How to stay motivated to exercise?

[FUZO]

TweetDue to the mechanics of muscular development, often a training program incorporates lots of repetition within its workouts. This can become pretty boring after a while and may lead to your plan going off track.
Fighters, bodybuilders, powerlifters and many other explosive athletes all credit the power of motivation and outside inspiration for getting them out of bed each morning. Re-igniting that desire to succeed so they can spend yet another day challenging themselves in the gym.


The following list includes some critical methods on how to stay motivated especially when all else has failed and progress has rapidly began to slow down.

• Revisit your past.

If you think everything is against you, take a really good look at how you were when you started. For most, you will begin to see how much you have achieved already. Remember what you did to get where you are now, you might get cold chills down your spine just thinking of all the hard work you put yourself through, but seek motivation in the fact that the hard work you did then is DONE, and by simply continuing with that positive attitude you will continue to see even better results.

• Stop wishing for a miracle.

Life’s not all strawberries and cream, your best mates name isn’t Peter Pan and there’s no chest of gold at the bottom of a rainbow!



We as natural athletes get our results from great planning, grit and determination. Miracles start occurring when you look back at the photos of you from 3 months ago, they don’t just happen overnight.

• Use a heart rate monitor.
  
  

The speed at which your heart is working directly relates to how your muscle performs during training.

Imagine the benefits you can gain by knowing how fast your heart is beating. This can help determine your ideal intensity for each set and give you a more accurate indication for rest times required than by simply guessing.

Looking at your reflection when training will indeed tell you your muscles are ‘pumped’, but knowing how hard your muscles are actually working normally comes down to your experience and the discomfort levels the training creates.



Buying or borrowing a heart rate monitor takes away some of the guess work, they are really good value and can literally take your training to another level.

• Constantly track your progress.

This is probably the most essential way to stay motivated. Just looking in the mirror won’t provide you with any real feedback about your training. It’s an image you see almost every day and your mind adjusts to that image constantly.

Tracking your progress means recording benchmarks on each exercise, tracking your body composition, taking photos and getting real feedback from others.



Actual measurements and photos never lie; they don’t take sides and don’t have an opinion. Just a 1cm increase in the size of your arm or 2 inches off your waist is something to be very proud of, something nobody can take away from you and something to even further improve on.

• Share your new intentions.

I like most tend to keep the head down and get a job done with minimal interference. The difference between this and training with a ‘go away’ sign wrapped around your neck is that you are letting people who are directly related (gym buddies, family and friends) know that you have a goal and would like their cooperation in achieving it.

Discussing your new program with other people in the gym lets them know that you would like your own space while training and also some assistance if you require. You can learn a lot from talking to others, who knows, many of them might be in the same position, or could offer some feedback on injury prevention or post workout nutrition.

Sharing your intentions with people close to you turns your program into somewhat of an event. You now have more than just yourself to look over your shoulder when the times get tough and you also have the combined support of a whole group of people that want to see you succeed!
Quote for the week:

"I am better today than I was yesterday, but not as good as tomorrow"

Now I need to hear from you below!
1) What's your current level of motivation? (high, medium or low)
2) Tell me your best trick for staying motivated?

[Dzone]

TweetThis is good. Graphic is cool too..lol