If one of your new goals or plans for 2020 is to move more and get more active, you might benefit from these tips.
One of the hardest parts of adopting a healthy fitness routine can be finding the motivation to make it happen on those days when you just don’t want to at all.
When you are really tired, or the weather makes you want to curl up inside, or you simply feel like you are too busy and don’t have the time to make it happen.
It’s times like those that you will need tips like these:
- Walk out the door – Put on your blinders, put in your headphones, do whatever you have to do, to simply get yourself out the door and in the car on your way, or out of the driveway on your way. Once you have left the house, you will feel like you have started and all the things distracting you from before will be behind you. From here, you will see that you might as well keep going and finish what you started. The hardest part – getting started – is done!
- Take 20 seconds – If part of why can’t get moving is because you are feeling uncomfortable in your body, nervous about being in a gym and being more out of shape than others, or simply fearful of the unknown and not knowing what to expect, commit to 20 seconds of courage. You can do anything for 20 seconds. Maybe that means getting on the treadmill at the gym for 20 seconds, maybe that means, just committing to the 20 seconds it takes to walk out your door and onto the road to start your walk. Whatever the case, 20 seconds get you started . . . and then it is way easier to keep going.
- Be the buddy – Be the person that someone else relies on to help them get moving. So often, we hear that we should get a buddy to help motivate us to work out, but instead, be the buddy that helps motivate someone else to work out. This not only helps them, but it makes sure that you get up and get moving because you know that someone else is counting on you and waiting for you and this makes you more accountable.
- Have fun – Stop viewing exercise as simply exercise, and start seeing it as a way to move your body and make you happy. Find the things that you enjoy, have fun, embrace movement, do what you love. Exercise can be oiled down to simply moving your body and engaging your muscles and energy systems. It doesn’t always have to burn, leave you sore and uncomfortable, or make you unable to walk the next day. While of course there is a time to push yourself to these limits, and this is what helps you develop and become better, some days it is enough to simply move your body. Find a way to do that which is fun for you and you enjoy and it will stop feeling like exercise and instead just a chance to be happy and have a good time!
By Emma Richards
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