Some days it’s a breeze to exercise and you feel like you could workout for hours. But on those days when you’d rather eat worms, how do you motivate yourself just to get started? Last week, I asked you that question and got some really great answers from the FFTV community. So, I thought I would share – maybe it’ll be just what you need to get going when you’re having one of those days…
9 ways to motivate yourself to exercise:
Dawn: To keep myself motivated to exercise even when I don’t feel like it, I remind myself how much better I feel about myself for the rest of the day when I do exercise.
sweetkute: On days I do not feel like exercising, I shake things up. I do a different type of exercise, or go to a different place to exercise, basically it is all about just starting and just doing something.
ladyjay: I guess money is the only thing that motivates me! I don’t like exercising but at my TOPS (weight loss) group tonight they announced a contest for exercising and the winner gets $100!! Guess I’ll start a walking program.
Kari: Well, those days that I don’t feel like getting out of bed at 5:00am (that’s right 5:00AM!) I remind myself that if I don’t do it now I won’t do it at all and I will feel like a slug all day. It’s amazing how a bit of exercise can make you feel energized the whole day.
Renee: To get myself psyched to exercise when I really don’t feel like it, I take out the amazing outfit that I keep in my closet that is one size too small and that usually works.
Pete from Quick to Fit: To get myself motivated I look at my fitness goals that I’ve written down, figure out how much further I need to go and then tell myself that reaching that goal comes one day at a time. It also helps to look at pictures of myself at my heaviest weight, and I quickly realize that I never want to be that heavy again.
Juicebox.mom: To motivate myself, I hop on the scale again… often I set up “dates” with a friend to go to certain classes (like spinning and pilates) so I can’t wimp out.
naker: So to get myself exercising when I really don’t want to, I ask someone to go to the gym with me. That way I’ll have to go!
blueviolet: I don’t give myself much of a chance to think about it or talk myself out of it. When I get out of bed I immediately put my workout shoes and clothes on and work out. Then it’s over, over, over for the day and I’m happy!
Thanks again everyone for your great ideas! And if anyone has any other ones, just leave them in the comments below.
There is a belief that every action we take is designed to either increase our pleasure or reduce our pain.
We all know that exercise is good for us, so shouldn’t that be enough to light a fire under our collective butts.
Apparently not.
If you are one of those people who need a little push towards a consistent exercise routine, try this:
Attach PAIN to skipping your workouts or breaking your diet.
Put your money where your mouth is.
I have a client who kept skipping his self directed cardio workouts.
So, I bet him that if he would complete 90% of his planned cardio workouts over the course of the month, I would give him $500. If he didn’t, he would give me $750.
For a guy that had previously had every excuse in the book for missing his cardio sessions, he suddenly became very motivated….and $500 richer.
DR
http://healthhabits.wordpress.com
These ideas are great! I think it’s an issue of momentum — when I finally get back into exercise, it’s easy to keep going. When I miss a few days, it gets harder to get re-started.
Eating worms is better than starving myself on a diet! LOL. Just starting yesterday, I made a commitment to burn x number of calories a day (not saying the number, since its different for everyone). It is my first priority, and if there’s not enough time in the day to get everything on my list done, well then, something else won’t get done but I WILL get my excercise in. I met my goal yesterday (yay!), so I’m motivated to stick to this.
Great ideas!
On the days I don’t feel like exercising, I either don’t. OR, even better, I go swimming in the pool. I don’t consider swimming a workout, but my like fun. I love the water.
Thanks for those great tips! Blueviolet’s idea is one that I find works well for me too. I like to hear/see what makes other people tick, and I also like to try new things, so now I have a few more options to consider when that feeling pops up.
Megan,
That is so awesome that you are making it your first priority and knocking something else off the list – too often, exercise is the first thing to go.
do let yourself have a choice
Enjoy the exercise that you plan on doing.
Once your mind starts to become negative with such thoughts as ‘i really cannot be botherd to do excersize’ STOP and treat it like there is no option, and its something you just do, so start to get ready and imagine yourself excersising, then imagine yourself by the end of it.
Jocasta,
Great idea to imagine yourself exercising and imagine yourself by the end of it. Just starting to get ready is also something that helps me.