How to motivate yourself to workout

Ah, January. The post-holiday sads are around, the reality of life slowly starts hitting you again, and on top of all of that it’s cold and gray out. What does that make you want to do? Hit the couch with your fuzzy dog, blanket, warm drink, and silly sci-fi show on (hello, Lost Girl, welcome to my winter…If I start wearing huge amounts of black eyeliner, you know what to blame)

If you think I am complaining, well. You aren’t wrong exactly, but this is a post, thanks to my friends (Liz, very importantly, who got me to write this) who reminded me of the realities of January and not wanting to get your butt out in the cold. Meaning, that if you are feeling an inkling of what I am feeling, you are not alone! I am not alone! We are in this together! So, how do we get motivated in these trying times? Besides being melodramatic? Well, talking with your friends helps, but really your pep talk needs to come from your own jigglfying self, otherwise, your motivation is not real, and it will certainly not last. That motivation? It comes from YOU and the craziest part about it is? YOU are totally capable of anything and everything. The hardest part is just getting that butt of that comfy couch. I’m sorry if I sound like a motivational pin on your sister’s Fitness board on Pinterest, but there are so many kernels of truth in the cliche sappy crap, if we can only let our snarky guard down and do what’s best for us.

Some general tips that work to get me moving:

Finding something you LIKE. Strangely challenging?
- I have been having a harder time coming up with workouts for myself that don’t bore me to tears. (Hence the lack of workout posts… oops.) No matter, change it up a bit. I’ve been going back to my old friend Zuzka Light for some workouts she’s made, so I don’t have to THINK. Added benefit: she knows what she’s doing. Added benefit: I can’t make up workouts that are too easy and too short, because someone else is doing it. Finding something you look forward to, whether it’s my blog, her workouts, Bodyrock, pilates, running, trapeze, I dunno, anything that gets you moving is never a bad thing.

For the runners out there (or the people that only run for the sake of their dog:::: ME)
If its cold, put on a hat, its huge. Wear gloves, that’s huge. Bring kleenex. That’s huge. Maybe obvious to anyone that has ever walked for more than two minutes to their car, but man a run is so much more enjoyable when your miserableness is lessened. Also remember that once you are warm as you run, it starts to feel weirdly good, almost exhilarating, like you are being purified with air.

Be kind, it will help your abs
Don’t be too hard on yourself. Don’t expect too much. Push yourself, try harder, try to improve, but don’t be so hard on yourself that you prevent yourself from wanting to get back to it tomorrow.

Build a habit
Something I read last year, or maybe the year before, I’m old – it takes three weeks to build a habit (at least a good one). And about, oh, a day, to destroy it. So keep at it trying and trying, just keep a routine.

Make it a lifestyle
After it’s a habit, think of it as a lifestyle. I try not to feel bad if I don’t get to exercising, because I have determined that this is a lifestyle choice and not a thing that will disappear overnight because I decided to not do it one, two, three, even more days. Just because you have an oops and don’t do it, does NOT mean you are never going to be able to do it routinely again. Just determine that you will, and… you will. Pretty simple.

And finally: Just do it
Marketing genius Mr. Dan Wieden knew, whether he understood it or not (I think he probably did), a very simple, yet important thing for anyone of any level doing something athletic… You just gotta do it. (And really, at work too, but that’s an aside.) Once you start doing that workout, you’ve already won. A. You’re doing it. B. You’ve gotten off the couch and C. Any exercise is better than none. And if you do HIIT like me, by the time you realize you’re just doing it, you’re halfway through and sweating hard and feeling like you could squat jump over the universe and into the TARDIS as it goes through the time warp.

And if that’s not a motivating image made for a motivational poster, I give up.