New year new you, right? How can we start making goals we really follow through on? I watch every January as the gym floods with new people committed to their fitness goals. Slowly they begin to dwindle away, and by March the bandwagon is emptied, and you are left with the same core group of gym goers who continue to persist year after year. Staying on the exercise wagon doesn’t have to be a battle between your mind and body, change how you THINK about exercise, and the body will follow suit.
If your sole reason for working out is to look a certain way, it is unlikely you will stick to your routine. When you focus more on how exercise makes you feel, you become intrinsically motivated to do it. Exercise is a time just for you, the rest of the world falls away, and your energy gets to focus inwardly. Sure we all want to look are best, but focusing on this aspect of exercise is damaging! It’s all ego, and we need to get away from the vanity of exercise and do exercise for its own sake. How much better do you FEEL immediately after your workout! When your focus shifts, your body will too.
Focus your mind on the positive aspects of exercise, and you will find yourself craving it! Looking at yourself in the mirror and thinking how you really need to get rid of these love handles is not helping you. Face away from the mirror and focus on your strength. Don’t think about how hard working out is, you will never leave your house. Think about how nice it will be when you are done, and can sit down to your lovely after workout meal! Literally imagine yourself after the workout, not during.
Exercising should not be boring, painful or time consuming anyways, don’t think of it like that! The people who work out 4-5 days a week consistently are certainly not spending an hour on each of these days doing so. If they say they are, chances are, half of that time is spent talking to the other regulars at the gym and not actually lifting anything! Even just 20min, can be more beneficial than a 1hour workout (work efficiently- harder for shorter).
Find an exercise that makes you feel good, sometimes this changes on a daily or seasonal basis. Do the workout that calls out to you. Some days my body needs fresh air and good run outside. At times I am really into cardio, and other times weights-It’s good to get a balance of the two, but your body may also just be telling you what it wants and needs- listen to it, don’t force it.
When you lack motivation, set a small goal, you may even be surprised that you want to do more once you start! I have a long run and short run by my house. On fatigued days I convince myself to do the short run, and half the time I end up doing the whole thing-either way I feel good that I got out and moved. Another option is to pull out a yoga mat in my room, stretch, and do a few yoga poses (or something that resembles one, since I am no yogi!). I don’t have to do a vigorous work out EVERYDAY- do what brings you balance, and the rest will follow- this is power over force.
In short, work hard but be nice to yourself. Once you end the mind body battle, resolutions aren’t needed anymore; it becomes a daily practice to do what makes you feel good.