7 Tips to Keep Motivated and Working Out

Physical fitness is a highly desirable goal but not one easily achieved or easily maintained. No pain no gain. That’s the way it goes when it comes to working out.

It’s easy to sit, dream and envision yourself “ripped” and ready to “mop up the field” at your next sports match or to reach lofty new heights during your next training session. But it’s much harder to consistently follow through, day by day, until you finally achieve those goals.

Here are seven tips to help you keep yourself motivated and moving forward with your fitness or sports training:

1. Set Goals and Work Toward Them

Making the mark, going the extra mile, or reaching new fitness milestones are only possible if you have already defined a set of goals and expectations to work toward. Counting laps or pushups, timing how fast you run a mile, and pushing yourself till you can bench press a predetermined number of pounds are all examples. Without a goal, you are just aimlessly spinning your wheels. Meeting your goals can be encouraging.

2. Reward Yourself for “Good Behavior”

Besides simply having goals, writing them down, and keeping track of your successes; you should also have a system where you reward yourself for your achievements. Maybe it’s a trip to a professional sports game, a meal at your favorite restaurant, or buying a new CD or DVD. Just do everything you can to make meeting goals “worth it,” and you will meet them more often.

3. Have a Designated Workout Room

Having a special place where you do your fitness routine will help you persevere on a psychological level. Just like whenever you are in the kitchen you tend to snack, or when you lay down on your bed you feel like napping; when you walk into your workout room or outdoor workout space, you will already feel like working out.

4. Wear Specific Workout Clothes.

There are many reasons why good RenegadeCitizen Fitness apparel is important. For one, it helps your body breathe and wicks up sweat more efficiently. But workout garb can also carry encourageing messages on it that keep you and your fitness buddies motivated. And similar to the fitness room point mentioned above, just putting on your fitness apparel is going to put you in the mood for a good, hard workout.

5. Organize a Stay-Fit Support Group

There is much you can do to motivate yourself, but at some point, you are likely to need the example and words of others to keep yourself going. And conversely, you can be that positive influence in your friends’ lives. It’s much easier to keep up a workout regimen together than it is alone.

6. Find Ways to Make Working Out Fun

Fitness exercises and training produce pain, aches, sweat, and tiredness. That’s enough to discourage many from even beginning a workout program. A key to creating motivation is to keep things as fun as possible: exercise to your favorite music, have a friendly competition with someone in your fitness group, or imagine yourself in an actual sports game or even on a battlefield if that helps to keep you focused.

7. Be Diligent But Not Inflexible

You can let your fitness schedule evaporate into nothingness by making far too many “exceptions” and slacking off. But you can also burn yourself out by never making any exceptions at all. In the latter case, you become a victim of “self-attrition.” Far better to take a break when you’re at the breaking point and then get right back into it after “recharging your battery.”