Motivating Yourself to Exercise

And accomplishing your fitness goals

Do you have hard time motivating yourself to exercise? I can totally relate!

Most of my life I would get excited about a new exercise routine or invest money in a gym membership just to see myself quit in a month or so when the excitement died down.

But I have good news for you.

I found ways to keep myself motivated and if I can do it, so can you.

And that's what this page is all about. I would like to share with you all I have learned about motivating yourself to exercise and accomplishing any fitness goals.

So if you want to join me, I invite you to read Motivating Yourself to Exercise page.

So what do you do? How do you go about motivating yourself to exercise?

What motivates me the most, is setting goals.

Once you set a goal, your conscious (your brain) and subconscious mind will strive to accomplish it. And once you start accomplishing your goals, your motivation soars and nothing can stop you!

So let's go over some very important points when it comes to goal setting.

First of all, you have to realize that exercise in itself is not the final goal. It is just the means of getting to your final goal. So step one:

Decide exactly on what you want to accomplish by exercising:

• Do you want to lose weight?

• Do you want to tone your legs?

• Do you want to feel more energetic?

• Do you want to have stronger legs?

• Etc., etc. ...

Once you decide on your goal, it is time to write it down.

By writing it down, you are increasing the chances of accomplishing it. Your subconscious mind will work on it harder.

How exactly do you write them down? There are some rules to follow.

• Be as specific as you can. If you want to lose weight decide exactly how much you're going to weigh when you accomplish your goal. If you want slimmer thighs, decide how much they will measure, and so on. Don't be vague, as it will only bring you vague results that you won't be able to measure.

• Use strong, positive statements. State your goal in the present. Never use "I want to...". It is a "wishful thinking" statement that will get you nowhere. Use "I am", "I have" or "I will" instead.

• Specify when you want to accomplish your goal. Again, be as specific as you can. State the day, month and the year. When you fail to set the time frame for your goal, your subconscious mind will not understand how urgent your goal is, and it will take its time to produce desired results.

• Be realistic. You have to believe you can accomplish a goal. If you do not believe you can do something, then more than likely it will not happen. For example if you want to lose 30 lbs., you might not believe you can lose that much weight, so you might want to break that down over the period of few goals.

  Start with 5 lbs. in a month. If you succeed with 5 lbs. your self esteem will soar and you will be more likely to lose more weight next time.

So why don't we write a goal together?

I want to have great legs...

But that's very vague. So let's be more specific...

I want slimmer thighs.

That is still not specific enough. I need to specify exactly how much slimmer I want my thighs to be. So I measure my thighs and discover that they are 24.5 inches.

But ideally I would like my thighs to measure 20 inches. That's 4.5 inches less. But that's a lot. I have a problem with believing I can do that.

So I decide I will break down my goal in a few steps. To begin with I decide I want to lose ½ inch from each thigh in a month. This sounds a lot more realistic to me than losing 5 inches.

I can do it!

So if I loose ½ inch off of each thigh, they will measure 24 inches each. Today is Jan. 10 2006 and I want to have it accomplished in a month, so Feb. 10, 2006.

My goal will look like this:

My thighs measure 24 inches by Feb.10 2006.

Or

My thighs will measure 24 inches by Feb. 10, 2006

So we have our goal, we wrote it down and now it's time to decide how we will accomplish it.

So think of things that will help you achieve your goal.

Do you need to exercise? How often? What kind of exercise?

Do you need to eat less? Will you skip the dessert? Will you eliminate sugar from you diet?

Once you decide on the specific things you will do to accomplish your goal, write them down just below your main goal..

I will achieve this goal by:

• Exercising 3 times a week for 45 minutes at a time in the gym.

• I will take the stairs to my office on the 20th floor once a day, Mon-Fri

• I will take the dog for a brisk walk every day before and after work.

• I will use the TV commercials to do lunges, squats and calf raises.

• Etc., etc.

Again, be creative and specific.

So now we have a very specific goal, and creative but realistic ways that will get us there.

The next step in motivating yourself to exercise process is visualizing our goal and the ways that will get us to our goal. Visualizing unleashes the creative power of your subconscious mind and creates motivation. You will find yourself doing things that bring you closer to your goal with ease and enthusiasm.

When you visualize your goal, make it very vivid and detailed. See the calendar with the desired date, see your goal as already accomplished, really feel the happiness that it brings to you.

Then see yourself doing things that got you to your goal. Clearly see yourself exercising or whatever you decided will get you to your goal. Make sure you are feeling the enjoyment and satisfaction, that this action brings you.

What about those little annoying negative thoughts and feelings that creep in when you think of, or visualize your goal? They sure interfere when you're trying to motivate yourself to exercise!

Do you hear you mind telling you: You can't do it! There is no way it will happen! You have never accomplished anything, what makes you think, you can do this??

We all have those pesky, negative and destructive feelings, so how do we deal with them, before they destroy our goals?

It may shock you, but I found that the best way to deal with negative feelings, it's to welcome them, embrace them and then let them go!

Do not resist them. Resisting will not get rid of them. It will only make them stronger and more destructive. You just can't make your feelings disappear, so instead acknowledge them, and then, only then let them go.

I personally use my imagination, and imagine my negative feeling as an ugly creature. I see myself opening my arms and giving the creature a big hug. You can say "I accept the feeling of doubt" as you do that. And then make a conscious decision to let the feeling go. So I see myself letting go of the embrace, and the creature is walking away. You can say "I allow myself to let go of the feeling of doubt " or whatever other feeling you're feeling.

You can imagine your feelings as anything you wish, it doesn't matter as long as you find an effective way to let them go.

You are now definitely on your way to motivating yourself to exercise and accomplishing your fitness goals.

But setting a goal and reading it and visualizing it once, is not enough. You need to do it everyday at least once a day, and even better twice or three times a day.

So take out your goal journal, read your goals, visualize them, and allow yourself to welcome and let go of the negative feelings. If you do that every day, you just will not fail.

"The Sedona Method" by Hale Dwoskin

This book will change every aspect of your life, with a very simple process of releasing your feelings.

"The Success Principles" by Jack Canfield

Filled with simple, yet powerful life changing principles, for every area of your life.

The Motivating Yourself to Exercise page is based on my own research and experience. The tips outlined here work wonders for me, but I cannot guarantee they will work for you.

Return from Motivating Yourself to Exercise back to Exercise Main page

Go from Motivating yourself to exercise to Home Page