As I enter 2024, I'm doing something I never thought I would do in my life: I learned how to love sports.
Skeptics like my yoga instructor sister may not believe me, but it's true! I've spent much of 2023 really looking forward to planning workouts and going to the gym. The idea of working out in a public place used to give me immense anxiety, but now I confidently go from the machines to the free weight racks, without questioning whether I belong there or whether I'm doing something wrong. .
All it took was a little hack: I started pretending to be one of my D&D characters when I was training.
Even before I made this connection, I tried to put a bit of a nerdy spin on my workouts to make them more fun, whether it meant going to the gym in a N7 tank top or title my cardio playlist “Training for the hunter exam!” Watching Haikyuu!! has helped me appreciate my time as a competitive swimmer more than ever before, and I'm generally more open to fitness as a hobby now that I've realized it doesn't have to conflict with my nerder interests.
But what really cemented my newfound passion for sports – an enthusiasm I'll carry into the new year – was a bit of light role-play. I don't go into the gym in full LARP gear, but if you regularly use the headspace of a character physically fit enough to shoot an arrow at a homebrew monster while leaning up against the side of a wall runs, making the connection between D&D and physical activity easier.
It started simply enough. While doing a low row At the gym, I looked in the mirror and noticed that the way my arms were moving reminded me a bit of pulling back the drawstring on a bow. Disclaimer: I've never shot an arrow, so this comparison can't be right at all. Anyway, I thought it looked pretty cool.
“I just did an Araiya (trek) day at the gym,” I texted my cousin, referring to one of my D&D characters, a ranger who primarily wields a longbow. She was thrilled and we quickly realized that her character – my character's twin sister, a swordsman – had skills that matched up nicely with a busy day of chest and triceps focused exercises.
We started updating each other on our gym's progress, usually by saying simple things like “planning an Amaiya day” or “this Araiya day was giving me so much back pain.” We had both previously gone through Steve Huynh's Manual of Gainful Exercise, a fitness guide with routines written for D&D character classes, trying to see if we could feasibly perform our character subclass workouts. So the association was already in our heads.
Then my cousin started assigning different types of exercises to our other characters. (We're playing two each in this campaign; it's a long story.) Thanshe started involving the rest of our party's characters, as well as some of our DM's NPCs, and eventually came up with an entire training manual themed around our campaign.
All of the training she has created is ambitious, more in line with what our heroic characters are capable of than what my fellow D&D players could achieve. (“Lest any of you think I'm secretly torn,” my cousin texted, a few days after I sent the written manual, “I tried a new exercise today and could barely handle 5 pounds, which is is the lowest you can achieve.”)
But our D&D exercise guide is an aspiration, a way to make exercise more fun. It's almost an extension of our table time, and it provides a personal perspective on what can be monotonous, repetitive exercises. I doubt I'll ever be able to manage even one of the twenty archer pull ups listed on my ranger's intensive training plan, but I can focus on strengthening my lats.
My favorite part of D&D is the roleplaying aspect: I often make suboptimal leveling decisions because they suit my character, rather than aiming to maximize damage or otherwise optimize my build. So fantasizing about training with a bow and arrow or a rapier makes low rows and biceps curls much more fun. When I do crunches on a yoga mat in my living room, I can pretend I'm actually doing reps in the fortified headquarters of the heroic organization my characters belong to.
Training in my character's mindset also motivates me to try exercises I've never thought of before, things my characters would definitely include in their routines. My cheater, who treks through muddy swamps and climbs tall buildings in stylish high-heeled boots, would definitely do calf raises, so now I do too.
Photo: Tatiana Radulovic
But more importantly, associating gym time with my D&D character has helped me reframe why I train and what I want from my workouts. I've spent a lot of time breaking the toxic idea that exercise is something I do to have do to look good or lose weight. Even before I started thinking about D&D while exercising, I tried to reclaim it as a fun activity to get do, rather than an obligation.
This did mean that I discovered fitness routines that I really enjoyed, which slowly but surely allowed me to put my exercise into a different context. But when I finally made the connection between my D&D characters and my training, it really sealed the deal for me. I don't just train to stay in shape – I train because I'm preparing for a big adventure and hoping to save the world.
Or at least I can tap into that character motivation while I'm at the gym. If my fearless ranger and my dashing rogue can perform great athletic feats, why can't I? I don't have to face a lich king or overthrow a swampland cult, but I can still take control of my own training arc.