Motivating Yourself to Exercise When You Can't be Bothered!

It doesn't matter how many times you're told about the health benefits of exercise, most of the time you just cannot be bothered. So many people decide to get fit as a New Year's resolution, but after a few weeks just give up. It's almost become acceptable to be unfit, as well. When you say to someone you've been a member of a gym for six months but only visitied it twice, you usually get an understanding nod, rather than a look of consternation. When everyone else around you views exercise as a chore and as something to be avoided as much as possible, there is no real pressure on you to exercise on a regular basis.

The only trouble is that to be able to see and feel the benefits associated with exercise, you have to make exercise a feature of your life. Fitness isn't something you can just store up - you can't exercise every day for a week and hope that will keep you fit for the rest of the year. You need to make exercise a habit, which can be hard when you have other things going on in your life. If you're not that keen on exercise, you basically have to force yourself to do it. You may find that going for a run or a swim in the morning is the best way, as once it's out of the way you don't have to think about it for the rest of the day, and you're less likely to get out of doing it.

If you struggle to get up in the morning or have too much stuff to do, then the only option is to slot exercise elsewhere into your day. The main thing is to make sure it becomes a habit, so you no longer even have to think about it. Of course, it helps to find an activity you enjoy doing, although that can be a challenge if you're not really interested in exercise. If that's the case, it might be worth finding something to distract yourself. You could always listen to music whilst you're running, for instance, or join a club where you can socialise whilst getting some exercise.

However, you meed to remember that you're not just there to socialise. Indeed, you may find it worthwhile setting yourself a goal to aim for. If you sign up to run a marathon or cycle from London to Paris, you have a reason to train. You may not want to go for a run or out on your bike when it's cold and miserable outside, but knowing that you want to achieve something greater may well help you to stay focused. It doesn't even have to be such a significant fitness goal - you may simply want to lose a bit of weight. If that is the case, you can focus on how exercise enables you to eat slightly more or lose more weight than if you did nothing. It will also make weight maintenance easier in the long run.

Plus, although you can become immune to what medical professionals say about how exercise can keep you healthy, there is obviously there is truth to what they're saying, and even though it can be a hassle to get up early to go for a run or head to the gym after working all day, ultimately you will feel better for it afterwards.