It can be tough after a particularly stressful day at work to find any iota of motivation to see yourself down at the gym. That spin class is the last thing on your mind when you’ve spent the past three hours toiling over an important presentation that you need to give in a couple of days. However, if you are keen to see those last stubborn few pounds shift off your hips and you want to improve your cardiovascular fitness, you need to hit the gym and stick to a routine. You may have been doing well, attending gym sessions regularly, going to boxercise, lifting the weights and enduring the treadmill. Sometimes, the mojo just goes, but it is vital that you do everything in your power to find it again, otherwise the weight will slowly creep back on, and you will feel deflated and lack any sort of impetus to start exercising again.
The gym should be fun. Take a look at these simple ideas that will help you stay on track and keep your eyes on the prize with exercise.
Gym Buddy
If you head to the gym alone, it might be time to pair up with a pal and embark on your fitness journey together. Having a friend attend the gym with you means more conversation, a chance to catch up over the rowing machine and enjoy an altogether more social experience. The chances are that you will be able to motivate one another so when one of you feels like a night in front on the sofa with a box set, the other will call around and not leave until the gym attire is on. You may begin to feel a little bit of healthy competition which can motivate you into working just that little bit harder on the exercise bike.
Couple Up with Other Strategies
Heading to the gym should be part of a wider lifestyle change. You should be eating healthier and partaking in fruit, vegetables, whole grain carbs and lean proteins. Eating the rainbow will ensure that you obtain the optimum range of antioxidants to ward off diseases and improve your heart health.
Alongside your diet, you may wish to consider other weight loss tactics. For that turkey back that just won’t disappear or that double chin that stubbornly remains, you may want to investigate a treatment such as CoolSculpting to clinically and safely use a cooling technology to remove fat cells from the skin. Eating well, exercising and other treatments cannot be used on their own, but combined can be an excellent way of tackling your desire to lose weight and get fit.
Head Outdoors
The gym is a fantastic way to hone your fitness, especially in the cooler months when it’s freezing outside or when it gets dark early. However, in the summer months, you may be tempted to forego your weights session for a picnic in the park or a barbecue round at the neighbors. While enticing, you should never neglect your exercise plan. Even if the outdoors is encouraging you to stray, head down to the park but not for a picnic, for a run instead. There are plenty of ways you can use the sunshine filled days to your advantage. Head out for walks, bicycle rides, and jogs.
Take a look in your local area for fitness boot camps during the balmy summer months. These are a great way to head outdoors and kick start your fitness plan through hardcore exercising. Other like-minded individuals will attend meaning that you could expand your social circle and have a lot of fun shifting the weight in the process as you perform a range of sit-ups, jumping jacks and assault courses outside.
Have A Goal
You don’t need to be training for an Ironman event or be looking to run a marathon to have a worthwhile goal. Perhaps you want to complete your first 5k, scale a peak or lose 10lbs. Whatever your goal is, work towards this and record your progress each week. Come weigh day each week, if you are losing half a pound, you will remain motivated to keep shifting the weight.
Although it can be difficult to find the motivation to attend the gym or head to an exercise class, always try to think about your end goal and visualize yourself half a stone lighter, running a 10k with ease and enjoying a healthier lifestyle. By keeping your eyes on the prize, you will find your mojo for exercise.
