Posted on July 14, 2015

8 ways to motivate yourself to exercise

fitness/ Health

8 ways to motivate yourself to exercise

Finding the motivation to get up and get moving doesn’t come naturally to everyone. Thankfully, I am a morning person who also happens to like Mondays. I know, I know, I sound like the devil right now! But I promise you, Mondays and early mornings really aren’t that bad!

However, being a morning person doesn’t necessarily mean that I get into my gym gear every single day at 6am on the dot. I too go through phases where I find it impossible to put on my sports bra never mind the rest of my fitness gear! Every now and again, my motivation to workout goes out the window and I really need to push myself to get exercising.

If you’re anything like me (and by me, I mean human), then you probably know what it feels like to lose motivation to workout. So today, I’m going to share with you some of the ways I like to stay on top of my fitness game. Hopefully one or two of these things will help you find the budding gym enthusiast lurking inside you!

#1 Buy new workout clothes……. and put them on

You know how excited you get about wearing new shoes or using new makeup products? Believe it or not, you can get equally excited about wearing new gym clothes (provided that you actually like them!). Buying new gym clothes will make you want to wear them and wearing them will get you into the right frame of mind to workout. According to researchers, the act of putting on workout gear alone motivates people to start exercising.I think this calls for a trip to Lifestyle Sports!

#2 Set a goal and track your success

Setting fitness goals is the best way to track your success and to see how far you’ve come – or if you’ve made any movements at all! Forget the scale for the meantime, and instead, take pictures of your body on a week-to-week basis to track your progress. As I mentioned in 7 reasons your ‘diet’ isn’t working, sometimes a scale isn’t the best indicator for how well you’re doing since it doesn’t differentiate between fat weight and muscle weight.

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#3 Follow Instagram Fitness Gurus

I can’t even begin to count how many inspiring fitness gurus there are on Instagram. I don’t know about you, but I for one know exactly how it feels to go from “I’m not in the humour for this” to “damn, I better up my squatting game” after going through my Instagram news feed. Sometimes it only takes one account to make me want to hit the gym! And since we are on the topic of Instagram perving, I might as well ‘fess up and tell you that Jen Selter is enough motivation for me!

#4 Set up a rewards system

Knowing that you will treat yourself after having a positive fitness week is always a good way to keep yourself motivated. That little light at the end of the tunnel won’t seem so little once you get to it! So give yourself a lye in a marathon of your favourite TV series as treat! There are many ways you can reward yourself for reaching your goals, and while this may mean a sweet treat, it doesn’t always have to be that!

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#5 Find a gym buddy

Some people can be very self conscious about going for a run alone, or going to the gym without any company. That’s why having a gym partner can much such a difference when it comes to staying motivated. This person can be your voice of reason when you feel like giving up, and also a bit of healthy competition for you!

#6 Make a plan and stick to it

If your desire to exercise depends on whether or not you’re in the mood for it, then you won’t be seeing any results any time soon! Sorry to break it to you, but you will never be in the mood to exercise four days a week and you will never WANT to choose snacking on almonds instead of a packet of crisps. Make a diet and exercise plan and stick to it. Don’t rely on your mood to get things done otherwise you will be waiting for a long time.

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#7 Make it fun

Running isn’t the most exciting form of exercise out there. But if you’re body is in good working order, then you don’t have to restrict yourself to just that. You could go swimming, take up zumba, or even  pilates! There are so many fun ways to exercise. I recently bought a step to do step aerobics so that will keep me going for a good while until I get bored of it!

#8 Surround yourself with motivation

Whether this means covering your room with post-it notes filled with inspiring words, or watching endless videos of Ted Talks on YouTube (things I know not of….), is completely  irrelevant. So long as you surround yourself with things, people and words that will keep you motivated, that is all that matters. When it comes to fitness, your mind usually gives up well before your body does, so it’s all about getting yourself to the mental state that will keep you going.

And if the motivational quotes don’t work, the reward system is pointless and you just can’t seem to be getting on with your fitness partner,then just do it for the “holy f***, you got hot!”

Have a good evening all 🙂

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