You know you need to fit in 150 minutes of physical activity each week, but all the #fitspo memes in the world aren’t going to give you the mojo you need to get out the door for that 5 a.m. run. The good news is that there are some proven methods that will help you make your fitness goals a priority.
Group Up
Working out with a partner is a great motivator. You’re a lot less likely to hit snooze when you have someone waiting for you to take that dawn run together. However, even just having support in the form a friend or family member who will encourage you means you’ll have more incentives to keep up with your training, to give them and you a lot to be proud of.
A bit of friendly competition can also be a big boost to your drive to exercise. A report from the University of Pennsylvania Annenberg School for Communication has shown that healthy social competition and support on social media platforms motivates people to work out more often and longer.
So, even if the full-on team sports experience is not for you, you can use social media to find a group with similar fitness interests and goals that align with yours. Getting virtual high-fives for attending your weekly fitness session can be almost as good as the real thing when it comes to spurring you on to meet your exercise goals.
Change Your Perspective
If your exercise focus is entirely on the mirror or the scale, it makes it easy to give up. A few weeks where the scale doesn’t drop and many will throw up their hands in defeat trade their hand weights for a milkshake.
Instead, try setting small goals that are more about what your body can do rather than what it looks like. Instead of “I want Michelle Pfieffer arms,” try “I want to be able to move up to lifting 20-pound free weights by the end of next month.”
Keep a fitness journal to write down your goals and track your progress; having a concrete way to see your progress can motivate you to keep moving forward.
