Why Do You Exercise?

If you are finding it difficult to stay focused on your exercise plan, there may be a few problems. First, you may not be doing the exercise that is best suited to your natural inclinations and second, you may be exercising for the wrong reasons. When it comes to getting healthy and sticking to an exercise plan, it is all too easy to fail. You need to set yourself up for success and the rest will easily fall into place.

Sit down for a minute and write down the reasons why you want to exercise.

Take your time and really think about each one. Now, once you’re done with that, next to each one, write an excuse why you don’t have to exercise. For example, let’s say that your first entry was “So that I look better.” Your refutation may look like this, “People should accept me for the way that I am.”

Go through each entry on your list and find an out for every reason you have given.

It shouldn’t be too hard, since most of us can usually come up with pretty decent reasons for avoiding things. When you’re done, take a hard look at your list and figure out what is really important to you.

Now, start an entirely new list. Find reasons to start exercising that you cannot refute.

Keep going until you find at least one good reason to exercise that you do not have an excuse to get out of. Don’t worry, it may take a while, especially if you are used to avoiding exercise. This isn’t about shame, it’s about finding the motivation inside of yourself to get the job done.

Once you have at least one reason, it’s time to do some goal setting.

Once again, we’re going to go through the same process. Write down your goals, and then come up with excuses for not achieving them. Start a new list of goals until you find the ones that are irrefutable. Take the time to really think each one through.

At this point, you should have at least one solid reason to exercise and one solid goal that you want to achieve. Now, it’s time to figure out how to get to that point. If you are already exercising, but aren’t quite happy with the plan you’ve picked, now is the best time to make that change and find one that is better suited for you.

List all of the exercises you know that you can do, whether it’s aerobics, strength training, walking or jogging.

Go through the procedure of finding excuses again, and narrow down the list until you come up with at least one type of exercise that you feel you can stick with. This will be your means of reaching your goal.

Now, you’ve got to put it all into action. If you stick to your plan, and remember that you have no excuses for backing out of it, you will start to see results. Hang in there, success is possible!