5 Simple Ways to Keep Motivated to Exercise

My recent dive back into the Insanity program left me a little panicky about my fluctuating motivation – what if I give up and have to admit that I am stopping my detailed, step-by-step review of Insanity? So I decided to post a few of the ways I have used to keep myself motivated in the past, and hopefully remind myself to do all of these things so I can keep going.

1. Keep Your Workout Gear Accessible
This includes your workout clothes, shoes, iPod, or whatever else you need to get moving. It is incredibly easy to postpone a workout indefinitely because your workout clothes are in the laundry or you can’t find your comfortable tennis shoes, etc. Keep everything ready so if the mood to exercise just happens to strike, it won’t pass you by before you can even get started.

2. Take a Before Picture
This tip has two purposes. First, and most obviously, it will give you a baseline against which to judge your future progress. It will be nice to look back on to remind yourself what you used to look and feel like, so you fully understand the importance of continuing your exercise program. Secondly, if you are anything like me, it will disgust you into taking action. My personal “before” photo is of me from the neck down, in my baggy underwear and ill-fitting bra, displaying every lump and roll and dimple. That picture alone is enough to make me want to drop everything I am doing and go work out.

3. Display your Before Picture!
If your before picture hides out in your sock drawer or tucked under some other papers somewhere, or never even leaves your camera’s memory card in the first place, it probably won’t do much good as a motivational tool. I printed mine out on a full-size sheet of paper, glued it to a posterboard, and hung it smack in the middle of my living room wall, right next to the TV. Understandably, if you live with other people, this may cause a problem – a more understated version of this is to put your picture somewhere you look every day but isn’t quite as public as your living room wall – perhaps set it as your computer desktop photo?

Alternately, some people would rather stay in self denial and instead choose to display other motivational pictures, such as thin models or movie stars that they want to look like. Doing that has always tended to depress me more than motivate me, but I know it works for some people, so you could give it a try.

4. Find Other Things That Motivate You and Display Those Too
I have a special folder on my computer desktop that I open when I need some extra motivation. The first file in there is a post written by Tony Horton, creator of P90X. I love love love it. Find things like that that really get you fired up, and read them when you know you need it. You can also print these and post them on the refrigerator, on the wall, or wherever else you will see them when you are slacking off. These motivational posts will likely be much less embarrassing than your before picture, and your family or roommates might benefit from seeing them too, so don’t hesitate to hang them wherever you know you will read them.

5. Rewards, NOT Punishments!
If your goal is to lose weight, and you do lose weight, then reward yourself for being successful at it. Better yet, divide your goal up into smaller increments, and reward yourself when you reach each of those smaller goals – for instance, if you need to lose 50 pounds, set aside $25 for every ten pounds you lose. When you have reached your final goal, you will have $125 to put toward anything you want – a new “thin” outfit, for instance. I would, of course, suggest that you refrain from rewarding yourself with food, unless weight loss is not your goal.

If you want to work at keeping an exercise program for other health reasons besides weight loss, you can still incorporate a reward system for yourself. For example, if you set a goal that you will work out for 45 minutes a day, four days a week, try setting aside $5 or $10 for every week that you reach your goal.

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