Okay ladies and gentlemen, we all know that it’s important to get regular exercise to be healthy, so why is it so hard to create an exercise regime and stick to it? Well, this question doesn’t have the same answer for everybody. We all have things that work for us but may not work for the next person, so tailoring the right exercise to your personality, schedule, and lifestyle has everything to do with your success. I’m not even close to being in the shape that I want, or should be, but this is the regime that I am doing currently and I guess we’ll see if I achieve the results that I want.
Consistency
Consistency in my workout schedule is probably one of the reasons why I haven’t succeeded in the past. This time around I have consistently been exercising a whole two weeks without fail. I exercise 5 days a week with running on the treadmill, using the elliptical, or working out to cardio DVD’s.
When I feel like I don’t want to exercise that day, I lace up my running shoes anyway and tell myself I will only exercise for 10 minutes, and then if I want to quit after that I can. I always get in my regular 30 minutes or more.
Duration
When exercising on my chosen type of work out machine for that day, I always try to last for at least 20 minutes. That’s enough time to get in a good sweat session and feel like I did something good for my body that day. I do have to say that out of the 2 weeks I have been on this regular workout regime, only once did I work out only 20 minutes. The rest of the time I worked out for 30 to 40 minutes.
Motivation
Motivation is a huge factor in succeeding with a regular work out regime. If you’re bored with what you are doing, it really doesn’t matter how well you are doing it, you won’t feel like sticking with it if you’re bored. This is a big one for me, I need motivation to keep me on track and I do that with music.
When I run on the treadmill or working on my elliptical, you will not catch me without my Mp3 player. Music keeps my legs pumping to the beat and makes me forget sometimes that I’m actually working out.
So consistency, duration, and motivation are the key factors that keep me going and sticking with a regular workout regime. Hopefully it can help you too!
Sources: Personal experience