How to fall in love with exercising

If you do find it hard to get the motivation to exercise, you might think of exercise as a punishment, rather than a reward. Or you might be concerned about the other things associated with exercise – strength, disease prevention, weight control and endurance.

Research has proven that if you have fun with your workout regime, you are more likely to stick with it! So read on if you would like to find out how to fall in love with exercising.

Don’t confine yourself to the gym

You do not have to join a gym or boot camp to start a great exercise regime. A significant amount of physical activity can occur in everyday life. Evaluate your daily routines – is there a longer way to walk to work? Can you change your waiting time into something productive? There are many ways to factor exercise into your day.

See fitness as a gift

Getting fit shouldn’t seem like it is something that you ‘should’ do – try to see it as something you ‘want’ to do. Perceive it as a gift, instead of treating it as a burden. You tend to feel happy and energised after a good workout, so think about exercise from this perspective. After a good session it will give you an immediate reward.

Set your goals

There are two types of goals on the subject of exercise – performance goals (exercising four times a week to lose weight) and learning goals (how to stay physically fit for life). Most of us tend to set performance goals, especially if we want to lose weight or simply start exercising. If our goal is to learn, we want to achieve a long-term goal, rather than training for a 10K race, completing it and then feeling lost as there’s nothing else to strive towards. Try signing up to new classes every so often to keep learning new things and to stay content with your regime.

Focus on the immediate benefit

Our daily decision on whether to exercise or not is generally decided on an emotional level. So next time you makes excuses like “I’m too tired” or “I don’t feel like it” just go ahead and ignore them. Focus on how great you will feel after the workout, in comparison to what you will feel after you skip it – this should get you out of bed!