Sticking to an exercise routine isn’t easy.
Why?
Because working out is, well, hard work.
And naturally, our bodies try to get us to avoid hard work.
But never fear — there are more than a few ways to get that new exercise routine to stick.
And in this post, you’re going to learn five tips that just may give you the push you need to finally get it down for good.
Let’s talk about how to start and stick to an exercise routine.
1. Choose an Exercise Routine That You’ll Enjoy
One of the great things about humans is that we’re all different and unique.
And this means that we’re not all going to enjoy the same types of exercise.
But here’s the thing:
If you want to create a helpful, healthy fitness routine that’ll actually stick, you’re going to need to think about what types of exercise you like to do.
If you hate jogging, then it’s going to be a lot more difficult to get yourself out of bed and up early to do it.
In such cases, you’re going to be far more likely to smash that snooze button and skip your workout.
What Type of Workout Do You Enjoy?
If you choose an activity that you truly enjoy, then you’ll be able to leverage that extra dose of motivation to leap out of bed in the morning, ready to exercise.
One of the great things about building your own workout routine is that you get to choose whatever type of exercise you want.
A lot of people automatically think about running, lifting weights, or HIIT training routines when you mention working out.
But if those things don’t sound appealing to you, try something else:
- Dancing
- Rock climbing
- Tennis
- Hiking
- Gymnastics
These types of exercises are a lot more fun to some people.
Plus, you can also enjoy them with friends and make them into group activities.
Speaking of group activities …
2. Group Up With Other People For Accountability
Those who exercise alone tend to see worse results than those who work out with other people.
Why?
Well, there are a few different reasons.
First of all, it’s much easier to stay motivated when you know that someone’s expecting you to show up and put in the work.
Secondly, working out with other people tends to make working out more fun and sociable — meaning that you’ll be more likely to go through with it.
And third, teaming up with other people for workouts can help all of you to keep each other accountable.
If one of you starts to slack off and stops showing up to workouts, the others can hound the ‘slacker’ until they return.
When there are more people involved and counting on you, you’re far more likely to actually stick with the routine
3. Write Down Your Fitness Goals
Writing down your goals is a powerful way to turn your future vision into reality.
You don’t have to get fancy with this one.
To start with, grab a journal or a piece of notebook paper and just write down a few goals that you’d like to achieve with your fitness efforts.
These goals could look something like this:
- Wear a bikini to the beach and feel great about it.
- Build upper body strength so you feel great in a tank top.
- Build up enough endurance to keep up with your kids as they run around at the park.
As you continue to get more serious about your workouts, you can refine your goals and make them more complex.
But start super simple, and just write down a few goals that matter to you.
For best results, write down these goals every day when you wake up to keep them fresh in your mind.
This will truly help you to manifest your desires and achieve the results you want.
4. Do It Every Day
If you’re having an especially tough time getting your workout routine to stick, consider shortening the individual workouts and spreading them out over all seven days of the week.
See, if you’re struggling to create a new habit, one of the best ways to reinforce that habit is to do it every day.
For example, let’s say your workout routine includes dancing.
Instead of dancing for an hour a day three days a week, consider dancing for 20 minutes a day, seven days a week.
If you make your workout routine a daily must-do, you literally reprogram your brain to accept it as a normal part of your everyday life.
It’ll eventually become so natural that it’ll be as automatic as brushing your teeth or making a pot of coffee in the morning.
It’s just something you’ll do without question, and that’s when your fitness goals will really pick up steam.
5. Chart Your Progress and Reward Yourself for Your Efforts
When it comes to fitness, one of the best things you can do for yourself in the long term is to chart your progress.
There are a couple of ways to do this.
You could weigh yourself on a scale. The only problem with this is that it’s not always an accurate representation of progress.
You know what they say:
“Muscle is denser than fat.”
And if you’ve been hitting the gym to build that muscle, stepping on the scale may not show that you’ve lost weight — even if you’ve actually been burning fat and building muscle.
Therefore, one of the best ways to track your progress is to do a combination of weigh-ins, daily photos of yourself, and written records of things like calorie intake, workouts accomplished, etc.
Blending these things together will help you to track your progress in measurable increments, which will show you just how effective your workout and diet routine has been.
And, of course, when you do make progress, give yourself time to celebrate.
After all, working out isn’t easy.
You deserve to pat yourself on the back and reward yourself.
Conclusion
There you have it:
Five tips for starting an exercise routine that actually sticks.
Now you’ve got the info, all that’s left is the work.
But if you follow these tips, you’ll be equipping yourself with your best odds for success.
So get out there and get healthy. You got this.
Caitlin Sinclair is the property manager at Broadstone Memorial Park. With five years of property management experience and many more in customer service, she has a passion for her community and enjoys making Broadstone Memorial Park the place to call home.