When it comes to sticking to your workout, I’m all to familiar with how easy it is to fall off the horse. What’s harder than sticking to your workout? Getting back into the routine after falling out of it. The following five ways are how I stick to my workout. Try one or all to help you achieve your goals.
1. Set goals and make the something you can achieve daily, weekly and monthly. Since workouts pay off in the long run, it’s important to have recognizable daily goals so you can feel good about meeting them. When I was getting started, I wanted 30 minutes a day on the treadmill. That was my goal. It seemed hard to find 30 free minutes to hit the treadmill with, but I managed it and everyday that I met my goal, I felt great.
2. Give yourself something to do while you’re working out. If you like equipment as I do (treadmill, stationary bike, elliptical machines) then it can be pretty boring to go walking towards the wall. I like to watch television when I’m working out. I have a TiVO and I record my favorite shows during the week. The only time I watch them is when I’m on the treadmill. This not only encourages me to stick to workout, it’s a time I look forward to because I can see my show and exercise at the same time.
3. Pick the best work out time for you. Some people prefer evenings, others afternoons and still others mornings. I’ve found that if I work out in the morning, early (around 5 a.m.) then not only is my workout done, but I launch the day off with a great feeling. Not everyone is an early riser like I am, but the 5 a.m. workout is just for me and the kiddo is usually asleep so no interruptions there!
4. Use weights and measures to get a more accurate view of your progress. Scales can be inaccurate, because fitness isn’t just a weight measurement. In the first six months of really getting back into fitness, I dropped nearly four dress sizes, but my weight only dropped 5 lbs. Talk about discouragement. But when I checked the inches, I’d lost a heck a lot more there than I had in physical weight. That’s because muscle weighs more. So by measuring your progress in a variety of ways, it lets you see tangible evidence of how you are doing.
5. Keep a journal. Seriously, journaling can be almost as tough as actually sticking to the exercise. Some of my earliest ‘journaling’ attempts looked like:worked out this morning, felt tired and cranky when started, energized when done and other entries looked like this 40 minutes on the treadmill, 20 minutes on the bike, 15 minutes of Yoga – woo hoo look at me go – Man do I stink. Both types of entries are good and the second one makes me laugh looking back at it. The journaling is a way to give yourself pep talks and make your workouts real because you are writing about them. You can write as much or as little as you want, but you will be able to read previous entries to get an idea of how you are progressing.