Once the honeymoon phase of exercising to lose weight and get fit and healthy is over, how do you manage to keep going? Injuries, weight loss plateaus and even boredom all play a part in you dragging your feet. How do you get re-inspired? You need to find the right motivation to renew your passion for fitness.
Breathe New Life into your Old Fitness Routine
If boredom is one of your main issues with fitness, spice things up a bit. Choose a fun activity that is physical. Mix it up with some socializing and leave your worries at the door. Belly dancing, synchronized swimming, kickboxing … any physical activity that looks intriguing – try it!
Offer to take a child or pet to the park. Jogging or power walking with a pet on a leash is a new experience and is also a great social activity as well. You will see your surroundings in a whole new way with a pet. Children are full of energy and if you offer an hour of babysitting at the park, you will burn all the calories you need for the day, running after them, swinging them on the swings, throwing the ball around or even a simple game of chase.
Devise an exercise plan based on your mood. If you are feeling down or contemplative, consider a walk in the park punctuated with some stretching and exercise band intervals. When you are keyed up, choose high octane activity such as aerobic class or dancing. Interval training, where you mix steady physical activity with bursts of intense exercise, keeps things lively and just might help you break through weight loss plateaus too.
Never Be Too Tired to Exercise
Choose someone with similar fitness goals and make a date to exercise. If you feel obligated to meet that person to exercise, your mood will more than likely not be a factor. Fitness partners motivate and push each other to do well so you don’t want to let each other down.
When you feel too tired to exercise, move toward your daily fitness goal in small steps. Put on your workout clothes first and see how you feel. Next, put on your athletic shoes and lace them up. Just being in your workout gear is enough motivation to move more and get things done with some spring in your step. Even if you don’t make it to the gym or your workout routine, you will likely be moving around rather than sitting or lying down.
Eating a small snack may help you overcome your tired feeling too. Choose an option with complex carbohydrates and protein such as a hard boiled egg and an apple about two hours before you typically exercise. Make sure you get plenty of iron and vitamin C in your diet along with the requisite eight to ten glasses of water per day. Iron helps you build red blood cells which means proper oxygenation in your body while vitamin C helps iron absorb better in the blood. Water prevents dehydration, a common denominator to fatigue.
Just changing your routine or even the music you exercise to can breathe new life into your fitness program. Find what inspires you; grab a workout buddy; engage yourself in spring cleaning or yard work. Anything that gets you moving, working your muscles and burning calories is a good thing!
(HealthDay News) — The declines in fitness that accompany growing old typically speed up after the age of 45, new research shows.