If you're like me, working out might not be your strongest suit. Doesn't mean you're awful at it, it's just not your best. Everyone decides at the beginning of the year that they will eat healthier and work out, well, add a tally to that chart because I'm one of them.
I started eating healthier last fall and started seeing big results, and when I say big results, I mean loss of 25 pounds results. Yes, success! I made it a goal of mine for 2013 to run a 5k. I decided I would start running at the beginning of the New Year. It lasted about a week, and then I was working ten hour days and lost any motivation to the hit gym after I was off, plus the gym opened after I left for work and closed before I got home, and I wasn't about to run the streets close to 9 o'clock at night. No thanks. I'd rather be slightly unhealthy, than dead.
Point being, I think I have finally found some tricks to help get out on your feet and get active!
First things first, don't try to set a goal at the beginning of the new year. I waited, not purposely, until the second month of the new year and it has been rather successful thus far! I am motivated and feel great. I look forward to being done with my day, so I can change into my work out clothes and hit the gym.
My second tip, when you feel like going, GO! One day I randomly felt like going to the gym. I have previously talked myself out of these motivations or felt like going too early on in my day and by the time came that I could go, I was too tired and no longer motivated. When you feel like going, go. And go again. And again. And again. Keep going. Before you know it, it'll be a habit and you'll look forward to it, a break from work and school, commitments, and for me, my cell phone!
That's another tip. For me, I'm typically glued to my phone. Twenty-Four. Seven. I am a proud iPhone user and sold my iTouch once I got an iPhone thinking that since I got an iPhone with bigger memory, I wouldn't need a separate iPod anymore. Eh. I could have kept it, but thankfully, I got a pink iPod nano for Christmas about four years ago and recently found it, so, I leave my phone at home, on the charger, when I hit the gym and I love it. No one can interrupt my work out with a text message, phone call, work email, retweet, or like on Instagram. I get to be free for about an hour and a half of my day and it is fantastic. The long lost iPod makes for some fun, too! If you have an old iPod, take it to the gym with you! It's really entertaining to set it on shuffle and see what songs you used to listen to. Plus, if you're like me, there are memories behind every song and it makes for a good trip down memory lane.
My biggest tip, drum roll please....
Distract your mind!
Once you're at the gym, sometimes it's hard to stay motivated to keep going, with every step. Sometimes you just need that
one
final
push.
For me, laugh all you want, but I found my distraction.
In high school, I was a cheerleader and on my old iPod nano I have so many songs from old routines and cheer mixes we never used for routines.
Needless to say, my work out playlist now consists of about 15 cheer mixes.
Why?
It's distracting.
I can choreograph routines in my head.
Dance moves, challenging stunts, jump sequences and tumbling passes.
My brain is full steam ahead. Before I know it, I'm through the playlist and done with my workout.
It's fantastic!
So find your niche.
Find that distraction
and hit the gym!
