Tips For Maintaining A Fitness Routine

Even when we find an exercise routine we love, the newness ultimately wears off. Here are a few things you can do to stay motivated.

Planning to follow a fitness routine can be much like making a New Year’s Resolution. We all have been educated about the necessity of keeping ourselves healthy and fit. We’ve seen the statistics, we’ve heard the advice, and we are bombarded daily with magazines, books, and television advertisements about various types of fitness programs and equipment. Often many of us don’t have any problem deciding to start a fitness routine.

We can become very excited about buying the new clothes required, making that first payment to the gym or trying out our new running shoes. We all have good intentions, but we also know that good intentions will only get us so far. The problem lies in the time that comes after the initial newness has worn off. We might begin jogging and try out every possible route around our neighborhood or town; but once all the routes have been jogged a few times, we easily think of other ways to fill our early mornings. We might begin visiting a gym each evening after work, lifting weights, swimming laps or participating in an aerobics or Pilates class. But it seems that over time, the gym doesn’t hold the same appeal it did at first and we begin slacking off or giving it up all together.

The key to staying healthy and fit is to find a fitness routine (or two) that appeals to you and then focus on making it interesting. Sometimes we will begin a fitness routine that seems fun, but in the end, we hate it. Before beginning, we need to ask ourselves what we most like doing. If watching TV is your favorite thing to do, perhaps investing in a treadmill or stationary bicycle would be best, as the TV can be watched while you exercise. If you love the outdoors, then either jogging, walking or bicycling would be the natural choice. If you enjoy the social interaction and variety of a gym, by all means, join one. And if you find that you want to exercise in the company of others with competition as an option, consider joining a local sports team.

Still, even when we find something we love to do, the newness ultimately wears off. What can we do to combat this? Here are a few things you can do to stay motivated. First, find an accountability partner. If you regularly exercise with someone else, you both can encourage one another on the days when one party is discouraged or disinterested. If you would rather exercise alone, you still can enlist the help of a family member, friend or neighbor; have them ask you each day, or however often you plan to exercise, if you are following through on your commitment. Have them mention if they didn’t see you out jogging or missed you at the gym. Second, set reasonable goals. If you know in reality you can’t commit to a sports team or go biking every morning, don’t set yourself up for failure. If you can only get in a short walk a couple of times a week, then set that as your goal. That way, if you do more, you’ll be even more of a success. Lastly, record your accomplishments.

Obtain an online or printed log to keep track of your exercise sessions. For biking, jogging or walking, keep track of mileage and duration. For weight lifting, make a record of moving to heavier weights or higher intensity lifting. Or if nothing else, give yourself a check on the calendar on each day that you’ve exercised. This will show you how much you’ve done and encourage you to keep up the good work!

Author: Elizabeth Walling

About Author: Elizabeth Walling has had more than 40 articles published, several of which are travel-related.