How To Get Motivated For Exercise

Exercise is not everyone’s favorite thing to do. Telling someone to exercise sounds a bit like a punishment. It is all psychological though. You can motivate yourself for exercise in the morning or evening. It doesn’t have to feel like a chore, you can discover that you love it and begin to embrace a healthier lifestyle for yourself.

Make the Decision to Exercise

The first step for achieving any goal is to simply make the decision that you will do it. If you are waffling on whether or not you will do it, most likely when the going gets tough, you will quit. I know. I’ve been there and done that. When exercising is a choice and you are tired or have a busy day lined up the next day, you may decide the movie on television holds your interest more and you will procrastinate starting to exercise. Make the decision that you will exercise.

Set Aside a Convenient Time

Schedule it into your routine. The exercise will get done when you have a set time and place to do it. It won’t get done if you think, I’ll squeeze in fifteen minutes of walking sometime tomorrow. That fifteen minutes gets eaten up by cleaning, taking care of the kids, running errands and before you know it there was no time in the day to exercise.

Tap Into the Power of Your Subconscious

This is perhaps one of the most underutilized strategies for motivating yourself to exercise. Listen to positive affirmations everyday. I listen to the Think Right Now programs as I sleep and throughout the day. I’m amazed that after listening to them consistently for a week or two that my behaviors start to change. Things that I may have been procrastinating start to get incorporated into my day. For example, when I was listening to the “I am organized now!” program, I didn’t get immediately organized, but I discovered that I was starting to put things away instead of leaving them out. The dishes would get done on time. Mail would be opened and answered in a timely manner.

As I listened to the Setting and Achieving Goals program, I made the decision to exercise everyday. I started running on my treadmill, doing yoga poses, and taking daily walks within a week of setting the goal. I am not averse to exercise. In fact, most of the time I love it. However, I can get out of the habit of exercising due to an injury or a setback. It was a simple and easy thing to play the audio in the background as I completed other tasks or during the night while I slept. I discovered that I took action incredibly fast. It was amazing! [easyazon_image align=”left” height=”120″ identifier=”B007O98NMW” locale=”US” src=”https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/411sjjchJhL._SL160_.jpg” tag=”mcurle08-20″ width=”160″]

Get a Support System

Your friends and family that are embarking on the same fitness journey can be a great source of motivation. As I have been doing the ketogenic diet, I discovered the power of innundating myself with positive people who are doing the same thing. I joined a bunch of facebook groups on the ketogenic diet. I also started following people on youtube who were interested in doing the low carbohydrate, high fat diet. It was wonderful to share encouraging words and kept me on track with healthier eating.

Having a support system gives you accountability. You are more likely to take the steps towards your goals when you know other people are cheering you on. Being in social media groups and sharing your progress and results keeps you accountable. It keeps you on track. The people in the group may also motivate you through their successes. You may discover that you are inspired through their different work out ideas as well.

Conclusion

Sometimes it is our attitudes that are keeping us from success. You can change your attitude towards exercising and motivate yourself to do it consistently when you put it in a positive light. You’ll start to enjoy exercise and even crave it when you view it as a positive in your life. Support groups and positive affirmation tapes can go a long way in getting you motivated for exercise. Not only will you be motivated, you’ll actually start doing it!