How to Find the Motivation to Exercise

Not everyone finds it easy to motivate themselves to exercise, which is one of the reasons so many people are leading sedentary lifestyles. However, it is worth making exercise a regular feature of your life, as doing so will improve your long-term health prospects and make it easier to control your weight. Even if you struggle to find the motivation needed to exercise, it is well worth remembering all the benefits of keeping active, as this may help to some degree. Even if you really hate exercise, at least you know you can treat yourself to a piece of cake at the end of your workout!

Maybe this isn't the best way to motivate yourself, especially if you're trying to lose weight, but if you usually do anything possible to get out of doing exercise, you may want to give it a go. If you really enjoy your food, there is always going to be a risk of weight gain, which exercise can counter. By exercising on a regular basis, you can stay slim and tone up your body. You shouldn't only think of the superficial reasons for keeping active, though, since other benefits include a reduced risk of developing heart disease, cancer and diabetes amongst other serious health conditions.

If the long-term benefits of regular exercise still can't motivate you to get off your backside and do something, you may have to rope someone into help you. When you have to rely on yourself for motivation, it is far too easy to make excuses as to why you can't exercise. However, if you establish a date and time when you intend to meet a friend to go for a run or a swim, it is much harder to get out of! If you are unable to get a friend on board or you feel you need a more structured programme, you could always get yourself a personal trainer who should be able to get you motivated!

Ultimately, if you're going to find the motivation to exercise, it helps to have a goal in mind, whether it is to lose weight or to simply improve your fitness. Plus, you have to find some form of exercise which you actually get some enjoyment out of. Even though running may be a great calorie burner, there is no point trying to force yourself to do it when you feel that it is a waste of time. Although you should be able to appreciate that after a workout you feel happier and less stressed, if you are constantly dreading the next time you have to do some exercise, this could be a sign that you need to look for a different activity.

With so many benefits associated with regular exercise, you would think that finding the motivation to keep fit would be easy. Unfortunately, when there are so many other activities you could be doing, exercise may not be high up on your list of priorities. Yet, once you actually make the effort to do some exercise, you will notice the benefits and, hopefully, motivating yourself won't be so difficult in future.