1. To look good.
2. To feel good.
3. To function well.
4. To make sure I can keep hitting 1, 2, and 3 for as long as possible. I come from long-lived stock, but I'd kind of like to enjoy my very long life, not just suffer through it.

For fun!

I love climbing trees and boulders, sprinting up a hill, the feeling of doing a 1 or 2 rep max, crawling, jumping, throwing heavy rocks and logs, walking on my hands, etc.

Once I started doing whatever exercise I like, it became a daily thing. Exercise is not something to be rationed out 2-3 days a week.

Then again it's not "exercise" to me anymore, it's living.

1. prevent bone loss
2. tone muscles
3. maintain healthy weight
4. produce endorphins
5. keep fat % low
6. increase flexibility
7. thrash my 17-year-old nephew at arm wrestling (I'm 53 and female)

A few reasons for me:

1) saw two crows dive-bombing and otherwise harassing a red tail hawk mid air

2) saw a bunch of turtles sunning themselves on a log in the lake

3) saw a youngish male deer, antlers were about a foot long

4) saw a bunch of little bunny rabbits scurry away from me on the trail

5) saw a mom wild turkey with 5-6 tiny baby wild turkeys following her on the trail

6) got an amazing, clear view of the east bay and san francisco from wildcat peak

This was all on a ~50 minute/~4 mile trail run this morning. I have plenty of other reasons, but these were the freshest in my mind.

Why do I exercise?

Because I can't pummel my boss's face in, and all that rage has to go somewhere.

(Mostly) kidding. ;-) I'll post a real answer later, when I have more time to speak from the heart.

My wife is 46. She looks 26. Her favorite "exercise" is Zumba. She puts great feeling into it. Her instructors say that she is their favorite student, partly because she smiles so much. She also does ballroom dancing (mostly Salsa) about twice per week. I encourage her. She also does weights and cardio, but dance (and Zumba) come first. Music and harmony are important in life. She has to be careful about dancing in front of me or else we will have more children. (:->)

This is a secret that not a lot of people know, only those that exercise long and hard.

If you train hard for 45 minutes (or more) your body starts releasing endorphins that feel so good... you get addicted. Yes, the natural highs. This is the best feeling/drug ever (besides sex).

I understand people who overtrain and over exercise. It is hard not to when you feel so good.

I hope you are reading it while running to the nearest gym! :)

I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment I get from squating 350+ pounds or banging out 20+ pull-ups at one time. I discovered strength training about 8 months ago (not the same as lifting weights) and have found a new passion in fitness. I enjoy the progression of lifting heavier and heavier weights, the changes I see in my body, and the way I feel. It's nice/annoying when anyone needs something lifted or moved, they come to you. :)

I would like a shape other than round. I've started doing DDP Yoga (described as yoga for Marines) to try to tone up, lose fat, and get rid of the flags that wave under my arms everytime I lift them.

Because I like being outdoors and moving in the big wide world. And if I don't I start to feel weird after a while.

It makes me feel good. It's time I take just for me, to do something for myself. Because I like feeling ang looking strong. Because, after just a couple of weeks, you crave it.

There was a good article I read a couple of weeks ago, in which a woman chastised her former Gym teachers for making her hate exercise. I think many of us have the same issues. We are forced in school into exercises that are above our skill level, and don't have a slowly increasing level of difficulty. I know that in grade three, I was marched into the gym and told to jump over a high jump bar. I'd never even seen one, but new national fitness tests had just been implemented, and the whole school was being tested. I was not an athletic kid, and the experience made me feel awkward and not want to do things like that in public. It took a long time to learn to enjoy movement, and to feel like it isn't about competition, or what onlookers think, it's about how I feel in my own body.

Find something you can enjoy, and frame it as play, not exercise.

weight bearing exercise is an awesome way to prevent bone density loss as you age. You know those little old people who look like they're about to break in half? Some simple exercise can prevent that.

I don't 'exercise', I get out and do activities with my family - hikes, runs, walks, snowshoeing, playing frisbee, playing catch, playing with the dog, hunting, fishing, biking, yard work, gardening, basketball, tennis, lacrosse, soccer...the list is endless. We make it as strenuous as we want. As soon as I call it exercise and it becomes repetitive, then we don't want to do it. We are just a highly active, sports playing, family with no cable. We live on a dairy farm with plenty of work to do for extra calorie burning exercise any time we want! It makes us feel better and we are having fun, quality time together.

Truth: I am 66 years old. My lowest heart beat while resting has been 49.5 per minute a couple of days ago. My typical heart beat is like 53 to 54. 3 hours after a hard 20 minute run 2 days ago, my heart rate was 53.5. Any more questions?

Simple: it makes me feel better.

Plus, I am literally addicted to crossfit and being around like-minded people who are focused on improving themselves (whatever that means to each individual). It truly is a cult, but a good one.

I'm just starting to get back into exercise and if I don't do it now, this time next year when I'm standing at the start line for the Tough Mudder and Spartan races everyone else will steam roll over me!

Not sure if you've ever watched one of their videos...but I actually put down my bacon to watch...I'm not proud of that, but I think I was inspired?

Truth.

hate of your one body :p [no kidding :o]

For fun. That is the only reason I work out.

1. Physical accomplishment
2. De-stressing
3. Able to stay fit for sports
4. Reason to get outside in the sun or in the cold
5. Everything else, mostly cosmetic