10 Tips on how to keep motivated doing exercise
By SlimBody4Life™ | 19/03/2004

If you've been exercising for over a month, you're probably feeling pretty impressed with yourself - and so you should! On the other hand, perhaps you are feeling a little less motivated than you'd like to and are struggling to get going? Either way, to keep up or re-establish your motivation levels - here are 10 great tips that work! 1. Don’t push too hard If you push yourself too hard every time you exercise, you will get tired and sore and lose motivation very quickly. It’s important to moderate your exercise and vary the intensity and type of exercise you do.

2. Don’t beat yourself up if you miss a workout.
As soon as you miss a workout, re-motivate yourself. This is the danger zone, the time when most people start giving up.
So if you miss one workout, don't worry about it. If you miss one, you miss one. You can't bring it back, so just keep on going and don't beat yourself up about it.

3. Invite a friend to train with you
If motivation levels are falling; why not invite a friend to train with you? You will be surprised at how quickly time will fly. Motivating each other will also help encourage you to keep at it.

4. Stay active every day
Apart from your normal training schedule, try doing something active everyday, i.e. walking to work, climbing stairs instead of taking elevators or escalators, or try to do some gardening on the weekend.
You will feel so much better at the end of every day and more likely to get a good night's rest.

5. Treat yourself
Don't feel like you can't indulge or treat yourself now and then. Give yourself a reward for every successful week of training.

6. Believe in yourself
Even if you have never been one for exercise, or are one who always drops out of programmes, you must believe that you can change.
Be positive and know that you can do it, and that you will do it. It might be difficult most days, but just move forward and become the new fitter and positive you.

7. Don’t give up.
Are you one of those people who finds it easier to give up things than to take them up? Are you someone who would rather change their eating habits than to start exercising? Well remember that human beings were designed to eat as well as exercise. You can't do one without the other. You need to balance them both out so that you don't harm your body. So take it up and keep it up.

8. Be patient with yourself.
You will probably find that you have more time and motivation on some days than others. Try to do more when you can, and don't worry if you have to do less. If you injure yourself or get sick, don't feel guilty. A short period without exercise is not a
Some days you will be more motivated or have more time than other days. When possible, do more. When you can't, do less, or do something different. When you can't exercise for a while because of illness, injury, or demands on your time, back off without guilt. A brief period of not exercising is not a disaster.

9. Develop an exercise habit.
It takes weeks to form a habit. So keep at it, knowing the more consistent you are in the beginning, the more fixed your new activity will become.

10. Keep a record of your progress.
Sometimes it's hard to see or know how well you are doing. Try to keep a journal or diary of your workouts, as well as what you eat every day. By doing this, you will be able to compare results over time and you will see what is and what isn't working. You will see that as time goes on that you are really making progress.