Believe it or not, I didn't really get active until my 40s when I started walking to and from work with a co-worker. Summers, when we were off work, we met at mutually agreed places for morning walks. Eventually, this co-worker transferred to another building and I was left to fend for myself in the motivation department. I began to slack off and just couldn't seem to do it on my own! So...Motivation tip #1: ENLIST FRIENDS (Family will do...Even dogs!)
I rejoined the YMCA but soon was bored with the treadmill and other equipment. For something different, I decided to try the free classes. I LOVED it. If you show up for the same class at the same time, you start making friends! If you miss a class or two, these new friends start to ask you where you've been. Motivation Tip #2: ACCOUNTABILITY! (meeting friends or committing to a class...people will expect you to show up)
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A neighbor and I joined one class together and as we were walking into the Y, a gal she knew was walking out. They chatted briefly about this and that and this person asked my neighbor if she was interested in doing the women's triathlon in our town that occurs every June. She talked about a triathlon class that the Y has which she was in the previous year and had a blast....how everyone was encouraging one another, etc. I thought this sounded really fun and challenging so when I saw the sign for signing up, I did. Motivation Tip #3: TRY SOMETHING NEW AND CHALLENGING TO KEEP IT FUN!
This leads right away to the next tip. This one is probably my biggest motivator, at least for me. Motivation Tip #4: SIGN UP FOR A RACE OR EVENT! Not all races are about speed. There are plenty of walking events. Research on the Internet for different types of events. Most are charity related and a few, though not too many, will let you race for free if you get enough sponsors. Many of the shorter races, 5Ks for example, are anywhere from $20-35. Signing up for a race/event gives you a goal and a purpose to your workouts. It's fun to spend several weeks or months increasing your endurance and/or speed. And at the end of the race, you get the finish line party with food (usually more on the healthy side...not always though), music, friends. At packet pick-up before the race, you get a free shirt and possibly other goodies in a bag (aka, "Swag"). Some races have medals for all finishers. Race events keep me going! This is a STRONG motivator. I recently had a physical therapist who told me she does the sprint triathlons just to keep her swimming, biking and walking. She doesn't care about her time. She swims at a leisure pace, rides her bike like she's cruising through her neighborhood and walks the 5K. All she wants is to have a goal to keep going and enjoys going through the course with hundreds of others (note...Triathlons are more expensive than walking/running events often reaching or excedding $100).
Sometimes, even through these measures, we can start to get bored. Need to spice it up a bit (whatever activity you are doing)? Motivation Tip #5: NEW WORKOUT CLOTHES (hopefully, in a smaller size!) Kohl's has a nice workout clothing section for reasonable rates. OR...some NEW MUSIC on your music player.
As much as I like to swim with friends, and cycle with friends, I usually prefer to run or walk alone these days. With running especially. My pace is usually slower than most people I know and I fear that I hold them back. Plus, I like the solitude. I don't always listen to music but meditate, pray, think... Before I know it, I'm home! What motivates me if I'm having trouble getting out the door for a lone workout, is ..... Motivation Tip #6: TRACKING! Call it logging, journaling...same difference. Keep track of your workouts as some do with food intake. And better yet, as many of you know, post it to facebook! I LOVE seeing what workouts others do and love to cheer them on. Likewise, it's fun to receive the same motivation from friends. You can do this either on paper or online. I prefer the latter and use these websites to log in activity: Daily Mile . You can "friend" people on this activity journal site that has a social aspect to it as well. For walking, go to Map My Walk . Map my Run and Map my Ride are basically the same thing under different sport names. Another fun website that tracks both activity AND food, with an awesome food data base, is My Fitness Pal or Sparkpeople You can google "free fitness journal" or other similar phrases to see other free tracking sites.
Even with all these tips, there are just times when nothing seems motivating. Do your best to get out the door no matter how hard it seems at the moment. You will NEVER regret it in the end. As the Reebok ad says, "Life is short. Play hard!"
"Me too?"
thanks, Lynn! You have some great tips here!!
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