Health Fitness

5 Ways to Improve Your Motivation to Exercise

There is something very interesting about exercise. With most things in life, even though we are in the information age, there is a lack of widely accessible information. For example, most of us would not have easy access to accurate information on how to install satellite television or how to read a financial statement.

However, when it comes to exercise, things are different, there is information everywhere, and everyone somehow knows how to exercise. The lack of motivation towards exercise shows that we do not do what we know how. We also don’t do what we want because most of us really want to exercise, but we don’t always. Clearly, to exercise we need to do not only what we know or want, but also what we are motivated to do. In this article, I want to share with you some strategies that will help you get motivated to exercise.

(I) Have a vision of your own image

The truth is that most of us have a certain image of how we would like to see ourselves. Some people were born skinny, imagine themselves skinny, and have accepted that image of themselves. Some people are born with a little weight, imagine themselves that way, and even buy clothes that fit that image. Most of the time this is something we are not always aware of.

I remember a time when my wife hadn’t looked at her body in a mirror for 3 months. Women can’t live without mirrors, she used a face mirror but not a full body mirror during that period for some reason. We went shopping. She looked at herself in a full-length mirror and discovered that her body shape had changed because she had gained weight. She freaked out and yelled “Wow, I’m fat.” Surely, I must not have been honest with her at home when answering her most frequently asked question “Do I look fat?”

It was true that my wife had gained weight. But what really troubled her was that her body was different from her ideal body shape or weight. This made her restless and motivated enough to exercise and lose extra fat in two weeks.

Without a vision of our ideal body shape or weight, we are doomed to simply pump food into our bodies and not make an effort to lose weight. I’m telling you this because I’d like to urge you to examine your vision of your ideal body weight before implementing the rest of the strategies I’ll advise you to use beginning in this article.

Some people want to be skinny but actually have a fat body image that holds them back. These people buy clothes that fit this image and accept how they look. They subconsciously sabotage their efforts to lose weight. If you want to be skinny, it would help you to think that you are skinny. If you think you are fat, you may have a hard time achieving weight loss. I’m not saying you shouldn’t accept yourself as you are. I’m saying though that you might have insight into your healthy self-image. Simply accepting yourself for who you are can mean that you want to change your self-image when it comes to fitness or weight loss. This is great for your emotional well-being, but it also won’t help you reach your fitness goals. If you accept yourself with a belly, why would you want a flat stomach?

(II) The comfort of your body matters less

The main reason why people do not exercise is because they prefer the comfort of the body to the pain of exercise. Body comfort is detrimental in the long run because it leads to a sedentary lifestyle. So the more you are unconcerned about the comfort of your body, the more you will subject your body to the physical stress of exercise.

Ironically, what you will find is that once you start exercising, you will begin to find pleasure in exercising even though your body tenses up during exercise. People who have outgrown their need for bodily comfort and made an effort to exercise start to feel uncomfortable when they haven’t exercised for a couple of days. They feel unacceptably strange when they haven’t been running or biking or lifting weights.

However, the first hurdle to overcome before reaching the level where exercise becomes a “must” rather than a “should” is neglecting bodily comfort. Constantly, in your mind, argue against your body when it seeks comfort. Your body will naturally seek comfort. Your job is to push against your body and put yourself through the physical exertion of the exercise. Do not consider your mind and your body as a unit. Your body will seek comfort but will argue through your mind and remember your exercise goals.

(III) Assign an hour of exercise every day

If nothing is labeled for exercise in your day, chances are you’ll never exercise. To exercise you need to have an hour in your day that you propose to exercise no matter what. Clear exercise time and don’t let anything disturb it. If you had planned to go for a run and it rains, the hour of exercise should not be dedicated to watching a series on TV, it should be dedicated to exercising at home. Don’t let anything come between you and exercise time.

(IV) Forget the rules of fitness, do what you like

As I said before, there is too much information about exercise. It’s easy to get caught up in what many experts think exercise should be. What I have learned in life is that things are not done by fixed rules. Things are done when we have fun and are excited.

Forget what other people think exercise should be. What are you on exactly? Do you like to run, walk or ride a bike or do you like kick boxing? Whatever you like, let that be your exercise.

Once you gain momentum and move away from a sedentary lifestyle, you can tighten things up a bit and put formalities into practice. The reason most of us learned to ride a bike successfully when we were young, even if it was painful to fall, was because we did what we loved. Do what you love when it comes to exercise to overcome what you perceive as exercise pain.

(V) Do not eat for pleasure

To stay motivated to exercise, you need to see results. Muscle gain or weight loss or toned body. If you don’t see results, you are likely to give up.

To see results you need to eat right. Remember if you want to lose weight or gain muscle, 80% of the results of exercise depend on your diet and 20% depend on your physical effort.

I have prepared you so that you are motivated enough to push yourself. Don’t let diet undo what you’ve done.

Most people fail when it comes to dieting because they eat for pleasure. When it comes to taste, most of us would agree that KFC beats a plate of steamed vegetables. So when we eat for pleasure, we set ourselves up for failure because most healthy foods don’t taste as good as junk. Unless your wife is a great cook or you have a professional chef in the house.

To see results from your exercise, eat to nourish your body. Tolerate the bitter taste of vegetables or whatever your vegetarian diet is. Diet plans fail when we eat for pleasure because we soon find ourselves unable to resist the taste of birthday cake. Commit to eating differently, for nutrition rather than taste. from time to time you can say thank you with a small piece of your favorite tasty food.

Remember to stay inspired, remove all obstacles that stand in your way to success, and don’t you dare give up on yourself or your dreams.

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