Exercise Motivation - How I Keep Going

I wasn't feeling inspired to write over the past week. 

Well, I actually was until I remembered that Marshall has the camera in England, none of the the recipes I wanted to blog are photographed, and I wasn't about to ask him to mail it back ; ) ...First of all, that would be ridiculous, and second of all, that would be ridiculous. The first ridiculous is in regards to the cost, time, and effort he'd have to put into sending it back, and the second ridiculous is in regards to all of the photos I'd be missing out on from England! The camera will be coming back shortly. And more importantly, my husband is coming with it! 

But today I decided to discuss something different. If you're reading this blog and know the name of it, you could probably guess that I mostly talk about food. After all, it is a food blog! But for those of you who know me, you know that I really like to exercise. I'm a personal trainer, runner, fitness fanatic, fitness freak.....Whichever label you like best is fine with me. That being said, it's quite a big part of my life.

I plan on five workouts a week, sometimes falling to four, sometimes making it to six, the occasional three, and let's be honest, some weeks it just doesn't happen. In general, I don't workout when I'm sick, and if it's causing me a lot of stress to fit a workout into my day, I'd rather skip the stress and the workout then spend time working out simply to combat the stress. Make sense? But if I'm being honest, I do make it happen more often than I don't. 

I know this is something a lot of people struggle with, and I'd like to offer some tidbits of advice that have helped me along the way. 

First, working out is all mental. Okay, okay, there is a physical aspect. But as long as you're not setting unrealistic goals for yourself, the physical aspect should be attainable. It's really a matter of if you can win the mental game you're playing against yourself. 

I also see my body as a gift from God, and one that I should take special care of. It's the only one I get, right? I want to be capable of anything He calls me to do, and be the healthiest me that I can. 

Are you competitive? When I'm working out alone I pretend that someone else is there telling me I have to run a little farther, have to hold my wall sit a little bit longer, I have to do 10 more seconds of my ab workout, etc. And if I do, I win. And the really good part about this is that you're not making someone else feel bad about themselves by winning all the time, because they're not there. I hope I don't sound delusional, it's just a method that works for me.

If you don't have that ability to compete with yourself (meaning, you're happy to lose) and just need accountability, find a workout partner.

Set goals. Specific goals. Such as, I want to lose 10 pounds by Christmas, Or maybe you don't want/need to lose weight but would like to be able to plank for 1 minute. Or you could simply set the goal to workout three times every week. 

I find that motivational quotes help me in the middle of workouts when I don't want to keep going, and when I feel like I'm in a fitness rut. Here are a few of my favorites that I have come up with or come across.

Working out is as optional as going to work.

This is one of the best for me. I have been at the gym many times because of this piece of motivation.

When you aim for perfection you discover it's a moving target.

Some may find this discouraging, but this encourages me. It reminds me that I should workout day after day, week after week, striving to get as close to perfection as possible. And since I'll never get there I need to workout my whole life. Yes, I find that encouraging. I think it's because the more goals I achieve, the more I need to set. And the goals are what keep me going. If I could achieve all possible goals by the time I was 30 then I'd have no motivation after that. 

Sometimes you just have to move in order to quiet the mind.

Working out is one of my favorite ways to spend me time. When I run I get completely lost in my thoughts, sort out whatever may be going on in my mind, praise and pray to the Lord, AND it relieves stress.

How many times have you worked out and regretted it, and how many times have you skipped a workout and regretted it?

For me, I have never regretted a workout, and I have definitely regretted not working out. 

Don't stop when it hurts. Stop when you're done.  

How can you argue with that?

I hope that someone found this encouraging, motivating, or even funny (But preferably one of the first two). Making people laugh is important to me too, so if you find it hilarious that I workout against myself, I'm totally okay with that. As long as you're heart is a little healthier from the laughter.

Laughter is the best medicine, right?

Yes, yes it is. I did a speech about that in college : )