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(This is cross-posted at BlogHer.)

It’s a phrase you’ve heard many times: Do what you love. Something you’ll look forward to, something that doesn’t seem like exercise, something that doesn’t make you want to rip your hair out with boredom.

I can’t help it. I think about this every time I go to the gym and see all the blank-faced people slogging away on treadmills, elliptical machines, and stationary bikes. I’m not saying that exercise machines are bad — certainly not everyone has the option to get outside in the fresh air, due to factors such as current weather conditions, taking care of children, or living in an unsafe area.

But if you do have the choice to do something other than climb on a machine, shouldn’t you take advantage of it? I don’t know about where you live, but here in northern Virginia the weather is pretty grand right now. I’ve taken quite a few 5-mile power-walking loops around my neighborhood in the past few weeks. And it’s not because I care about whether I’m burning more calories on this hour-long walk than I would if I spent thirty minutes on a machine — yeah, maybe I’d burn more calories in a shorter period of time if I did something else. But I walk outside because I enjoy it. The time flies by. When I’m on a machine, I spend the entire time wishing I was anywhere else but there.

I’m selfish when it comes to certain things. One of the ways I embrace my fitness-selfishness is that I don’t force myself to do things I don’t like. Since I find cardio machines to be extremely boring, I avoid them as much as I can.

A few months ago when the weather was turning from spring to summer, I wrote about my aversion to running in the heat. Even though I considered the possibility of using a treadmill, I never actually did so — I changed the time of day I went outside instead. I waited until later in the evening, after the sun went down and the temperature cooled down a bit. There were many times that the air was stifling and humid, but I still found it preferable to being inside.

If you need some new ideas, consider these…

Playground workouts: Utilize equipment such as monkey bars, ladders, poles and ropes for climbing, and even slides (try climbing up instead of sliding down).

Adult P.E. classes: Relay races? Duck, duck, goose? Try some silly fitness fun.

Jump ropes and hula hoops: Not only are they cheap, they don’t take up a lot of storage space. Madonna has used a jump rope on stage. And you can buy weighted hula hoops and even take special hooping classes.

Trampolines: My mom used to have a big trampoline in her yard when she lived in a rural area, but she got rid of it when she moved to Richmond about six years ago. I loved jumping on it when I went for a visit. You can buy smaller versions for home/inside use, though — Monica Neave from BellaOnline says you can burn up to 700 calories an hour.

Unconventional classes: Ever thought about trying something like laughter yoga or aerial conditioning?

Learn a new skill: Interested in belly dancing or ballet? Swimming or surfing? Classes are offered at gyms and recreation centers, or you can learn via DVD or by private instruction — options are all over the place.

Local amateur leagues: Here in the Washington DC area where I live, groups of people get together all the time to play flag football, volleyball, softball, soccer and kickball, among other things.

What do you do to keep things interesting?

Related Reading:

When PastaQueen decided to get back on track with her fitness goals, one of her resolutions was to do “something fun.”

Raegan at Elastic Waist wrote about a woman at her gym that she sees all the time, who always uses the same machine. It’s a good example of the importance of changing-up your routine.

When Sagan realized she didn’t like running, she stopped. But did she quit exercising entirely? Sagan says: “On the contrary, I threw myself into the fun of exercising; experimenting with belly dancing, boot camp, biking, and the one hundred push ups challenge. I figured out what didn’t work for me. Then, I experimented to see what did.”

MSNBC: How much do you [i]really[i] have to exercise?

Times Argus: Blurring the line between work and play can help boost fitness