We all at times feel like not exercising. Where do you find the motivation to exercise?

You are not alone when you ask yourself this question. The best way forward is to get out of our heads about exercise and just take action steps.

Some ways to motivate ourselves to exercise work better than others. Through my experience as a trainer working with many clients, I have put the following list together…

1. Make it enjoyable and fun to do

Find something that you enjoy doing. Sure, you may think that cardio machines in the gym are as boring as ‘egg whites’, but you can make them much more fun by listening to your choice music, or a great book on your I-Pod.

2. Visualization

Visualize how you will look getting that 20lbs off, or on how you’ll feel when you harden your mid-section. Picture  yourself doing cardio for 30 minutes and feeling fresh and wanting to do more!

If you can only do 10 push-ups and want to do 15, visualize yourself doing them by counting to 15 one at a time. Visualization is used by many top athletes to get them past performance plateaus.

3. Sign up for a fitness event.

A 5k race can be motivating, inspirational and fun, giving you a deadline to aim for. It will give your training more purpose.

4. Think about how you will feel if you don’t train

When you exercise you experience the release of endorphins in your body which give you a natural high. How do you want to feel today? Sluggish or energized? The amount of time as individuals that we spend thinking about exercise is great. Have you ever stopped and wondered how much? Nothing will change if we think, only if we take control and do it will we see change! Cause and effect at it’s best!

Lastly just enjoy and the future will come and will be as good as we make it!

Read more about my training philosophy here

Resetting Goals

There are many ways to reach goals,and using the following tools will help you:

1) Write down all your goals to give them more force and have a clear picture of what you want.

2) Be Precise

Set deadlines, putting dates and time by when goals need to be achieved. Keep goals incremental and attainable, that way you will know when an exact goal has been met. Always reward yourself for having achieved it.

3) Prioritize

When you have several goals, set them by priority. This helps make them stronger by compartmentalizing them, and not diluting by having too many set at one time, often leading to stress and reduced quality of completion.

4) Set goals that are “performance” related, not outcome focused

It is best to set goals that you have more influence as to their outcome. It can be disappointing to set goals that you don’t reach due to extenuating circumstances, business climate, bad judgment, poor weather etc. Outcome goals are uncertain due to the intangibles.

If goals are set on personal performance,or information/ skill to be acquired, then it is easier to influence the goals and gain satisfaction from them.

For example if you enter a Marathon and set a goal of being in the top 2000 finishers,you might achieve a personal best time in the race, but not be satisfied as you did not finish in the top 2000 finishers . As you set the outcome of finishing in the top 2000 finishers, then this would be a defeat. If you set a performance goal of achieving a certain time, then you will have achieved that goal and can draw confidence and personal satisfaction from this goal.

5) Keep goals small

What I mean by this is, set them as step by step to achieving your bigger goals. Derive today’s goals from larger ones. Always reward yourself, taking in the importance of the goal has on effecting others , and use the achievement of each to move you to the next.

SMART Goals Are:

* Specific
* Measurable
* Attainable
* Relevant
* Time- bound

Read Why My Training Program Delivers Unique Results