With the best intentions, people will often buy fitness gear, follow fitness gurus and subscribe to online services. However that doesn’t guarantee that you will commit to a sustained and disciplined block of training. You are the person that makes the decision to get out and exercise.
So how do you get and stay motivated to exercise? We have a favourite quote from 1975’s Men’s Wimbledon Tennis Champion Arthur Ashe.
Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.
This gets round the age old conundrum of not having the right gear, not having enough time.
Here are some more quotes that he may have come up with, but still resonate for us:
Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.
There are many excuses for not doing exercise but it’s very easy to overthink. Certainly for most amateur sports people the motivation is usually personal; bound up in mental health, playing sport and general health.
Here are some of our favourite exercise tips:
- Have realistic goals
Don’t start off trying to work out an hour every day. Instead, set more reasonable, achievable goals, like exercising 20 to 30 minutes two or three times a week.
- Track Your Progress
Chart your workouts, whether you do it online, use a fitness tracker or in an old-school diary. Seeing improvements, whether running faster, doing more reps, or working out more often, makes you want to keep going.
- Don’t feel guilty
If you miss a session, never feel guilty. Just go again.
- It’s all about you, don’t compare yourself to others
There will always be someone fitter, faster, or more flexible than you.
Do not let them deter you from your goal. Your workout time is for you, and about you alone.
- Make it fun
Some endurance activities require just putting in the distance. Break this up with interval training, challenges, sprints, hill climbs etc.
- Make it easy
Find ways of starting an exercise session easy. If you’re planning an early morning session lay out your kit the night before. Move your exercise day if you’re away for work.
- Forget the past
Your goal now is to stay healthy and enjoy your life. The past is gone.
If some of this sounds selfish, then recognise that a healthy body helps foster a healthy mind which is better for everyone close to you.
Further reading
Inspirational Arthur Ashe quotes
