According to the CDC, only 23% of adults do enough aerobic exercise and muscle strengthening each week. Getting enough weekly exercise helps reduce your risk of developing heart disease, manage your weight, and improves your mental health.
Even if you understand the benefits of exercising, it isn’t easy to stay motivated to exercise every day. Many people feel like they don’t have enough time to exercise, work out boring, or set unrealistic expectations.
If that sounds like you, you are probably wondering how to get motivated to exercise. Keep reading to learn how you can get motivated to work out and actually make exercise one of your daily habits.
Figure Out Your “Why”
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When searching for workout motivation, one of the first steps is to determine your “why.”
Why is it important for you to work out every day? Are you training for a race? Do you want to live a healthier lifestyle?
Take some time to write down why you want to work out. Motivation has to come from within, so understanding what motivates you is important. Whenever you think about skipping your daily workout, refer to these notes.
Set Fitness Goals
Once you have determined what motivates you, it is time to set goals. The goals you set can determine if you continue working out over time. When setting goals, you should focus on SMART goals.
Here is what defines a SMART goal:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
You should try to make your fitness goals as specific as possible. For example, instead of setting a goal to run every day, create a goal to run for 30 minutes every day. If you are specific, you are more likely to stick to your goals.
In addition to making your goals specific, you should make them measurable and achievable. If you don’t, you won’t complete your goals. One of the main reasons people give up on their fitness goals is that they can’t meet them.
When making your goals, make sure they are relevant. If you don’t like swimming, don’t set a goal to swim one mile each day.
Lastly, try to make goals that are time-bound. One of the best ways to do this is by signing up for a future event. For example, try signing up for a 5k or challenge yourself to complete a difficult hike by a certain date.
Tell Friends and Family
Once you commit to working out, tell your friends and family. Sticking to a workout routine is difficult, but it is easier if you have the support of friends and family. An ideal situation is if a friend or family member commits to exercising with you.
Having someone else work out with you will motivate you to show up when you don’t want to. You don’t want to make your friend go to the workout class on their own!
If you don’t have any friends or family willing to support you, try finding a group on social media. There are so many people out there that want to reach their fitness goals, and you can all support each other.
Schedule Your Workout
One of the best things you can do to commit to your exercise routine is to schedule your workouts. If you keep a calendar, block off the time of day that you want to exercise.
If you don’t schedule your workout, you will have to try to fit it in whenever you have time. Doing this will cause you to miss your workout when you have a busy day.
When scheduling your workout, be sure to choose a time that works best for you. If you hate waking up early in the morning, don’t schedule your workout at 5 in the morning. If you do, you will probably sleep instead.
But, if you are a busy mom and mornings are the best time for you to work out, get some exercise before you start the rest of your day.
Prepare Your Workout Outfit in Advance
If you are looking for a helpful exercise tip, try preparing your exercise clothes the day before your workout. Having your clothes prepared is one less thing that stands between you and working out.
If you like to exercise in the morning, place your outfit and water bottle on your dresser before going to bed. You can even sleep in your workout outfit if that helps.
Do you prefer to exercise when you get off work? Take your workout clothes with you to work and head to the gym as soon as you get off.
Get a Journal
If you want to keep your motivation to exercise, try getting a journal. Start by writing down your “why,” your goals, and how you plan to achieve those goals. Keep track of the progress you make on a weekly and monthly basis.
Keeping a daily fitness journal is also a good idea for your mental journey. Write down how you feel in the morning, before a workout, or after a workout. You can write words of affirmation to yourself to help you stay motivated.
Mix up Your Routine
Have you ever gotten bored while working out? If so, you are not alone. Boredom is one of the main reasons why people quit their workout routines.
While creating a weekly or monthly exercise plan is great to start with, be sure to mix up your routine once you have been doing it for a while. If you don’t, you may get bored and lose the desire to work out.
Make Exercise Fun
Are you someone that doesn’t like exercising? If so, you probably aren’t doing the right exercises. While everyone has days where they don’t want to work out, you shouldn’t dread completing your workout routine every day.
Many people believe that the best way to exercise is by running, spending 30 minutes on the elliptical, or lifting weights. Those workouts are great if you enjoy them, but if you don’t, do something else instead.
Find the type of exercise that you are passionate about and love doing. You can choose from dancing, hiking, kayaking, bodybuilding, horseback riding, or whatever else you find interesting.
The possibilities are endless. If you don’t like running, don’t force yourself to run.
Don’t Forget About Nutrition
Many people believe that exercise is only about working out, but having good nutrition is just as important. Food is where you get all the nutrients, vitamins, and energy you need to get through the day.
If you eat the wrong foods, you will feel sluggish, lazy, and unmotivated to complete your workout. If you currently don’t have the motivation to work out, try to start with your diet.
Focus on adding fruits, vegetables, protein, and fiber into your daily diet. At the same time, try to reduce how much sugar you are eating daily. Also, don’t forget to drink water.
If you focus on your diet first, you will find that the motivation to exercise will come as you start to feel better. Adding supplements can help you see more progress once you create a workout routine, according to Healthcanal.
Stop Feeling Guilty
Everyone misses a workout day on occasion. When you miss a workout day, try not to feel guilty. When you feel guilty about missing a workout, it may discourage you from exercising altogether.
If you are having a bad day and can’t bring yourself to work out, choose to rest and then move on. Get back to your routine the next day. Missing one day won’t mess up your fitness progress.
Reward Yourself
One of the best ways to motivate yourself to work out is to reward yourself once you reach milestones.
You can choose small rewards, like getting a new book after working out for an entire week. You also can choose large rewards, such as taking yourself on vacation after working out for three months.
Either way, you will be more likely to show up to your early morning workout class if you know there will be a reward for doing so.
Don’t Forget to Rest
If you want to get in shape, it may be tempting to skip rest days. While it’s tempting, resting is an essential part of working out. When you work out, tiny tears form in your muscles.
Taking rest days allows those tears to heal. Also, if you don’t take rest days, you are more likely to experience fitness burnout. Fitness burnout can cause you to lose all motivation.
Now You Know How to Get Motivated to Exercise
Exercise is essential to keeping your body in good shape, having good mental health, and reducing your risk of serious diseases. While exercise is good for you, it can be difficult to stay motivated. Next time you feel unmotivated, try these tips!
Did you enjoy reading this article on how to get motivated to exercise? If you want more advice on how to stay healthy, check out the health category next.
