Stop Making Up Excuses And Just Exercise Already

Force yourself.

Be like me and join a sports team at your high school, college, or work. You will then be forced to practice for this said sport and ultimately, get yourself in shape.

In college, I was feeling unmotivated and bored, so I decided to join the Women’s Track team. This led me to then join Cross Country, and I saw improvements in my health and fitness every single day.

I met great people, kept up with my running, and completed my first half-marathon this past summer!

I would never have gotten as far as I am today without forcing myself to join a sport. When you hold yourself accountable or have people counting on you, it makes working out an easy goal to attain.

Stick it into your day.

People like to use the excuse “I’m too busy” when it comes to working out. But if you think about it, everyone is busy. We have jobs, school, social lives, laundry, and Netflix to spend our time with.

If you really want to get into the habit of staying active, you need to put it into your schedule regularly.

For me, I enjoy getting my exercise out of the way each day. That is why I get my sorry ass up at 5 AM and drive to my work’s gym. This helps get my metabolism going, helps me feel awake during the day, and gives me more time after work for my social/ personal life.

Give yourself an ultimatum.

This is something that I use very regularly. Mine is simple — either go to the gym and feel great, or sit in traffic and be mad the entire day.

If you know anything about me at all, you know that traffic really grinds my gears. It wastes my time and puts me in a horrible mood.

So, for me personally, as I lay in my warm, cloud of a bed each morning and hear Ai Se Eu Te Pego come on (yes… that is indeed my alarm), I most definitely have to remind myself traffic or gym.

Ten times out of ten I choose working out, because I despise traffic that much. So find an ultimatum that works for you, and run with it…literally!

Set goals.

This is a very obvious tactic, but very important as well. Goal setting is vital to making and seeing any sort of progress.

The best way to set goals, in my opinion, is to write them down somewhere where you can give yourself a constant reminder.

I use my notes app on the iPhone since I’m always on my phone. My parents have their goals handwritten by yours truly and taped to the refrigerator. Whatever location you think will be the best for your goals, place them there!

Reward yourself.

After you have reached one of your goals, treat yo self with something for your hard work.

Write these down – so you can constantly remind yourself of what it is you want as a reward. This can be anything from a dinner at one of your favorite calorie-filled restaurants to a bunch of new workout clothes!

Take things one day at a time.

In order to make your workout dreams possible, you truly have to learn how to live in the moment.

Each day you have to wake up and remind yourself of what you are trying to accomplish. Keep motivational quotes or pictures on your phone so even on days where you don’t feel like doing anything, motivation may be sparked.

Make an effort to talk with other gym rats. You’d be surprised how motivated you can get by just chatting with another person.

Make it fun.

Join a club sport, have a workout partner so your motivation is at an all-time high, play athletic games with groups of people, go skiing in this God-awful weather…

There are hundreds of ways to make working out less of a pain and more of a good time.