What I did
WoW, treadmill desking's great!
How I did it
I got my husband into playing World of Warcraft with me.
Then I redecorated the exercise room a bright green, put a television in there, a mini-fridge with water soda and snacks, bought some cool movies (that can only be watched in there!) and set up a great sound system. It transformed into a really energizing happy space to be in! So I set up a treadmill desk for myself in there -- using a cheap superstore treadmill and an IKEA Stolmen desk over it.
Then I moved my laptop onto the treadmill desk, put on some great music, watched some awesome movies and walked ALL WHILE PLAYING WoW! My husband was floored by how awesome what I was doing looked to be, hated that he had to slowly type to me from the other room, instead of being able to talk to me like he had been able to do when we'd played WoW together in the same room for the first two weeks, and wanted to be part of the most fun room in the entire house.
Since then I've moved our DVR in there too, so that all of our favorite shows can only get watched in that room, and continue to buy random films and TV shows to keep good new things to watch streaming on in the background. It's an amazing room to spend time in, and whenever I walk near it I get excited and he does too because that's the room where all the fun happens!!
As we got into better shape, I tried to find ways we could exercise, beyond Treadmill WoWing, that would still keep exercise being part of the fun. So we changed gyms to a place that had a climbing wall, water slides, tennis, and squash courts. We go do pool Zumba once a week and then go on the water slides afterward and then just splash around in the pool for fun, but most days we go play squash or use the climbing walls. Then we use the steam room, shower and leave feeling totally refreshed. Occasionally, I see him lifting weights or using a piece of cardio equipment, something I never thought he would do, just because he walks by them and gets interested in them now!
Lessons Learned
- Show not tell! Instead of telling him how fun exercise could be, I showed him how much fun it was -- and the music and the colors of the room and the smile on my face made my point so much clearer than anything I could have said.
- Instead of having him do an intense workout with me once and then not workout for months afterward, I got him walking daily with me. This got him used to exercising every day.
- Incorporate your loved one's interests into exercise!!
