Need to get motivated to exercise? The founder of fitness challenge website jantastic.me has five key ways to get and keep yours this January
Martin Yelling, a sports scientist and founder of New Year health and fitness challenge website jantastic.me, suggests a few tricks to keep your fitness mojo firing.
1. Make your goals a stretch but not out of reach
Stop and slow down when it comes to lofty New Year resolutions. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with dreaming big yet at the same time don’t over commit and under deliver. Setting your sights too high can mean you’ll end up disappointed when things don’t go to plan. Disappointment leads to disenchantment with your goal and before you know it you’ve missed another run, skipped another stretch and binned a swim. If you’re currently not doing anything, commit two doing twenty minutes twice a week. If you’re currently working out regularly, add another day, type of workout to learn or time to reach. Then review your goals regularly so they’re always just that little out of – bit not too far out – your reach.
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Share your goals When you keep your goals to yourself if you go ‘goal AWOL’ it’s only you who notices. This isn’t great for keeping you on track with your aspirations and only the strongest self-motivated people succeed. When you share your goals and make them public you suddenly become more accountable for it and take greater ownership. The increased awareness of your targets by others around you really can help you stay on track. Start a blog (apply to blog about it at Healthista.com), post notes on the fridge and share the goal love.
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No I in team! Sticking with something solo challenges even the most dedicated. Joining a community or team of other people with similar aspirations helps you stay motivated and on track. Sign up for an exercise class, join a group, persuade your friends and get a fitness buddy. It’s easier to get off the sofa when you’ve committed to an exercise rendezvous. It doesn’t have to be face to face either. Set up your own team in the New Year online fitness challenge Jantastic and invite your friends to join you. Before you know it you’ll all be on the train to motivation central.
Get in the swing of things with other people
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Protect your time We’re all busy people and protecting time for our health, fitness and exercise is really important. Find slots in your day (early morning, lunchtime?) when you can prioritise time for your workout, slot them into your diary as you would any work meeting and commit to it (as you would any work meeting). Miss that opportunity window and it’s really hard to carve out a new one.
Be prepared
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Know what floats your boat It sounds clichéd but to be motivated you’ve got to remember what you want in terms of giving you that vital energy and enthusiasm boost when you need it most, when the weather is at its worst during the spring, when you’re feeling on a particularly low ebb, when your goal just seems so far off it’s almost unreachable. Try getting a personal reason to exercise and reminding yourself of this. The memory of a loved one? Raising money for charitable cause close to your heart? To drop a dress size? Whatever your reason/s draw on them to drive you onwards.
Log onto Jantastic.me for a tool to log your goals, your workouts and find out how you can join a motivating team – all free.
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