Let’s be honest, a lot of us have a love-hate relationship with exercise. Proper nutrition will get you on the right foot, but it’s important to add activity into your daily routine to strengthen your heart, maintain your weight loss, and increase your energy levels.
Falling in love with fitness is possible! Here are 5 steps to take to jumpstart your love for physical fitness:
Just like a bad relationship, it’s important to break up with a workout routine for which you’re unable to give your best effort. If you aren’t a morning person and don’t love running, then don’t go for a 5 a.m. run. If you have family activities in the evening, try a midday yoga flow over lunch. Not every workout is the perfect match for your personality, work and family obligations, or health and fitness goals. Try something new like an activity plan, a new workout class or a personal trainer. Trying a diverse set of activities will help you find what you like!
Download the free 7-Day Guide to Bodyweight Exercises and Fitness Tracker to jumpstart your fitness routine.
It’s important to learn what types of activity you enjoy by trying out several different workouts. Be bold and try a new hip-hop dance class at your local fitness center, the new cycle studio down the street, or the no-equipment, at-home workout video your friend suggested. Go wherever your heart takes you! You are much more likely to have success if you actually love the fitness activity you choose. Need some workout ideas to try? Here’s a list of 50 to get you started!
You feel like you’ve set a realistic activity goal for the next week. But then the reality of life’s unexpectedness sets in. We all have days when schedules don’t go as planned and our energy and enthusiasm begins to wane. That’s when your workout buddy steps in to give you the motivation you need. On the flipside, you must be ready to be the best accountability partner for your friend in their moments of need as well.
Motivation to achieve a healthier, more-fit physique should be aimed toward self-love. Although we might look to others for inspiration, fitness goals are strongest when they come from our own motivations for long-term improvement and not because of other’s expectations.
Not every workout is going to be awesome. In fact, you might find yourself going through the motions sometimes. Guess what? That’s okay! Your relationship with activity will have ups and downs, but the most important thing is to stick with it and know improved health is worth it. Even “bad” workouts are better than workouts that never happened.