Exercise Motivation

Do you need some exercise motivation to get you moving? Want to get active but don’t know how to get your motivation revved up? 

There are many benefits to exercise including weight loss, stress relief and reduced risks for certain medical conditions.

Some of the medical benefits include reduced risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and reduced risk of type 2 diabetes just to name a few.

If these medical reasons are still not enough to get you motivated to move, then be sure to read these motivational tips for a little extra push.

Exercise Motivation Tips

Try one or all of these tips to help you start working out today to get fit and healthy.

Find a Workout Buddy

Find a friend or coworker to do your exercise routines with.  With a workout buddy, you can keep each other motivated to exercise. 

When one of you is not feeling up to exercising, the other one is there to urge you on. 

Also, having a friend to talk with while walking or on the way to the gym is a great way to stay in touch and up on the latest news.

Make it Fun!

Start your routines by doing something you enjoy.

Your exercise motivation can be to do something you enjoy like dancing, gardening or walking. 

Although your favorite activity may not be as strenuous as an aerobic workout, it’s a place to start. 

The more active you become the more energy you will have.

Eventually you will be able to move up to exercise routines that will include aerobics and strength training.  

One of my newest ways to keep it fun is the Wii Fit.  Read more on how you can get fit with Wii.

Start Slow

Don’t be over aggressive when you first start especially if you are not currently active. 

If you start too fast, you run the risk of injuring yourself and may find you’ve lost your initial motivation due to muscle soreness. 

Check out these exercise tips to get you started on your workout routines.

Set a Goal

Goals are great way to get motivated to exercise.  Set your goal and place it where you can look at it often.  Make your goal realistic and achievable.  Modify your goal as you go along, making it more challenging. 

If you feel your exercise motivation deteriorating, then take a look at your goal as a friendly reminder.

calenadarPlan for it

You have to make the time to do your exercise routines. 

If you find your day already packed full with work, running errands, etc., then you may need to make some adjustments. 

If you are a morning person, then just set the alarm 30 to 45 minutes earlier so you can fit in your workout. 

Or do your workout in the evening to relieve the stress of the day and give you a great night’s sleep.

Track your Progress

here is no bigger motivator than seeing results. 

Track your progress so you can look back and see how well you’ve done. 

Let other’s know that you are exercising and brag about the progress you have made.  Your friends and family can be your support system to keep you motivated.

Use this free Exercise Calorie Chart to track your exercising and how many calories you burned during exercise.  

There is an Excel version and a PDF.  Just right mouse click on the file you want and select "save as" to save to your computer.

Excel Exercise Calorie Counter (zip file)
PDF Exercise Calorie Counter

Note that the excel file is a zip file.  Once you have saved to your computer, just unzip the file and start using it today.

Avoid the Guilt

Don’t lose your momentum if for some unforeseen reason you did not exercise today as planned.  Don’t fall into the all or nothing trap.  Life can throw many curve balls your way and cannot always be avoided.  Just get back on the treadmill, or whatever your exercise routine is and keep moving.

Do it for Yourself

List all the reasons you want to exercise in order to motivate yourself. The list does not have to only include weight loss but can be other items like being able to participate more with your children or grandchildren.  Or even reasons like getting better sleep and relieving stress.

The Right Mind Set

This is probably the most important exercise motivation tip.  You have to convince yourself that this is what you want.  

With the right attitude and mind set you can achieve your exercise goals.

This is a motivation quote I like to refer to often for many different things.

"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goals; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude."

by Thomas Jefferson


If you need more exercise motivation then be sure to check out all the benefits to exercise to get you in the mood.


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From abdominal exercises, back stretches, strength training and more, you can use these step by step exercises to ensure you are doing them correctly.