I think “workout consistently” has been on my new year’s resolution list for about 3 years. In the past, there’s been periods of my life when I was able to have a regular workout schedule, but it would always stop after I got busy with something else. For the past year, I have been able to finally commit to a consistent workout schedule. It definitely changed and fluctuated but overall, I’ve been able to keep exercise a priority in my life.
Here are some of my tips to implement exercise on a regular basis in your life!
Discover what type of movement you love to do
The first thing I recommend is to just start moving your body. Try out different exercises, whether that’s lifting weights, walking, running, barre, dance cardio workouts, pilates or yoga! Just testing out these different ways of moving your body, even if it’s not on a regular basis will give you a good foundation to understand what you enjoy. You will not be able to build a consistent workout routine if you don’t fill it with workouts that you enjoy. Instead, you’ll always dread it.
Our bodies are all different and will respond better to different types of movement, so see what it likes. For me, I had a dance background and used to do pilates workouts at home in high school, so I knew that I liked dance cardio workouts and barre. I tried weight lifting and HIIT workouts during university and while I was at home and I found that I enjoyed those too! Now I implement all of those types of movement into my workout schedule, focusing mainly on weight lifting and HIIT for now.
Set a goal for yourself
Once you’ve discovered what types of movement you like to do, it’s time to set a goal. This should include your goal of why you want to start implementing a regular exercise routine and how often you will start exercising. Your goal can be fitness focused, or overall health focused. When you’re starting to implement exercise into your routine, start with a small frequency goal. Diving into working out too much can burn you out so start with a goal of moving your body once or twice a week. Then once that consistency feels attainable, you can adjust your goals to increase it if you’d like. Having this goal in mind will help drive motivation or it will simply help keep you disciplined!
When starting out, my goal for including regular exercise into my routine was to lose some weight and to live a healthier lifestyle. I also wanted to workout at least twice a week. I knew from experience that the endorphins I felt after exercising were great, so I wanted it to be a regular experience. Both of these goals have continued to motivate me to exercise, but now I definitely focus more on the healthier lifestyle goal!
Schedule your workout like an appointment with yourself
One thing that I found really helpful when I was starting out was to schedule my workouts into my calendar. As an avid planner, I had everything in my calendar and knew that if I added my workout, I would feel like I needed to do it since I already made the plan. This also can help you reframe how you view exercise. Exercise should not be something you dread, rather time that you’re taking to care for yourself. When you add a workout into your calendar, you are scheduling an appointment with yourself.
I also like adding in what my workout will be in the description part of the event. This way, I’ll be prepared before I start my workout and make it easy for me to make it happen.
Make a workout plan
Along the same lines, I find it a lot easier to stick to a consistent workout schedule when I have a plan in place! This can be a plan that you created for yourself or a a plan that someone else created. Having this plan means that you can schedule and plan your workouts in advance and know exactly what you will be doing. I find that this helps my mindset prepare for the workout and not be surprised about what I’m doing when I begin the workout. Create or find a plan that works for you based on the types of movement you like to do and how often you want to exercise.
At the moment, I’ve been doing Sydney Cummings’ Summertime Fine 2.0 workout program, which I love! It has elements of weight lifting, HIIT, yoga/pilates and stretching. Having this plan in place makes it a lot easier to jump right into a workout because it’s all here for me, without needing me to think about it.
Wear your workout clothes first things in the morning
A tip that I’ve recently implemented while working from home is to put on my workout clothes when I get changed in the morning! Usually when you first wake up, you have the most motivation that will only go down throughout the day. So when you’re motivated to move your body, put on those workout clothes so you have no excuse to workout later.
If this isn’t possible for you because of work or school, try to at least lay out your workout clothes so they’re ready for you when it’s time to workout. It’s all about doing things to make it easier to build this habit of exercising until it’s unconscious.
Surround yourself with people who have similar goals
Having a community is a great way to keep up your motivation and discipline to exercise! This could be an online community, following a health and fitness influencer, or having an exercise buddy. Knowing that there are other people who have similar goals will keep you in check and remind yourself of your goals.
Remind yourself of why you’re exercising
Lastly, when the motivation is low or you’re not feeling like exercising, it’s time to remind yourself of your why. Pull out your goals and remember why you’re wanting to build this consistent workout routine. Knowing your deep motivation for implementing this habit will (hopefully) bring back your motivation and drive to exercise.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, moving your body is a habit, and it will take motivation and discipline to stay consistent. I hope these habits will help you implement a workout routine because it has honestly changed my life for the better. Let me know how these tips go for you by commenting down below, emailing me or sending me an Instagram DM!
