Keeping your motivation in check while trying to reach a fitness or health goal can be challenging, but it's certainly necessary if you want to see positive results in the long run. Now, everyone has certain weeks where their fitness levels plateau or when they need to push their efforts aside to manage other aspects of their life. To maintain your focus, though, check out these five tips to increase motivation toward achieving your health and fitness goals.
1. Set Reasonable Fitness Goals
Before you begin scheduling out a month's worth of workout routines or meals, you need to consider any other lifestyle obligations. Rebecca Kurtz, an exercise physiologist at Henry Ford Health System posits the following: "Proper goal setting can help motivate and inspire both new and veteran exercisers and athletes." To set goals you can achieve, make sure they are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-sensitive.
2. Partner with Others
A healthy lifestyle can become stale, dull or even lonely when you have nobody else with whom to share your progress or participate in workouts. But if you build a positive support group in which you share your health and fitness concerns, everyone involved benefits. Consider meeting up with a fitness partner each month to work out or share each other's progress on a weight-loss forum. Best of all? You can challenge each other and provide ideas to improve your routines.
3. Attend Fitness Seminars or Events
If you've been working toward a healthy weight or fitness goal for a long time, or even if you've long accomplished your goals, it can become tiresome to maintain a rhythm. There are tons of fitness seminars or events throughout the year in which experts teach new weight-loss techniques or introduce the latest workout equipment available on the market. Attend a few of these events this year whenever you need a motivation refresh to continue your fitness journey.
4. Wear Comfortable Apparel
The type of clothing you wear while working out can mean the difference between an energizing two-hour session and an exhausting 20-minute plummet. Whether you're cycling down an arid desert trail, running through a moist forest-trail or climbing a 1,000-foot mountainside in the cold, you'll need to invest in and wear breathable and protective workout clothing that doesn't tire you out. Select an outfit that fits your body shape, yet doesn't restrict any of your movements or hold in excessive heat.
5. Designate Time to Refresh
One of the determining factors as to whether you continue on your fitness journey is the time you take to rest. Occasionally, your muscles may tire and your energy levels may dip, which can cause you to lose motivation. Although many fitness enthusiasts suggest continuing your dieting and resting periods as usual throughout the month, it can be advantageous to designate special treatment days. Knowing this, break out of your regular meal plan a couple times a month to relax at the beach or visit a spa for a deep-tissue massage.
Accomplish All of Your 2020 Fitness Goals
What type of fitness resolutions do you have for 2020? You can certainly increase your motivation with this handful of tips, but know there's nothing better than slipping on comfortable clothes and jumping headfirst into any workout or physical activity. In the end, make sure you take the time to reward yourself and never give up on improving your health and wellness.
