Julie's question answered

Julie asks, "Why does exercising have to suck so much when it's so good for you?" I agree with you that it sucks. I refer you to my previous post called Pain Practice. Very few things that are good for you don't suck. Exercising sucks because of two things: it is an instructive metaphor for life, and most of us no longer work on farms.

Exercise reminds us that the difficulty of life is necessary. Exercise, as well as life, has to break us down in order to build us up. Here is a scripture that illustrates this concept.

And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and
the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the
billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if
the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way;
and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide
after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience,
and shall be for thy good. --Doctrine and Covenants 122:7

So feel the pain, girl, feel the pain. The suckier it is, the better for you, both in life and in exercise. [Unless you injure yourself, but I won't discuss that because that is where my lovely metaphor breaks down.]

Back when we used to work on farms, was there even such a thing as "exercise"? Baking bread, washing our clothes in streams, plowing, slopping the pigs, pitching hay were plenty of exercise. I don't think we must have paid much attention to how much it sucked, because it was just a regular part of our lives, and the time went by quickly because the activity had a real-life purpose: useful accomplishment. Now that we are used to couch-potatoeing and computer-gawking as a way of life, exercise is out of the ordinary and relatively unpleasant. And the only accomplishment we achieve with exercise is, well, getting exercise. There is no goal but to achieve sucky discomfort while trying to fool ourselves into thinking it is really really fun.

I hope this answers your question.