Workout Tips
STAYING MOTIVATED
The Top Ten Ways to Stick to Your New Exercise Plan
03.10.2009
OK, so you've started your program but need a little extra help staying motivated? Here's a few tips:
- Get an exercise buddy. They will help keep you motivated-and so will the guilt of standing them up.
- Make a bet with a friend or enemy. Placing a money wager that you will hit your goal by a certain date makes every workout count. It also puts your honor on the line!
- Tell everyone you know about your fitness goals. That way, you will have that many more people to answer to.
- Buy yourself new exercise clothes, sneakers or a workout bag. Not wanting new and/or expensive equipment to go to waste will make you more apt to get off the couch and use it.
- Join a gym that you pass by nearly every day-perhaps on the road between your home and work. Seeing it regularly will eventually draw you in there to train.
- Get on a professionally-designed, long-term program. The sooner you start seeing results, the more you'll want to keep training to continue them. Aimlessly hopping from workout to workout-or even worse, from machine to machine-will only waste your time.
- Join an exercise class. The camaraderie you develop with your classmates should be enough to keep you coming back.
- Keep a workout log. Recording your progress from session to session (or lack thereof) will show you what you're doing right and what you're doing wrong. There's also a great feeling of satisfaction that comes from watching the amount of poundage you use grow with each passing week.
- Buy an iPod or portable CD player that you can take to the gym. Associating your workouts with fun music or escapism will make you not want to miss them.
- Put a picture of your family or loved ones in your gym bag. It will remind you who you want to be healthy for.
