Photo courtesy of CherryPoint via Flickr Creative Commons
I will be the first person to admit staying in shape can be hard. It’s so easy to start a new fitness regimen, but it’s a lot harder to keep it up. Life happens. You get busy, you get tired, and sometimes you just get frustrated because you don’t seem to be getting the results you want. During those low moments the urge to quit creeps up on you and it’s hard to convince yourself to keep going. I’m not perfect and I feel the urge to quit at times also, but there are three things I do to keep going.
1. Find your inspiration:
First you need to figure out why you are working out. It doesn't matter if your goal is to lose weight, train for a marathon, or just to be an overall healthier person. Find your inspiration and put some symbol of that inspiration in a place where you will see it every day. I put a quote on my bathroom mirror. My best friend hung up a pair of jeans in her ideal size on her door. Do whatever works for you.
2. Find a workout partner:
It’s a lot harder to bail on a workout when you have someone depending on you. There have been many times when I was so ready to skip working out for a nap, but then I looked down at my phone and saw a simple “are we still on for the gym” text and pulled on workout clothes and headed to the gym.
Warning: Do not pick a workout buddy that you want to impress and refuse to break a sweat in front of. This will only lead to sub-par efforts and a waste of time. Pick someone who will push you to keep going and give you workout 110%.
3 Set reasonable goals:
Goals are great. They provide benchmarks and help you to push yourself a little bit farther. However, it’s very important to set reasonable goals. If you are training to run a 5k but the farthest you've ever run is a mile, then it only stands to reason that the first time you try you won’t be able to do. Set a smaller goal. Decided to run a mile, walk a mile, and continue to push yourself until you can accomplish your larger goal.
What do you do to stay motivated ?
