Exercise routines are great, but doing them consistently can be a challenge for many people. However, there are a number of tricks you can use to help keep your motivation high and keep you in your routine.
It’s a lot easier to keep going than it is to start again. Recently, several people shared their best tips for making exercise a habit.
Find Your Why
Identifying why you’re doing this is a crucially overlooked step. Sure, you may be motivated now, but what about the days you don’t want to go to the gym or even get out of bed? Keeping your “why” in mind can help you push through those fleeting feelings of discouragement.
For one exerciser, this is the rush of feel-good endorphins he knows he will get once it’s over. For another person, it’s because he knows the consequences of avoiding exercise. As a former wrestler, he realized that his likelihood of defeat increased if they weren’t training. He adds that you need specific goals while expanding your knowledge.
Start Small
I love this response from this one practical exerciser: “Make it easy for yourself. You already want to work out, but the amount you want to is outweighed by how much activation energy it takes to do it.” This is the importance of starting small. They elaborate on how they began by doing just one set of pushups and one set of leg raises each day.
It doesn’t sound like much, but it adds up. Soon enough, this turned into three to four sets of each instead of one. That makes a huge difference. An object in motion tends to stay in motion. This is the approach you should apply to exercise. Just start, and you’ll find that it’s a lot easier to gain momentum.
Others strongly agree that you should make things easier for yourself. For others, this meant keeping a kettlebell right next to their couch or telling themselves just to do 15 minutes of exercise. Often, you’ll want to keep going, but showing up is the hardest part.
Low-Impact Exercise Is More Effective Than You Think
Exercise does not need to mean obsessively living at the gym doing high-intensity cardio or lifting hefty weights. Countless active people in this thread swore by the power of walking, and you know what? So do I. One avid walker explains they started walking because they read a book about how someone transformed their body by walking three miles a day.
Since it sounded achievable, they started walking for about an hour before work. After four months, they lost 10 lbs. To be clear, to lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you take in, which can be achieved in numerous ways. However, walking is an easy, low-impact, accessible way to increase your energy output which can help you achieve that.
It’s also less likely to increase your hunger, unlike high-intensity exercise. A dog owner explains they got a dog which forces them to be active by walking or playing with her. Many people in the thread expressed their discontent with the gym. On the other hand, some people love nature and dislike the sterile setting of a gym. Start hiking or walking around your neighborhood if you prefer your visual environment to be more stimulating.
Engage In Exercise You Enjoy
Never overlook how important it is to find joy in the little things you do every day. It shouldn’t feel like a punishment, even when it comes to working out. If you think that’s how it should feel, you’re doing it wrong. One user suggests finding fun activities that are also active. Another person insists the key to staying consistent is to avoid exercises you don’t like.
They prefer short and intense workouts to avoid getting bored. An enthusiastic walker loves getting three to five miles of walking exercise each day because they get to play PokemonGo. Choosing something that’s exhilarating, fun, or interesting to you won’t feel laborious. You’ll look forward to exercising.
An athlete says they always struggled to stick to a workout routine for over a few weeks until they found a sport they loved. Now, they can’t stay away for more than 24 hours. Plus, now they do extra exercises to help them improve at their sport.
Consistency Over Motivation
I love this tip: “the truth is, you can’t rely on motivation. After a while, it’s just discipline and the knowledge that you will feel better after getting it done.” As someone who has been quite active in their life but has also fallen into a state of inactivity here and there, I can verify this as accurate.
Never rely on motivation. Motivation is a good starting point but not a long-term strategy. Motivation wavers, and it won’t always be there. What will you do when motivation disappears? When morale is low, and you have every excuse in the world, the only thing that will carry you through is discipline and commitment.
Find a Support System
Some people are solo exercisers, but others are incredibly socially motivated. Understand which one you are because this can make a big difference. Some people hate doing things alone and need a group that will either offer emotional support or actively exercise with them.
One social exerciser says they find a group of people online or in real life to talk with about exercising. They even joke that they arrange for their friends to yell at them to go to the gym, which works!