My Top 5 Motivation Tips!

Earlier this week, someone posted a question a Facebook about finding it difficult to get started with her running and training program.  She wisely asked for some advice from people who'd been there, done that.  Here's my take and advice on the situation of getting motivated to run/lift/exercise/walk/whatever...

1) You just have to get started.  The first workout will ALWAYS be the worst and hardest, but even those professional athletes had to start somewhere, right?  The key is to just put on your big girl panties lace up your shoes and get going.  Go for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 3 more songs, or however long you want... just GET STARTED!

2) Have a visual recognition of your hard work.  For me, stickers were a good motivation to be sure that I worked out every day.  I have a pretty good collection of stickers, so for every day I worked out, I put a sticker right on my family calendar on our refrigerator.  I'd often have friends over and they'd ask what was with the stars, and I'd fill them in.  I don't know what it is about those stars, but they worked for me.

3) Reward yourself!  When I first started working out at the gym in January, I wanted to be sure that I went and stuck with it.  I went to the bank and got $30 all in singles, and stuck them in an envelope.  Every day that I went to the gym, I took $1 out of the envelope and stuck it in a jar.  Once I went through the envelope money, I treated myself to a pedicure.  I have since done the same thing a couple more times and bought new sports bras (see #4), and a haircut.

4) Look cute while the sweat is dripping!  I just feel so much better when I wear my cute workout clothes.  Now, I don't wear anything fancy, but I like my tight black pants and cute comfy shirts that I only wear when I work out.  But, my favorite articles of clothing would have to be my sports bras.  I have quite the collection in a bunch of bright colors that just make me smile when I wear them.  I'm not one of those nuts that are going to run around the gym in just the bra, so no one sees them but me- and I'm perfectly fine with that!

5) Repeat after me....  Get yourself a mantra and repeat it throughout your workouts.  Ever see Dolvett on Biggest Loser?  His mantra is "Hard Work- Dedication!!".  You'll hear his team shouting that over and over as they puke their way through workouts, but never giving up.  Think of one for yourself, and repeat it over and over.  My current mantra comes from a Jillian Michaels quote "Your legs are not giving out.  Your head is giving out.  Keep going!"  Peek inside my head during a challenging workout, and you might hear me saying "it's just your head... Keep going!!"