Ah, the New Year’s resolution to get fit and in shape for the summer has passed and you stare at your gym membership and wonder where the enthusiasm has disappeared too. How do you get the motivation back and feel inspired to get back in the fitness club again?
The answer is you just got to get yourself out there, grab your trainers and head outside, go for a brisk walk and think about what it was that made you want to get fit for the summer, what were your goals, what did you achieve. Whilst you are on this walk, throw in a few stretches to limber up those muscles and remember that while you are exercising and your heart rate is consistently high for 30 minutes, it means after you finish, your metabolic rate stays high for 15 hours. If you use the maths you’ll realise doing anything which is going to raise that heart rate for a while is going to be burning off calories for the rest of the day. If that isn’t motivation in itself, I don’t know what is.
Another key factor to keeping motivated is variation, why not change the route of your walk each day, or vary the equipment or classes you take at your local health club, try something new, you won’t know if you like till you give it ago. Also, one of the most de-motivating things we can do is deny ourselves things, like denying the odd glass of wine or chocolate bar, if you are denying yourself your favourite things, you instantly make your goals seem much further away. Use your favourite things as rewards for when you have achieved your training targets; you’ll work harder for it if you know you have something to look forward to at the end of it.
If you have also slacked on healthy eating, don’t knock yourself for it, just start again by introducing healthy foods into your daily life. Using high-potency fish oil you’ll be increasing your omega 3 fats which are key to fat burning and stimulating your metabolism and avoid the sugar as this will not aid to a healthy eating system, because it will make you crave more of it.
Remember, the more you exercise the easier it becomes, you start to believe in how good you feel, you notice the improvement in body shape and posture, your energy will increase and people will pay you compliments which only adds to your motivation.
