Diet and exercise work hand-in-hand for better health and physical fitness. Of course, good nutrition matters more but without regular exercise, it will not complete the whole health and wellness equation.
However, when it comes to exercise, many are not able to maintain motivation to do so. In most cases, the couch wins rather than getting up and doing the exercise routines.
Keeping up with motivation is a tricky business. In involves invoking the willpower in order to get going. So, in order to maintain having the motivation to exercise, here are some tips.
1. Find Your “Why”
This is about finding and making a list of reasons to exercise. Perhaps, one of the most important reasons people want to exercise is to lose weight.
If that's your reason, write it and post it in a conspicuous place where you can see it most of the time. Plus, add more reasons to it such as achieving flexibility and avoid injuries due to falling.
Or, perhaps, you want to cultivate endurance and energy to play with your kids, play sports along with your friends, or simply you want to be strong and be able to last long between the sheets.
Another reason might you want to build and increase lean muscles and engage in weight lifting.
Spend a few minutes cultivating your reasons to exercise. Put that list where you can read it often. Eventually, it becomes a habit and a normal part of your healthy lifestyle.
Initially, since you're not into that habit, it requires more effort, focus, and patience. But once you get into it and make it a part of your lifestyle, it becomes easier. In fact, you don't feel your day complete without doing exercise.
2. Visualize How You Feel After Exercising
When you're reading your reasons to exercise, sometimes it may not be enough to keep you moving. But, pausing for a few seconds, taking a deep breath and visualizing how would you feel after doing exercise can helpful.
While reading your list of reasons to exercise, you might feel lacking energy. But once you recall how you feel after doing exercise, it's highly likely to keep you going.
Of course, when you start your routine and the sweat starts to drip, it makes you feel good and alert. This is because when you exercise, your brain release dopamine.
As a matter of fact, if you just want to feel good, get up and start your exercise routine.
3. Just Do It
This motto by Nike is a really good motivation. Regardless you read your reasons and visualize the good feeling after exercising and yet you feel unmotivated, just do it.
Of course, you don't simply go right away with your main routine. Instead, get up, put on your exercise outfit and start doing the warm-up.
You will notice in just 5 minutes of warming up, the motivation to go on starts to kick in. If you haven't tried this technique, it's time to put it as one of your motivational techniques to exercise.
4. Do Something New or Different
Sometimes, the cause of not being motivated to exercise, you're not enjoying your routine. You may be doing too much or something that causes you not to like doing the exercise.
Hence, it would be a good idea to mix things up when it comes to exercise routines. So, do something different and cycle through your list of exercise routines.
For instance, if you're doing your exercise on the treadmill at all times, then, chances you'll feel unmotivated to do it. If you're in the gym, try various exercises and different equipment or exercise machines.
In other words, try something new and different. If you're exercising at home, there are plenty of quick full-body workouts you can try.
Moreover, you can cycle through various physical activities. For instance, do yoga on Monday, HIIT on Tuesday, bodyweight exercises on Wednesday, take a run or a walk on Friday, etc.
One more thing to keep in mind is not to overtrain yourself. Always take an off to exercise at least once a week. In fact, you can take that off and enjoy nature while taking a walk in the park or someplace where true nature exists.
5. Set Small Goals, Initially
Initially, when you're just getting started, you should always start with small goals. For instance, exercising 3 times a week for a month.
Don't jump right away to big goals and expect big results. Exercising a few times a week for a month along with proper nutrition can make you achieve noticeable results.
In fact, you should journal your results as this small progress can further make you motivated if you look back at it.
Of course, don't forget to treat yourself. For instance, treat yourself at once a month to a massage spa. This may not be a huge thing but can definitely help you relax and further boost your results.
Final Thoughts
These are just a few of the many motivational tips in order to be consistent with your exercise routines.
In fact, thinking alone of the health benefits of exercise such as better sex, testosterone and memory booster are good enough to motivate yourself.
You don't even have to start with long and tedious exercises. In fact, some quick exercises are good and already beneficial for your health.
Another thing worth mentioning as an exercise motivation is to look for an exercise partner or buddy. Having someone with you with similar goals as yours is a good motivator.
Studies have shown, someone's support is keeping people motivated to exercise.