7 Tips To Increase Your Exercise Motivation

This guide on exercise motivation is going to be short and to the point.

It‟s a practical guide which requires you to TAKE ACTION. You‟re never going to increase your motivation if you don‟t do anything. So when you go through the 7 tips, actually put them to use!

This guide is going to show you 7 ways to you can increase your motivation to exercise.

No fluff.

At Squires Fitness, we work with clients every day who struggle with finding the motivation to start their exercise programme or to stay consistent with their current programme.

Thankfully, we provide the guidance and advice to ensure they start motivated, stay motivated, and ultimately follow through with their goals and get in shape.

... doesn‟t happen when you‟re sat on your backside in front of the television

So what can you do in order to give yourself a kick up the backside and fire up your motivation?

...without further ado, lets jump straight in with the 7 tips!


1. Define and write down your „Power Statement‟

Goal setting is important, we all know that, but not everyone does it. As an alternative, think of the reason why you want to get in shape? Is it to build your confidence? Attract the opposite sex? Or just to improve your health? Go back to basics.

Once you‟ve got your „reason why‟, start thinking of the end result and the benefits this will bring. What will happen when you become more confident? What will happen when you become more attractive to the opposite sex? What will happen when you are now in the best shape of your life? Just doing a little day dreaming should start to get you excited.

Once you have done this, grab a pen and paper, write down the following sentence and fill in the blanks. This is now your power statement.

I am motivated and energised to exercise because I want to “insert reason why” as I will then “insert what will happen when this is achieved”.


2. Read your Power Statement daily

Continuing on from point one, read your power statement daily. Once you have written it down (if you haven‟t done it yet, do it now!) put it next to your bed where you will see it each morning and each evening.

Each morning and each evening read your power statement to yourself over and over several times. Say it out loud as well as in your head. Bring the statement to life, feel the enthusiasm for wanting the end goal. Feel the energy you have behind your reason why. You will soon find yourself getting fired up.

This may feel a little silly at first but give it a try over a few days, it DOES work and it WILL increase your desire to get started on achieving your ideal body.

3. Get organised

You have your power statement in mind, are starting to buzz with enthusiasm and are really keen to start an exercise programme. But you are not a member of a gym…

If you intend on exercising at a gym, join one. If you wish to swim several times a week to get in shape, get a membership at your local swimming baths. If you intend to run outdoors, get yourself some running gear – trainers, shorts and t-shirt.

If you haven‟t got these basic things in place, regardless of how motivated and revved up you are for getting in shape, you have an extra barrier to exercising that needs to be dealt with.

Maybe an obvious one, but for some clients, the obvious needs to be pointed out.


4. Have a plan

So you want to lose weight, or build muscle, or tone up? Fantastic, that‟s great news! So what are you going to do now? Where do you start? What do you do? Should you go to the gym? What should you do when you get there?

Fail to plan, plan to fail. Ever heard that before? Good, because this also applies to getting in shape. If you don‟t have a plan, you‟ll aimlessly do a bunch of random exercises that aren‟t geared towards your goal and you won‟t get the results you expect.

You will then become discouraged, and soon stop exercising. Not good.

You need two plans. One for your exercise routine and one for your diet.

Exercise and diet are two peas in a pod, to get your ideal body as quickly as possible, you need both peas. You need the pod.

Get a plan for your diet, and get a plan for your exercise routine. You then have all you need to succeed. This reassurance alone will give you more confidence and enthusiasm to follow through.

5. Stop procrastinating

I‟ll do it later... I‟ll do it tomorrow... I‟ll do it next week...

Sound familiar? It probably does, because I‟m guessing this is a big hurdle you‟re trying to overcome in your quest for increasing your motivation to exercise.

To combat this, try this little technique –

Your routine may state that you should be exercising Monday, Wednesday and Friday (for example). Now, if Monday is your next workout session, just bluntly say to yourself – “on Monday I‟m going to the gym”. Be strong in your resolve. Make the decision that on Monday, you ARE going to the gym. There‟s no „maybe‟ – You are firmly telling yourself that on Monday you are going to the gym.

Now you are committed to going to the gym on Monday.

What usually happens now is that as Monday gets closer, you will magically find reasons and excuses why you can‟t go. Maybe you have to finish a report at work, or rush to the shops to pick up some milk?

Before you even begin to justify to yourself why you can‟t make it to the gym, tell that little voice in your head to SHUT THE HELL UP! You‟ve already committed to going, the report can wait, and you can get some milk after your workout.

Don‟t listen to any excuses that you may start to tell yourself. Excuses are for losers, and you my friend are going to get in the best shape of your life. So that‟s Mondays workout done, now do the process all over again for Wednesdays workout.

6. Get support

Talk to people about your exercise routine. Share your goal with friends and family. Tell them why it‟s important to you that you achieve it.

In 99% of occasions, you will receive words of encouragement in reply.

This little boost may be all you need to help you stay on track. But make sure you only talk to positive, supportive people about your exercise programme. Discussing it with a negative person can have the opposite effect.

This is another ridiculously simple technique that people generally don‟t put to use. Give your friend a call tonight and tell them how excited and enthusiastic you are about hitting your fitness goals. Even read them your power statement:

“Hey Sarah, I‟ve got this new exercise routine I‟m following and feel so motivated and energised to exercise because I want to insert reason why as I will then insert what will happen when this is achieved.”

Speak to your friend tonight, and say the above paragraph word for word and see what reaction you get.

7. Take baby steps


Losing weight is a common exercise goal. For example, if you want to lose 2 stone (28lbs), this won‟t happen overnight. In having a large goal in front of us, it often seem that it‟s „ too big‟ to tackle and we become discouraged and demotivated before we‟ve even begun.

So break it down. Take baby steps. If you have taken our advice from point number 4 (if you haven‟t, get it sorted ASAP!) you will have your exercise programme and a tailored diet plan. Now break it into smaller chunks. Firstly, aim to complete your first week in the gym. Then focus on getting your diet right. Then focus on your second week in the gym.

Your larger goal then doesn‟t seem as „ impossible‟ because you WILL achieve your weight loss goal without really thinking about it, by just taking baby steps...

And there we have it...
          7 Tips To Increase Your Exercise Motivation!

NOW IS THE TIME TO TAKE ACTION!

Put these tips and techniques to use for both your weight loss attempts and exercise motivation, and see what they can do for you. You will be very surprised with how these simple techniques can help keep you motivated, driven and enthusiastic about exercise and striving towards your ideal body.

Other than providing incredibly informative reports on health and fitness, our main line of work involves providing our clients with a personalised 12 week workout programme, diet assessment and motivational support which is all tailored to their specific fitness goals and previous exercise history.

Whether exercising in the gym, or at home, we can personalise a programme for you.

If you are serious about getting in shape and you still feel a little unsure what to do after reading this report, let us take the guess work out of it for you. That‟s why we‟re good at what we do to chat with other like-minded chaps and chapettes striving towards their ideal body. We think you‟ll enjoy it.

ADDED BONUS!

We regularly write articles for publication both online and offline. Below is one of our most popular articles titled „ How To Get Your Ideal Body‟.