Well, we’re finished with June and maybe you are not finding yourself where you expected to be when you first set your fitness goals a few months back. Perhaps your momentum has, well, lost speed? If so, or you just need an extra boost to keep pushing toward your fitness goals, we have come up with some pretty good tricks to stick to the bathroom mirror or add to that nifty fitness app on your phone.
- Put out your workout clothes and gear the night before. The first thing you see when you wake up helps you to remember and keep on track as well as pushes the excuses aside. Keep your ankle weights in the bathroom and yoga mat set out in front of the TV with the DVD in and ready to go. These visual reminders send strong messages to your brain and help you to keep workouts a priority.
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Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons.
Use goal setting/fitness sites and let your convictions drive you. Keep to your weekly exercise goals and you donate to your favorite cause; fail to stay on track and donate to a cause or politician you do not support. On Stickk, a site to help you stay faithful to your exercise goals; you pledge the amount and cause depending on your budget and goals. On Plus 3Network, you choose goals from a previously set list of corporate sponsors and if you meet you goals, they pay to the charity you signed up to support. Just knowing that your progress and success benefits those causes that matter most to you will keep you accountable.
- Re-think your mental hurdles. Take time to make a list of the phrases you typically tell yourself when you are sabotaging your workout routine. Then turn each one around with a new, positive approach. Have the new ones ready for when you are tempted to dwell on your old mental hurdles. “I am too worn out at the end of my work day to head to the gym.” Re-think it to: “I am tired, but a workout will energize me and I will sleep better tonight after getting in a workout! Or, “It is taking me forever to see any results!” Re-think it to: “Each day I work out is one more day of building my heart and also bone density; two things I cannot see but are happening…the visual changes will come!”
- Invest in your workouts. Not having the right clothes and gear can provide roadblocks to staying on track with workouts. When you spend the money for great looking clothes and gear you make an emotional investment as well a financial one and it keeps you involved. Cool looking workout clothes and fun new gear makes the workout more fun, anyway!
- Join an online workout tracker or social networking site. This can provide social support when done via FaceBook or other social networking sites. Online fitness trackers help with a sense of accountability. Fitness magazine provides a free tracker. Chronicling your workouts and progress provides support and accountability and you are less likely to skip when others are cheering you on. If you don’t want all your “friends” on Face book looking in on your workouts, start a group page or event and begin inviting those you know that would be interested, and they can invite those in their community. Before you know it, you will have an army of support and encouragement behind you.
“Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something in side you that is greater than any obstacle” Christian D. Larson
