Got to stay motivated! Here’s how I keep my game up:
- Ask Friends for their Routines.
Can you imagine waking up at 4:00 am to run 5-10 miles every morning? Could you see yourself doing yoga anywhere from 4 to 6 times per week? Would you ever let yourself schedule work so that you can hit the gym to lift weights on a regular basis?
When I asked my friends what their routines were and they gave me the examples above, I was both impressed (and a bit dismayed) by how much they actually worked out compared to me. Even though I maintained good intentions to workout, I had clearly set up a different set of priorities. But after listening to the workout schedules that my friends are able to sustain, somehow I found ways to add 1-2 sessions per week to my own roution.
You don’t have to match your fitness pals 1-for-1, but simply learning about how much our friends are able to accomplish in one week or a month is nevertheless a great motivator for making fitness a bigger priority.
2. Find an Instructor who Inspires you.
Find a gym with an instructor or personal coach that you admire. Once you attend a few classes and get to know an instructor personally, it becomes so much easier to show up for class (and also adds a bit of guilt for skipping out). I once started following an instructor teaching who was teaching a weightlighting class, and when I found out that she also led a spin class, I quickly signed up for that as well–even though her classes were back-to-back! I recently asked one friend about his fitness routine (see step 1!) and found that he liked to travel on the weekends to different locations where his favorite instructor was teaching.
In my favorite program Les Mills, not only do they provide amazing workouts, but they have anywhere from 5-10 instructors teaching a SINGLE WORKOUT! They rotate leading through 4-5 minute exercises, ensuring that they are always fresh and able to provide an intense workout. Not to mention that every single instructor on the program has a beach body that makes me jealous.
3. Get Crazy about Quality On-Demand fitness programs.
You can workout wherever and whenever you find the space and make time. If you are able to be consistent about a weekly schedule, joining a gym can provide access to classes and a wide array of exercise gear. However, if your schedule doesn’t allow for consistency, there are a number of apps that can fuel the fitness jealousy and provide instant workout success. Look for instructors who not only push you to your physical limits, but also coach you on mental and emotional resolve to accomplish your goals. Here are my favorite subscriptions, including Les Mills which I already mentioned above:
- Les Mills On Demand. These are my current go-to workouts, providing low-intensity / high-repetition weight training, virtual reality spin classes, core, step, yoga, athletic martial arts, dance, and HIIT. It’s easy to become a groupie after only a few of these workouts. They even have a series of workouts for kids “Born to Move” with categories for 4-5, 6-7, and 8-12, and 13-16 year olds!
- MotionTraxx. This DJ’d and Coach’d workout app provides workouts for stationary bike, elliptical, treadmill, rowing, and more. They even break it up by how much time you have, whether it is 20 min, 40 min, or more than an hour. The DJ tracks are amazing and the coaching is always stellar.
- Walk to Run 5k. There are various apps for this, but find one that works best for you. The app should provide a tailored and progressive build-up from walking, to walk-run intervals, to running a full 5k. This is an excellent way to avoid injury and develop walk/running habits. I used to get back in shape post-pregnancy, and ended up pushing the little one around on a stroller for the first 9 months.
Even better–when I know that I won’t have internet streaming, I also plan to download the workouts before heading to the gym.
4. Get active in Social Media groups.
There are plenty of social media pages focused on supporting a community of fitness lovers, and definitely invoke a healthy does of jealousy by posting their successes and improvements over time. Join as many groups as you can! By increasing the supply of fitness-related posts into your news feed, it helps to train the brain to consider working out more often (or at least to remember the benefits of it). If you feel too intimidated to jump into a new sport or fitness routine, social media groups often support new members by answering questions and providing advice.
Here is an example of some types of facebook groups you can find:
- Swim Workouts
- Women Who Lift Weights
- Local 5K running groups
- Yoga (various styles)
- Les Mills On Demand
- Ketogenic Athletes
- Backpacking / Hiking
- Fitness Motivation
- Fitness Bodybuilding Daily Motivation
It’s also fairly common to see ‘before and after’ pictures featuring someone’s progress over a period of a year to as little as a few months. This is a consistent source of jealousy motivation, especially if you’re trying to make it past the first 90 days of a New Year’s goal.
5. Don’t Leave Your Family Behind!
Last but not least – don’t let your Family become too jealous of your success! Find ways to keep your significant other and/or kids involved. Establish a weekly workout schedule.
While getting back into shape, I wanted to have a team effort, so we invested in a home gym. With a couple yoga mats, a set of dumbells, and a step, we found a way to consistently use the Les Mills On Demand to do Body Pump and Body Balance programs, and had fun working through the Born to Move program with our kid. Even when I when to visit my parents and grandma, we got everyone outside to the tennis courts to move around, and found opportunities for walking around the neighborhood.
The most important part about a lifelong fitness routine is developing the relationships with others (and yourself) to sustain health and to maintain a steady supply of endorphins to get through those times of stress.
Waunder 