Need Exercise Motivation - Stay Healthy and Fit with Exercise
Carol loves her daily Pilate workout. She looks forward to meeting her gym mates every morning and working out with them. Over the past year, she has also lost a lot of weight and become fitter and healthier. But if you’d have met Carol a year ago, she would have told you how she hated exercising, and how an exercise routine never worked for her. But looking back, Carol feels that she wasn’t realistic about her fitness goals earlier, piling on more exercise than her body could handle, right when she began her fitness programs. This led to burn out, and she could never go ahead with any fitness program that she opted for.
Exercise is healthy, and it is good for your body. To stay motivated, here are some tips.
Be realistic: Do not set unrealistic goals that will lead you to fail. To prevent getting overwhelmed, begin exercise in short capsules. So, instead of working out for an hour or two every morning, start with 20-30 minutes of activity four times a week. Slowly, increase the time you spend exercising.
Track your progress: Whether you are tech savvy and prefer an excel sheet or a hi-fi program to track your progress, or you prefer the good old notebook to jot down your exercise schedule, turn to a handy way to document your progress. This will help you keep an eye on what you’re doing and will also keep you motivated.
No need to be perfect: Remember that you are human, and there will be times when you will feel tired or ill, and may have to give that workout a miss. You may also want to sleep-in on some mornings, if your life has been extraordinarily busy. So, don’t fret and think that exercising is not for you, if this happens.
Do not compare: If you feel that the muscular hunk at the gym can do far more squats and push-ups than you, or that the girl with the Barbie figure can work the treadmill for much longer than you, then just get these thoughts out of you. Your body has certain stamina and limitations. Exercise accordingly to stay motivated.
Find it fun: Choose an activity that you find fun – whether its walking around your block, aerobics or swimming, salsa or weight training, do something that you like and look forward to. This is the best way to stay motivated.
Break it up: Instead of exercising for two whole hours, constantly, divide the work out to two parts. Exercise for an hour in the morning, and an hour in the evening. This way, you will enjoy your workouts.