Ways to Motivate Yourself to Exercise

We know exercise is great for our health. In this article, I am giving you some tips on how to motivate yourself to engage in some physical activities.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has published in May 2012 recent findings that worldwide obesity has more than doubled since 1980. In 2008, more than 1.4 billion adults (aged 20 or over) were overweight, in which over 200 million men and nearly 300 million women were obese. One of the reasons that caused this is a decrease in physical activity – it is thus not a myth that regular exercises could help prevent the spread of this problem.

But then, we all have busy lives. It is always tempted to sit on the sofa and enjoy a program on the television after a day’s hard work – seriously, why can’t we relax a bit and choose whatever we like to do at night, when we finally have some moments of our own?

In fact, motivating yourself to exercise is not as hard as you might think. Here are some tips you might find useful:

Variety, variety, variety!

One reason you might not fancy exercising is because you find it boring. You might associate exercising with some forms of walking and jogging, which, admittedly, can be far from stimulating if you have to do that every day. One key for you to enjoy exercises is therefore ‘variety’ – do something different every time you work out. Make your exercise program more colourful by incorporating a variety of physical activities, such as swimming, aerobics, boxing, yoga, weight lifting, cycling, dancing, etc., in it. You would find it much more fun if you do the same exercise in every two weeks.

Sign up for a gym membership

The simple truth is: you have to pay for a gym membership. If you choose to go to a premium gym, the amount you have to pay can be pretty big. It is therefore a waste of your hard-earned money if you do not make more use of the gym, right? Just think about it and you would immediately pick your sports bag and head off. An additional plus to join a gym is that gyms now usually offer a wide range of classes for you to choose from. Looking at their timetables, you might find it difficult to choose between body combat and zumba, and wish that you could stay there for a longer time to try out all the different classes!

Think of the positives

It is true that you need to squeeze some time from your busy schedule to work out. But do not think of it as something that wastes your precious time. In fact, working out can save your time – you can have a quick shower in the gym after exercising and this spares you from all the cleaning and tidying up of your bathroom at home. In addition, while you are enjoying a high-carb or fat-rich dinner, you can think of all the extra calories you have just burnt and can then enjoy your food fully.

Grab an exercise buddy

This might not work for everyone, but would work for those who need companionship or are of the competitive type. Exercising with a friend means you would feel less bored – instead of jogging all alone in a park, you can talk to each other, stop for a while from time to time to catch up on each other’s news, and motivate each other to keep on. You can also compete with your buddy: let’s see who can finish running 2 kilometres first? This would appeal to those who never want to lose.

Don’t feel guilty for not doing it, but don’t procrastinate

You do not have to work out every single day. If you make it your obligation to exercise every day, it is no fun. Do not feel guilty for missing one or two session, but make sure that you do not procrastinate from returning to it for too long. The recommendation from WHO for adults aged between 18 and 64 is to engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity or at least 75 minutes of vigorous intensity exercises throughout the week. You just have to bear this in mind and aim to achieve this target as far as you can!