as though I don't have an outlet to release the stress and anxiety. The spin classes were the most helpful because I felt like I was able to zone out and focus my energy just on pedaling one foot in front of the other. I was able to find clarity."

- Kimberly W., 25

Read more about Kimberly's struggles with mobility after two motor vehicle accidents.

"I run to enable myself to be present to my body. To pay attention to it, to clear out the cobwebs of daily stresses, to breathe life into my internal mental, emotional and spiritual spaces. And I am so profoundly grateful for this shift in posture because there was a time when exercise and running still smacked too much of the compulsion and control that led to disconnection for me. I feared I would never be able to use my body in an athletic way.  I used to run to escape life. Now I run to embrace it."

- Catherine

"What I'm trying to do in my life now is not define myself or let Parkinson's define who I am. I'm just choosing to focus on other activities and family and friends ... and learning how to impact and possibly change and hoping to reverse some of the symptoms — and that's through [meditation] and reading and exercise and painting."

- Robyn L., 43
British Columbia  Canada

Read more about Robyn's experience with Parkinson's and her new book, Most of Me: Surviving My Medical Meltdown

"In yoga, when you're in a challenging pose, you've got to surrender to it. If you get yourself worked up, it doesn't help. So you breathe and redirect your energy.

The intention behind yoga is that we're trying to connect with our highest self, the part of ourselves that isn't our ego.

This is what the yoga teaches you: You're strapped into this airplane seat, you're not going anywhere for 20 hours, and this is your reality. There's nothing you can do but find some calm and just deal with it. I'm really lucky to know to take a deep breath and remind myself that we're all doing the best we can."

- Kay Kay
Via Yoga Bodies: Real People, Real Stories, & the Power of Transformation

“I cycle because I live in London and so I use it as a means of transport. It’s really easy to nip around on a a bike. I’m not, like, a massive fiend committed to cycling every day but I do manage to do it. I cycle and I go to the gym to make myself feel good. Not to look the way someone else wants me to look."

- Grace
London, England
Via Refinery 29

"I want to get better."
    - J.W.

Via Louisville Skating Academy