Getting Motivated to Exercise: Discover the Secret

Most of us have a variety of reasons for why we want to exercise. There are a lot of goals associated with a good exercise routine such as burning fat, lean muscle mass, toning and defining, progressive weight gains, and more. No matter what your circumstances there is one factor that will always be the crux of your success. You need to get motivated.

Too often we start a new exercise routine with lots of motivation for the first week or two. You might be seeing small changes, such as slight muscle growth, or a number of pounds shed. This is great until all of the sudden we lose track of why we started the exercise program in the first place. Then you start putting off workouts until the next day, or not doing them at all.

When you think of motivation, you need to look at the root word, motive. Before you ever start an exercise program, ask yourself what are my motives for doing this. Write it down on a piece of paper and keep it with you everywhere you go. This could be anything. Perhaps you've got a reunion in a couple months, bikini season is coming up, or you simply want to improve your health and quality of life. Whatever it is, there are two main components to a success in becoming and staying motivated when working out.

1. Set Goals

You can't stay motivated if you don't know where you are going! Setting goals is key for almost anything important in life, not just an exercise routine. Perhaps you want to lose 15 pounds in two weeks. Maybe your goal is to be able to run a mile in under 7 minutes. Whatever it is, it's important to set measurable and achievable goals. Don't set unrealistic goals. This will only work against your motivation, by realizing you won't reach your goals, you tend to slack off or quit altogether.

The best way to start is to set three short term goals for every one long term goal. For example, you might say this month I want to complete 30 minutes of cardio three times a week. I want to lose 10 pounds. I want to shed 2% of my body fat. Now you could create a long term goal that is relative to your short term goal. For instance, you could say I want to meet these short term goals for 3 months, and at the end of three months I want to have lost 30 pounds and 6% of my body fat.

2. Switch up Your Workout Routine

A lot of time we start a workout routine and we are extremely happy with the results. The pounds are melting off, the 6 pack is coming, whatever it may be. It is important to know that after 6-8 weeks of a similar workout routine, your body adapts and becomes resistant to that workout, therefore producing stagnant results.

It is recommended that you change your workout routine every 8 weeks in order to stimulate new muscles and continual growth. For example for eight weeks you could be doing low rep, heavy weight exercises to build muscle mass. In the next eight weeks you could perform the exact opposite, and that is high rep, light weight exercises.

Each type of routine will stimulate a new group of muscle fibers, enabling you to continually see results from your workout. This really aids in the motivation factor. Imagine after 6 weeks or really great results then all of the sudden you're barely seeing any. How motivated would you be to continue working out for no return on investment? Changing the number of sets, repetitions, the amount of intensity (resistance), the amount of rest time among sets and workouts is key.

Staying motivated in any exercise routine can be a fairly difficult task. It is just as important to look to yourself for motivation as well. Find things that keep you motivated and pursue those in your everyday routines. Perhaps it's being able to keep up with the beautiful, fit, cardio instructor on your favorite workout DVD. Anything goes, and anything can motivate you to achieve success if you simply set a clear motive, realistic goals, and keep your workout interesting by changing it up a bit. Yes, you can be fit and happy!