Well, it’s a actually a guest post from friend and fellow blogger, Amy Sullivan at Feasibly Fit Mom, “8 Ways to Motivate: Get Your Workout Done!”

I give you the highlights and you can click over for the full story. 

Some days we bounce out of bed, ready to attack the track, work the weights and kill the kettlebells. And then there are the days that we struggle to find time, energy or motivation to get the dog out for a walk or make it to our favorite yoga class.

Here are some tips passed along to me by my clients or I’ve found useful. Remember, it takes just one of these to get you movin’ on any given day! Whatever works, right?

1. Change into your workout clothes.

Change into your your running tights, sports bra, yoga pants…whatever. If you exercise first thing in the morning, set out your clothes the night before. Wake up, get dressed and brush your teeth.

2. Schedule it into your day
We’re all busy, right? And you’ve heard it before: If it’s important, schedule it into your day. You probably mentally review the day ahead each evening, so go ahead and jot it down. Not just exercise, but what type of exercise. (E.g. 30 min. upper body circuit, or 20 min. HIIT, or 90 min. Vinyasa yoga class).

3. Don’t schedule it into your day
Wait, isn’t that the opposite of the tip above? Yes, and sometimes our schedules look too jam-packed to even consider a workout. But things fall-through, friends stop by, soccer practice gets canceled or our husbands bring home takeout for dinner.

4. Focus on and plan each second of your workout
When you do have those nuggets of time, make sure those minutes really are “your time.” It isn’t found time if you’re attempting to clean, answer email or read to your kids. If you focus, a 20 minute cardio stint or lower body workout is plenty to feel the burn.

5. Do it for “just 5 minutes”
Similar to the tip on getting dressed in workout clothes, this one is a mental game. As you know, lots of times we just have to get started to build momentum. This goes for cardio workouts as well as strength training. If you’re not in the mood to workout, tell yourself you’ll do it just for five minutes so you can say you tried.

6. Focus on internal motivators
We all have reasons we exercise, many of these are external, but some come from inside us and get to who we are. Some reasons we might exercise are to: feel healthy, take care of our bodies, feel sexy, keep depression at bay, feel empowered, feel stronger. Try to focus on the positive internal motivators: Saying “If I don’t exercise today, I’ll feel fat and unhappy” certainly doesn’t feel good. Try to re-frame it: “When I finish exercising, I’ll have succeeded and will feel so strong!”

7. Focus on external motivators
This is the reason we are led to believe we exercise: The skinny jeans, the bathing suit, the class reunion, the triathlon, the figure competition. Even health-related reasons like the cholesterol test, blood sugar levels and heart disease risks are external motivators. Again, nothing wrong with these, but to be focused solely on these reasons for exercise can set us up for disappointment. We may not always reach the goals we set when we think we should.

8. Phone a friend
In addition to encouraging us by noticing the results of our exercise and healthy eating efforts, friends can also be great help by providing us a “kick in the pants” when we need it. Maybe you’ve been complaining that nothing fits, you don’t have time to workout or so-and-so looks so good because they can afford a personal trainer and you can’t. Um, those are excuses, and a good friend will call you on it.

 

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