13 tips to keep you motivated for exercise
13 tips to keep you motivated for exercise
Chances are you are new to exercise. And unfortunately, at least 50 percent of you will quit exercising after the first month. By six months the number will have increased to about 75 percent. By the end of the year only about 10 percent of those who first began will still be doing exercise on a regular basis. While the reasons are varied and mixed and most people who stop exercising do so because they become bored and unmotivated. And we will see if we can do something about that. Here are 13 tips to help keep you motivated and focused on your exercise. Hence they are all easy to implement and free and guaranteed to work.
(1) Get an exercise partner
There is nothing like an exercise partner. And two of you can have mini competitions. And at least you will have sometimes to keep you focused on exercising. So not worried about work or something distracting in your home life.
(2) Balance your exercise with other daily activities.
As crazy as it sounds, you may have to add your name to your day planner. The benefit of this is that it helps you balance your exercise with other daily activities such as family and work or school. You will be more successful and bound to stick with it if you make working out part of your lifestyle.
(3) Consistency is the key
Don’t think that you are going to develop the body you want overnight. A couple of weeks of all out exercise will do nothing but make you incredibly stiff and sore, unwilling to work out and hating the sight of an exercise. Its far better to train only two or three days a week year after year than to train seven days a week for one month and then quit because you are burned out. Remember, consistency is the key.
(4) Early in the morning is best
Rise and shine and exercise. The last thing you may want to do bright and early in the morning is going for exercise. But if you find yourself going home after work or school and flopping on the coach, give it a try. By exercising early in the morning, you will be sure of getting it done, you will feel energized throughout the day, and it will fulfil of your all-important health and fitness goal.
(5) Huge difference in your appearance
Unless you have a huge amount of fat to lose, don’t worry about your body weight. When your loss or gain weight whatever was your goal, will make a huge difference in your appearance, cloths size and health.
(6) Pick a role model
There is nothing like having someone to look up, to keep you focused on your goal. Literally millions of people look up to movie star and sports personnel for this reason. On those days you don’t feel like exercising, ask yourself what would your role model do.
(7) Keep track of your success
One of the best ways to know where you are going is to know where you are going is to know where you have been. Buy a exercise book and start writing as the amount of exercise and how you feel and why. Were you up late the night before? Did you eat a heavy meal before going to exercise? Forget to eat altogether? Periodically looking in your journal will give you plenty of insight. You can see how different exercise and routines affect you. And you can see just how far you have come. Your present warm up time were your past exercise time. So, your exercise journal will tell you all the details of improvements.
(8) Get back on track
Missing an exercise is not a big deal. In fact if you are doing it regularly then an extra day off is recommended. But for many people one day off becomes two days off and two become three and before long they are skipping weeks on end. The exercise become just a memory. This is similar to the dieter who eat everything fatty foods. Setbacks and missed workouts are perfectly normal. But quicker you get back on track, the quicker you will reach your fitness goals. Try to remember that the health and fitness is not about being perfect. It is a way of life. Just be consistent.
(9) Evaluate your progress
Evaluate your progress on a regular basis. If you don’t check your progress regularly you may reduce your exercise instead of increasing. If you want to keep just maintain your current fitness then its fine to do what you are doing. But if you want to improve your fitness then evaluate your strength and improve accordingly.
(10) When you feel to skip exercise
We all have days when we just don’t want to do exercise. But don’t force yourself to go for exercise. Tell yourself you will just do the little and go back to home. And odds are that within the first 10 to 15 minutes you will start feeling energized and have a great exercise. Sometimes the days when you have the least energy to begin with end up being the days you have your best exercise. You will feel great about it because you had originally planned to skip the exercise.
(11) If you feel bored doing the same exercise everyday
Doing the same routine over and over will leave bored. That’s why you should try changing your exercise regular basis. Like you can do some other exercise except what you are doing daily. Or increase time and decrease time. If you are walking or running you can change route or place.
(12) Take a break and get relax
Take some planned time off. Even though earlier I said to force yourself to the exercise. There will be times when taking a few days or even a whole week off is recommended. Often one of the major signs of over exercising. Is a decrease in exercising drive and motivation. In simple term your body is not getting a chance to fully recover before the next workout. If you have been doing exercising regularly for months. And you are not getting motivated to continue. And you have tried all the other tips, and nothing is helping.
Then take a break for a week and go for vacation or tour or simply relax and comeback and start again. You will feel energetic and motivated. Make sure to write the dates on a calendar because randomly taking time off without a plan could turn into a permanent layoff. And you will come back stronger and with more energy.
(13) Buy new clothes and shoes for exercise
If possible, you should spend some money to buy for your exercise dress in every few months. After few months you can buy new shoes or cloths for exercise. It will help you to keep you motivated. You will feel that its special for your life.