I am often asked, or I often hear comments about motivation to exercise … and I do understand that this is probably the one thing that stops people staying active.
So here are some of my top tips on staying motivated to move:
- Enjoyment — it has to be something you enjoy doing, and sometimes this can depend on the teacher making it fun to do as much as the actual activity
- Physical and Mental changes — it's important to recognise there are both physical changes and mental changes happening as a result of the exercise eg, feeling more flexible, or more mobile. BUT also the mental changes — when we move physically we have a connection between the mind and body as ‘happy’ hormones are released and we feel better about ourselves
- Make it accessible — exercise has to fit into your life, if you have to travel somewhere even before you start to exercise this can mean a bigger investment of time and also bring anxiety that can come with travelling, parking, arriving on time, bad weather
- Make it a habit, so that you don’t even have to think about it — the night before set out your workout space, your kit and any equipment you may want to use. It takes at least 30 days for actions to become a habit, so by committing to one month you are building the foundations for good health
- Keep your workouts varied. This is one of the reasons why I make all my classes different. It stops boredom setting in, and the best way to work the body is to change the challenge
- Life improvements are being made every time you workout, particularly with Pilates where we work on:
• improving balance
• strengthening
• and to stop the back from tweaking every time you do a bit of gardening
• to continue to participate in other activities to the best of your ability
- Enjoy the rewards — life is about balance, if you exercise now you can reward yourself and have balance in your life.
In the words of Strictly… Keeeeep ….. moving! The key thing is to make it a habit … make Pilates your habit.
Awesome August
We are half way there and this continues to be enjoyed by the JTP family…
I am loving Awesome August …. I love just getting up and doing exercise.
Jan
I feel better after 11, can’t wait to see the impact of 20, when I’ve done 30 could I have longer legs please 🤣
Nic
Awesome August gave me the push I needed and I’m loving it! Haven’t missed a day yet…
Annabel
31 days to create a healthy habit.
