Five Ways to Stay Motivated With Our Exercise Routine

Many people want to execute a workout plan consistently. Whatever their motivation is, being persistent with workout routine can be a life-altering experience. This should open the door for improved quality of life. Initially, it would be relatively easy to keep ourselves motivated after making a decision to exercise. But eventually, it would be a challenge to find an intrinsic motivation to stick with our workout plan. As time goes on, it would be harder to drive ourselves continuously to exercise in the gym or hit the pavement. There are a few tricks we can apply to ensure the flow of motivation.
After a few days of weeks, our mind may begin the bargaining games and it looks for excuses to skip the exercise for just one day. We shouldn’t give in to this. One trick is to pack all workout gears in our bag the previous night, such as sneakers, iPod, clothes and others. So, when the opportunity presents itself, it would be much easier to start the exercises. It should also be simple to keep a calendar to chart when and how long we exercises. This should represent a physical proof that we are disciplined enough to follow a specified workout routine.

Do little constructive things

When we review our calendar and goals, it would be harder to convince ourselves that we can skip the exercise. This may lead us to being more accountable. A part of being discipline is to bring accountability to our workout program. A partner could also give us motivation to continue with the routine. If we go to the gym, it’s very likely that we find people with similar interests and goals. They may not have an identical routine as us, but their mere presence could bring the much-needed motivation to our daily physical activity. This should work particularly well with repetitive workout routines, such as running and walking. Just about any kind of exercise can be more enjoyable if we share it with people we comfortable with.

Add variations

Adding some amount of variety could help us avoid from being burnt out and bored with repetitive workout. Regardless of how much we love our workout routine, it could become a bit stale at times. All we need to do is to insert a new kind of exercise to the routine. It is important to vary the repetitions and weight we perform during a routine. As an example, we may do low reps and max out for a few weeks and then do more repetitions with low weights on other weeks. This should beneficial for our mental condition and could improve our physical progress as well, because our muscles get different kind of exercises. Another way to fight off early burn outs is to try something new. As an example, look around at the gym and try any exercise that others do. We may also try an entirely new kind of exercise, if we can be imaginative enough. It may be necessary to switch things up whatever we do to prevent our workout routine from being boring and dull. Once we are having more fun with the exercise, our body should show the results.

Set realistic and measurable goals

Goal-setting is also an essential part of maintaining our motivation in the workout routine. We should set reachable targets that we can achieve. They must be measurable and reachable. It also means that, we shouldn’t set general, broad and unrealistic goals that are hard to measure. As an example, if we aim to increase strength, we should define a realistic goal with bench press. People who are new with weight training exercises should bench 150lbs for short-term goal and aim to bench 300lbs when it’s possible. These goals are measurable. Once we achieve them, find out whether it’s possible to go further, such as benching with 160lbs or more. Goals for runners could be based on distance and time, which are also easy to measure. Once we reach the goal, we should be able to recognize it in some way. It is also a good idea to reward ourselves somehow. To make ourselves feel rewarded, we could do something special. Accomplishment is an important thing and this should allow motivation to stick with our workout routing. However, it may be a bad idea to involve food in this kind of reward, since it may reverse our progress.

Follow our body clock

We should work out a consistent timing to help us stay motivated. If we aren’t a morning person, it could be a good idea to exercise in the afternoon. Alternatively, we could do light stretching in the morning, just to get our body moving and let the tension out of our body and mind. Others may prefer to exercise immediately in the morning, because it gives them an extra energy to tackle with whatever the new day may bring. Each individual has unique body clock and we should follow ours. When we are in agreement with our body, it would be much easier to follow the exercise plan consistently.

Have fun

No matter what we do, we should make sure that we have fun! Exercise shouldn’t be a burden and it has to be a physical activity that we enjoy. For many people, fun is an ignored factor. In reality, fun is a powerful factor and it can dictate how our activity progresses. If something isn’t fun, nearly no one would have opted to do it. So, whatever type of exercise plan we need to follow, we should find the small child inside of us and let him/her guide us. By having fun, we will be much more motivated to keep up with our exercises. Having fun should be an important part of maintaining both mental and physical health.

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