How To Get Motivated To Exercise When You Don't Feel Like Exercising
Even the most dedicated exercisers have them--those days when you just don't feel like exercising. Your "get-up-and-go" simply "got-up-and-went" as they say. Well no worries, it's perfectly normal. But knowing that, how do you get motivated to exercise when you really feel more like lounging on the sofa?
1. Decide If The Reason Why You Don't Want To Exercise That Day Truly Has Merit
A legitimate reason to skip the exercise that day is you are running fever, and summoning up the energy to walk across the floor would kill you. A paper cut is not good enough.
Okay, that's a little extreme but you get the idea. You have to differentiate between feeling lazy and truly having a good reason to skip exercise. If you carefully look at your reason(s) why you don't want to work out, you may just find that they are not good enough and you'll get off your duff and get moving.
2. Bribe Yourself
Tell yourself that if you exercise, you'll allow yourself to take time for something you've been wanting to do but just haven't had the time. The bribe could be catching up on a mindless TV show, calling your friend you've been meaning to call for a gabfest or taking a nice, long bubble bath instead of jumping quickly in the shower. As long as it's not a junk food reward--that's NOT the idea!
3. Give Yourself Permission To Do An Easier Workout, Or An Entirely Different One, That Day
This is one of my favorite things to do. There are days where I'll teach two Zumba® classes and then the evening rolls around and it's time for me to do a weight workout at the gym with my husband, but at that point, even though I know I need to get my strength training in too, I'm not so sure I have it in me to lift any weights.
So when my weight workout falls on a heavy fitness teaching day sometimes, what I'll do is cut a set or two, or do less variations of exercises for a specific muscle. So I might be doing anywhere from 50-80% of the workout I would normally do, but if it's a choice between nothing and something, I'll choose something if it's at all possible!
Or if you normally attend a group fitness class and it's just way too beautiful outside, so you'd rather take a walk or do a run, there's nothing wrong with substituting one exercise for another if you're more in the mood to do a different activity. Just don't skip my class!
4. Tell Yourself You Can Stop After 10 Minutes
Sometimes it's better to fit a few small bouts of exercise and activity into a day, as opposed to trying to fit in a "formal" workout that you're never going to get to do at all. So tell yourself that if you'll just get moving for 10 minutes, it's fine, and you'll do another 10 minutes a couple of times more later.
In fact, knowing that you have given yourself permission to break up your workout and do as little as 10 minutes, often takes the pressure off, and before you know it, you're doing your full exercise time anyway.
I've done variations of this with my Weight Loss Coaching clients, where I've had them decide in advance to do just half or even a quarter of a "normal" workout on days where they were going to throw in the towel and not do anything. This gets you doing something, and often, the momentum of getting yourself moving will make you want to sustain it once you've started. It's Newton's Law of Inertia--a body at rest tends to stay at rest, and a body in motion tends to stay in motion.
5. Think of the Most Sedentary Person You Know and Decide if You Want to Be Like Them
Unfortunately, the chances are high that you either have someone in your family, a friend, neighbor or co-worker you know who is suffering from the effects of a sedentary lifestyle now that they've gotten older. They want to move, and years of inactivity have taken their toll on their bodies, and now they can't do the activities they want to do. It's heartbreaking when this happens.
Now one skipped workout or one lazy day is not going to lead to a body that is disabled. But too often, one skipped workout leads to another skipped workout and another, and before you know it, you've fallen out of the exercise habit and it's not always easy to get it going again.
One way to "scare yourself straight" is to think of what life would be like if you couldn't easily move when you wanted to--or even at all--with a person you know in mind to make it vivid and real. It's really true what they say--move it, or lose it. I've seen it first-hand too many times.
So that's 5 ways to get motivated to exercise when you don't feel like exercising.
What are some of the ways you get yourself moving when you're not into it on a particular day?
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Please speak with your healthcare professional about your specific needs and to determine if Wellness Coaching is appropriate for you and before implementing any suggestions on this Your Healthy Life Made Easy Blog. Individual results may vary and cannot be guaranteed. Melanie Jordan is not liable for any loss or injury associated with information published on this blog as it is provided solely for your education and entertainment.
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