When it comes to regular exercise, there are really three kinds of people: people who love it, people who don’t love it, and people who just plain don’t do it.
People who love to work out are easy to motivate. All they need to keep going is the occasional new workout gear or DVD. However, these people are at constant risk of losing their motivation. At some point exercise may stop being fun. It might be too much effort to find the next “fun” program or workout strategy. Perhaps personal, family, or job issues may keep them away from their “fun” activity. Or they will discover that it is really more fun to sit on the sofa with a bag of chips watching TV. Even fitness professionals know that “Oh, just one day off won’t hurt anything” can lead to many more days off.
People who don’t work out often have honest sounding reasons. Not enough time, not enough money for a gym membership, or — just maybe — they don’t find exercise fun (at least this excuse is being completely honest with themselves). These people might be influenced to get up and move, but chances are they already know that regular exercise has dozens of benefits and new studies confirm this every month. These benefits include lower blood pressure, lower weight, cancer risk reduction, stonger bones, stonger muscles, better mood with less stress and depression, lower resting heart rate, general resistance to illnesses such as the common cold, better controlled blood sugar and serum cholesterol, and yes, looking good in a swimsuit.
Then there are the rest of us. Sometimes it’s a real effort, but we get up and work out even when we don’t feel like it. We do it because we do know all the benefits of exercise and want that for ourselves. It is after all called a “work-out”, not a “play-out” or a “fun-out”. Are there mornings it’s hard to get up and get into a workout frame of mind? You bet! Are we rewarded for our effort? Yes!
In the end, the only effective long-term motivator for fitness is the end result: knowing that we are working towards stronger, healthier, and better looking bodies.
