Make Exercise Work for You

It isn’t always easy to get into the gym and have productive workouts even when things are going well and you have good intentions of taking care of yourself. But now, the holidays are upon us and we think we have a good excuse to kick back and put our exercise routine on hold for a while. But, according to Dr. Peter Snell, the major benefits of exercise come from regular workouts so we need to find time to stick with our exercise routine despite the excuses.  Dr. Snell offers several suggestions that might help.  For instance, we can combine exercise with socializing.  Grab your friends and go skating, take a hike in the woods or build a snowman together.  It will bring out the kid in you and what fun a change of scenery can add to both spending time with friends and getting exercise; not to mention the memories you are creating.  Another idea is to change up your exercise routine.  Try alternating high and low intensity workouts to get more exercise in in a shorter period of time.  And finally,  use stress as an excuse to get that exercise routine in.  Taking some time at the gym will help relieve tension and help make it easier to sit back, relax and enjoy the holiday offerings.  Remember, these days we have with friends and family are treasures and it would be a shame to tarnish them because we are too stressed to fully enjoy them.

With a little bit of finessing, we can keep our exercise routine intact, but just how do we get ourselves to keep working toward our fitness goals when we have lost interest in our routine or we are no longer motivated, or we are waiting for the New Year to begin again.  That’s the real challenge. One way or another, we need to find a way to get ourselves through the difficult times. It’s all about our longevity and health.  And sticking with an exercise program in order to produce the results we want; well, that’s one of the most important factors.

I know that if you do anything long enough, the chances that you’ll become very good at what you do increase significantly. It’s the continual stopping and starting of your exercise program that robs you of your progress. In order to do anything well, you need to do it consistently for a long enough period of time to see results. And, the results you will experience after your committed workouts will be a terrific source of motivation that will fuel your continued efforts.

Here are seven tips to help you work your way through the slumps that we all experience at times:

1. Relax! First of all, you need to relax. It’s common for your level of motivation to go through cycles. The mental challenges that come your way are an inevitable part of the process. Almost everyone, even the people who are best examples of health and fitness who you have come to respect, have gone through their own ups and downs. Those people who have earned your respect have simply overcome those challenges.  Realize that you will have occasional lapses in motivation, accept them, and then take the steps necessary to gradually increase your desire to train.

2. Resist taking a prolonged break from training.  There will be times when your drive to train is stronger than others. However, taking a few weeks off because you don’t “feel” like training or you are to busy is not a good idea, unless you have some sort of physical injury or health problem.  Who knows? You may never feel like coming back after your layoff.  Even if your motivation is lower than you would like, make the concerted effort to get into the gym and do your best to follow your training program. Put the pressure on yourself to get back on track instead of giving into your whims to take a prolonged break. Instead of loosing control of your routine and falling out of the routine, scheduled week off from training every seven or eight weeks.  This simple act can empower you and put you back on track.

3. Set Simple Training Goals. Creating a short list of training disciplines can be extremely helpful. This list can include a few simple tasks that you’ll focus on during your workouts even when you’re not as motivated as you’d like to be. Simply getting to the gym on time, completing every one of the exercises and sets that you planned to do when you stepped into the gym, making sure you really focus on the targeted muscle group during every repetition, and completing your training session in an hour are just a few examples of what you can include on your list of simple training goals. You don’t need to be extremely detailed right off the bat, but create some structure to your workout so you feel like you are progressing. As you track to your goals, you will continually increase your level of focus and successfully take your efforts to the next level.

4. Appreciate what you’ve already accomplished. Look back for a moment. Haven’t you really accomplished a lot more than you may have thought? Aren’t you a lot farther along than you were a year ago today? Wouldn’t it be great to look back in another year and see the continual progress you have made? What if you wasted an entire year simply because you lost your motivation and strayed away from your plan? Wouldn’t that wasted time feel much worse than if you simply remained committed and worked through the times when your motivation is a bit lower than you would like?

5. Get in the presence of highly motivated people. Associate with people who are like-minded and appreciate your health and fitness objectives. They should be motivated to succeed in life and understand the goals that you are striving towards.

6. Reevaluate your priorities. Whether your training is going well or not, you are probably getting what you are focusing on. If you aren’t getting what you want out of your workouts, then you may need to re-evaluate your priorities in your life and dedicate the focus needed to get you where you want to go.

7. Don’t do anything differently. Maybe you shouldn’t do anything differently during these times. Take responsibility for your success or failure. Maybe it’s not the training routine you are using that is the cause of your lack of success. Maybe your need to fortify your efforts with a little more mental muscle.

Keep working toward what you ultimately want from your health and fitness efforts during your all of your challenging times.  With a little inventiveness and initiative, I hope that one or more of these tips will be just what you need to survive the holidays and down times and keep your healthy habits on track.’; //leave this line

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