GET MOTIVATED

How do you motivate yourself to exercise when your mood is getting in the way? Try some of these ideas to get yourself back on the right track:

1. Overcome your distractions - remind yourself how precious exercise time is-- there will be plenty of time to return to distractions when your workout is over.

2. Examine how your body feels - are you feeling fatigued, stiff, tense, lethargic, or restless? Perhaps you are training too hard and need to cut back a little, or perhaps you need to increase your stretching and cut back a little on cardio.

3. Visualize your achievement - imagine how good you will feel after fulfilling your exercise commitment.

4. Talk back to your gremlins - do you often tell yourself “I’m too out of shape”, “I’m too old” or, “I’ve tried this before and it didn’t work then”? Talk back to negative self-talk by filling your mind with positive affirmations like “I can do it”, “I am stronger” and “I can do this one step at a time”.

5. Listen to your joy - choose activities that you like. If you aren’t getting enjoyment from your activity you may need to look for a workout that better matches your personality and interests.

6. Examine your plateau - ask yourself “what needs to change for me to feel good about my exercise?” Clarify the gap between what you are experiencing and what you want to experience - then make the change.

7. Wake up your routine - try a new kind of workout or change the sequence or frequency of your exercise.

8. Compromise your approach - if you decide to skip your morning power walk, plan on taking a 10 minute walk at lunch and another quick walk during your afternoon break. Plan ways to make up for lost exercise time.

9. Recommit your goals - remind yourself that positive habits are created one choice, one moment at a time.

10. Reinforce your exercise values - spend 20 minutes writing down the reasons why staying active is important to you and why you can’t quit now. The secret to success is not willpower, it’s want-power. Choose to stay active not because you have to, but because you want to.

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