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Exercise Motivation

Do you want to get active but don’t know how to get your exercise motivation revved up?  There are many benefits to exercise including weight loss, stress relief and reduced risks for certain medical conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol or type 2 diabetes just to name a few.

seniors exercisingIf these medical reasons are still not enough motivation for you to start getting active, then be sure to read these exercise motivation tips for a little extra push.




Find a Workout Buddy

Find a friend or coworker to do your exercise routines with.  With a workout buddy, you can keep each other motivated.  When one of you is not feeling up to exercising, the other one is there to urge you on.  Also, having a friend to talk with while walking or on the way to the gym is a great way to stay in touch and up on the latest news.



Make it Fun!

Start your exercise routines by doing something you enjoy.  Your exercise motivation can be to do something you enjoy like dancing, gardening or walking.  Although your favorite activity may not be as strenuous as an aerobic workout, it’s a place to start.  The more active you become the more energy you will have and eventually you will be able to move up to exercise routines that will include aerobics and strength training.



Start Slow

Don’t be over aggressive when you first start especially if you are not currently active.  If you start too fast, you run the risk of injuring yourself and may find you’ve lost your initial motivation due to muscle soreness.  Check out these exercise tips to get you started on your workout routines.



Set a Goal

Goals are great motivators.  Set your goal and place it where you can look at it often.  Make your goal realistic and achievable.  Modify your goal as you go along, making it more challenging.  If you feel your exercise motivation deteriorating, then take a look at your goal as a friendly reminder.





Plan for it

You have to make the time to do your exercise routines.  If you find your day already packed full with work, running errands, etc., then you may need to make some adjustments.  If you are a morning person, then just set the alarm 30 to 45 minutes earlier so you can fit in your workout.  Or do your workout in the evening to relieve the stress of the day and give you a great night’s sleep.



Track your Progress

There is no bigger motivator than seeing results.  Track your progress so you can look back and see how well you’ve done.  Let other’s know that you are exercising and brag about the progress you have made.  Your friends and family can be your support system to keep you motivated.

Use this free Exercise Calorie Chart to track your exercising and how many calories you burned during exercise.  There is an Excel version and a PDF.  Just right mouse click on the file you want and select "save as" to save to your computer.


Note that the excel file is a zip file.  Once you have saved to your computer, just unzip the file and start using it today.




Avoid the Guilt

Don’t lose your momentum if for some unforeseen reason you did not exercise today as planned.  Don’t fall into the all or nothing trap.  Life can throw many curve balls your way and cannot always be avoided.  Just get back on the treadmill, or whatever your exercise routine is and keep moving.



Do it Right

Make sure your workout routines are effective.  Are you sure you worked out long enough to burn calories?  Did you perform the strength training exercises correctly?  Any exercise worth doing is worth doing right.  You want to see results in order to keep your exercise motivation revved up, so do some research to make sure you’re doing it right.  Visit the free fitness video page on this site for a list and links to instructions and exercise videos.



Do it for Yourself

List all the reasons you want to exercise in order to motivate yourself. The list does not have to only include weight loss but can be other items like being able to participate more with your children or grandchildren's activities.  Or even reasons like getting better sleep and relieving stress.





The Right Mind Set

This is probably the most important exercise motivation tip.  You have to convince yourself that this is what you want.  With the right attitude and mind set you can achieve your exercise goals.

This is a motivation quote I like to refer to often for many different things.

"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goals; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude."

by Thomas Jefferson



Monthly Exercise Motivational Tip

Take a brisk walk in the cool fall days.  Walking in this cool weather keeps you energized and moving.  Not only will you be burning fat and calories but you can enjoy the fall colors.



Check out this article on fat burning exercises to find out what the most effective workouts are for burning fat and losing weight.

If you find yourself slacking in your exercise routine, come back here and re-read these exercise motivation tips.

If you need more exercise motivation then be sure to check out all the benefits to exercise to get you in the mood.




Related Articles
 
Weight Loss Motivation
Now that you are motivated to exercise, check out how you can get motivated to lose weight.

Walking for Exercise
Want to start out with something simple?  Walking is a great way to burn calories and it has many health benefits as well.








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