… “Smile while you train”, ie make training fun, results in not training? That is nonsensical.

You can’t figure out how to make lifting fun? Bruv, google Eric Bugenhagen. Shirtless, 70s rock, singing out loud, a tye-die hairband, strong coffee and fun exercises. Lifting is awesome, it happens in a gym, and there are 9,000 colours of fun. Homegyms rule, hip thrusts in between air-guitar with the toddler, air kicks and slam balls… and it is as easy as a patch of alley and a kettlebell or tire, if you let it be.

The entire point of my post is the opposite of your takeaway. Learn what you find fun, what makes you smile hard when lifting and by definition you will be having fun lifting.

Lifting is easy mode for fun. Speakers, smoothies, cuties, technique variants, bar variants, ego-stuff, posture-stuff, program stuff, dips, pull ups, and bouncy crap too. Ultra running, where that quote is from, involves eating a slight bit more shit for more than an hour (in AC).

Plus, you do NOT have to “lift” to “pick up something heavy, move it around, and hold something above your head”. Feeling better and healthier, hypertrophy, and targeted resistance exercise are available from a near infinite variety of activities. Some are very enjoyable, the rest can be made so with effort, creativity, and will.