Tips on Motivating Yourself to Exercise

You know you want to exercise more. If you are like me you've gotten yourself all excited with the prospect of looking into the mirror and seeing that lean, fit body standing confidently before you. You then started out strong with a plan to exercise five or more days a week. A few weeks pass and you don't find the will to continue anymore. Sights of that perfect body fade from your mind. I've done this may of times. Through trial and error I've found a few things that can help motivate me to exercise like I should. These things are: incentives, substitutes, and variation.

Incentives. Incentives are things you give yourself for exercising. This is my favorite. It has prodded me to work out when almost all else failed. It can be used with any activity you find hard to do, but works exceptionally well for me with exercising. There are many options for incentives. You can offer yourself a tasty treat or allow yourself to read the next chapter of a book you like. Just pick whatever you like and deny yourself of it until you've exercised. They can be given either before or after you complete the workout. I find this works best if you don't treat yourself to it until afterward. This way you won't get caught up in the activity and not be able to work out. The two incentives that work best for me are: not letting myself play video games until I've worked out, and letting myself eat something I love after I work out. I find endless motivation with incentives.

Substitutes. Substitutes are activities you do in place of traditional exercise, or rearranging your normal routine. This tip works well if you have a busy lifestyle or during hectic times like holidays. Substitutes are multifunctional. You can use them to add extra activity to your busy day, or to liven up a routine that has become boring. If you don't have time for a workout there are many things you can do to give yourself a mini workout. Try doing things the hard way. I'm sure you have heard of this one: take the stairs instead of the elevator. Do a few squats or jumping jacks while you're waiting for the microwave. Almost any waiting time can be a little extra activity for your day. As far as putting life back into a dying routine, try rearranging the content and/or length. Rearranging content will give your muscles a chance to get out of the rut they've been forced to be in. It will also refresh your mind by not allowing it to perform actions out of habit. You could also change the length of your normal workout. Changing the length of your workout will add to or take away from the challenge of your exercise time. I find this useful when I don't feel like working out at all. If I tell myself that all I have to do is a little ten minute workout it gives me the motivation to continue and to plan for a longer one the next day.

Variation. Variation is somewhat like substitutes. Variation changes the type of workout you do. This can be done by assigning a different type of workout for each day of the week or you could try what I do: do the same type of workout for a few weeks then switch to the next. I'm currently belly dancing for exercise. I used to jog. Before that I rotated strength training videos. Of course, we know it's best if you rotate different types of exercise frequently so you get the most balanced body, but this article is all about motivation. If you aren't motivated you won't work out. If you don't work out you won't get results no matter how balanced you are. So first work on motivation; then you can balance yourself when you've become stable enough.

I hope these tips will give you as much motivation as they have given me.