Finding Your Perfect Motivation For Exercising

Have a hard time staying dedicated to working out? I think most of us do, and I'd like to share with you for a moment how I stay on track. I'm a person in love with lists and spreadsheets, so I use it to my advantage. While today I am going to explain my workout regiment, you have to develop your own strategy, your own motivation and style that will ultimately work best with your personality. Love yoga? Add more of it to your workout schedule. Love running, add a little more distance or increase speed. Hate everything to do with body movement? Create S.M.A.R.T. goals. (I'll explain this in a bit.) You have probably heard this fitness quote before - "Be stronger than your strongest excuse."

First, I'll go through what I've used in the past. These did not quite fit my style so I moved on, but these might work for you.
1. Keep a notebook. Seriously. This is a good one. Mark everything from what you ate, drank, and what types of exercising you did that day. Tracking your food intake will shock you, especially if you do it with an additional calorie record. Just how much food you eat is amazing. Unconscious eating is real. Ever wander into the kitchen just because and leave with a few cookies? This habit can be stopped by tracking yourself. Keep the notebook near or in the kitchen, so when you eat you have to write it down. I also liked this way for recording exercising, because it does not limit you to one routine over and over. You pick if you want to go for a walk, or just do abs and arms. One rule for exercising you can do is do something everyday, but feel free to change this rule as it works best for you! My rules for the notebook were 1) the exercises had to total up to an hour of time and 2) it had to fill one line of a small hand-held notebook.

2. Create a workout calendar. This one is for those of you who are competitive and possibly have roommates or friends who would like to join your fit endeavor. I did this with a couple of roommates in college. We put up a giant calendar on the wall and put an X on a day we did at least thirty minutes of exercising. If you did not do this at least three days a week, you had to do four the next. This holds you accountable and taps into those personalities who thrive on competition. It also helps to keep those in your household in the same mind-set as you. So people are not making cookies and brownies every day, although we did bake them before finals week.

3. Create S.M.A.R.T. goals. I still do this from time to time when I need a little motivational boost. I learned this acronym in a college fitness course. It stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time. I combine this set-up with an award. It might look something like this - If I do twenty pushups once a day for two weeks, I get to buy a pair of earrings. This is very specific, able to be measured, attainable and realistic for my body, and has a time limit. When making these goals, do not make the rewards food. Make it something physical like clothes, a spa day, or a new nail polish. Make the rewards in portion to the exercise achievement you accomplish. So do not give yourself a shopping spree just because you did ten push-ups in two days. You should WORK for it. It will make that reward so much more ... rewarding.

So what do I do now? I use a spreadsheet. I used Open Office, so if you do not have Microsoft Word you have no excuses! Open Office is free. I have done this one for years. Writing a check mark in a box feels so gratifying to me. Feel free to copy this workout schedule, but I want to push you to make one for yourself. Like I said before, if you love yoga, put yoga in this. I love this way of tracking because I still get some freedom to choose what I want to do, but I make sure I am still targeting multiple areas of my body. No skipping leg day! You can mix the schedule up by trying YouTube videos or follow a free workout group on Facebook. In addition, use social media to keep your mind in check for your overall goal through Pinterest, Twitter, or any other platform.
So, here is what the left words mean. Little Exer. = Little Exercises. Not surprising. For me this encompasses 20 push-ups, 50 sit-ups, 50 side crunches (each side), 50 Russian twists, 30 second planks each on left and right side, and one 45 second front plank. You can certainly change this.
Anything with a number in front of it, tells you how many times a week this area should be done. So 4 Arms means I need to do arm exercises four times a week. If a category does not have a number in front of it, it should be done daily like Abs, Stretches, and Butt/Squats. I do twenty squats a day unless I do a butt specific workout. 2 Thighs means I focus on the thigh area two times a week. 3 Cardio is three cardio exercises a week and could be running, biking, elliptical, etc.1 Extra means I have to do one new/different workout a week. This could be yoga, swimming, or anything you do not normally have in your routine. I have Eating and Water on there to keep a constant reminder of what I put into my body.

What if you miss a day? Well, I consider it a rest day as long as it is only once or twice a week and then I try to make it up the next workout day. Let rest days happen naturally. A friend might ask to spend a weekend out at a carnival or you make plans with family.

What do you do to stay in shape? Have any unique ways of tracking yourself? Comment below! I'd love to hear them.

(I am not a professional fitness guru or anything health related. Please check with your doctor before starting a new routine and to be sure you are fit enough before engaging in physical activities. I am just an individual sharing my different ways in which you can try to monitor your exercise routines. We have to encourage one another!)