By Kim Thomas from usheathcorps.org
Exercise is one of the best ways to boost your health and wellbeing – but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Staying motivated is one of the hardest parts of regularly exercising but there are some strategies you can employ to help you muddle through.
Here are some tips and tricks for staying motivated and recognizing your own inner strength, courtesy of Victim 2 Victor.
Track your progress
Tracking your progress is essential when it comes to keeping yourself motivated. It shows you how far you’ve come and gives you extra incentive to strive for bigger, better things.
When it comes to exercise, one of the best ways to measure your progress is with a fitness tracker or smartwatch. It measures everything from your heart rate to your steps to your energy burned. It’s also a great way to stay healthy and safe when exercising as it’ll warn you if you’re overdoing things. You can even customize newer generations of wearables with straps for added inspiration.
If you can’t afford a fitness tracker, don’t worry. Doing things old-school with a tape measure and some scales will work just as well.
Lighten up your goals
We get it, you want to fit into that favorite pair of jeans again yesterday. But you can’t be so hard on yourself when getting into exercising. The key to achieving meaningful results is to set goals, but those goals should be reasonable.
When setting your exercise goals, go easy on yourself. Concentrate on things you can reasonably achieve. A good rule of thumb is to concentrate on things you can control intrinsically. Rather than set a goal of “I’m going to lose x amount of weight” set one like “I’m going to do 30 minutes of exercise per day.”
Setting softer goals will not only help you de-stress, but it’ll also help you achieve them better.
Exercise with others
Humans work best in groups. This is how we’ve survived this long as a species. When it comes to staying motivated when exercising it can be a great idea to rope in other people to help you stay on track.
This might mean joining a fitness class or organizing a group jogging session. If you’re having trouble finding others who want to get into fitness with you, look online at meetup groups and the like.
No matter how you find your exercise partner (or partners) you’ll see your motivation improve immeasurably.
Don’t fall prey to guilt
This one’s tough but it’s all-important. Accept that you’re fallible and are likely to slip into your routine now and then. Oftentimes people will fail to go to one exercise class and count the whole week as ruined. This isn’t so! If you fall down, dust yourself off and get back on the horse.
The best way to do this is to be aware of the guilt of failure and accept it for what it is: a reality but ultimately not constructive. Also, spend some time optimizing your home for wellness and positivity. That means letting go of negativity and self-criticism that may be keeping you from reaching your full potential.
Stay motivated to exercise
Motivation can be slippery but it’s not impossible to grasp. Exercise, in particular, is something you ought to prioritize your motivation for. Now that you have some solid tips and tricks under your belt for staying motivated to exercise, it’s time to treat yourself!
Anu Verma is the founder of Victim 2 Victor. Her website, book and podcast aim to empower and inspire survivors, showing them that healing from sexual and domestic abuse is possible. She’d love to hear your story!