Seeing success and reaching your fitness goal takes time. You don’t go from a sedentary lifestyle to running an eight-minute mile overnight. You also can’t shed 40 pounds in a week or build strong muscles in a few days. Reaching tough goals takes time, so in the meantime, you have to find ways to provide incentive. Whether you have weekly benchmarks to reach or decide to reward yourself after a tough workout, finding ways to motivate yourself until you see a difference or reach your primary fitness goal is important.
There are a number of ways to reward yourself.
Probably the way I most frequently hear from people working out in the gym involves resting and relaxing. Whether you choose to take a nap after your workout, take a long, relaxing soak in the tub or simply watch television or other video for an hour to provide mental and physical rest, it’s all good. Some people opt for a massage after a workout and that’s relaxing, plus provides health benefits for the body, just as a nap does, allowing your muscles to heal.
Find something you want to purchase, but think it’s an extravagance.
Everyone has that workout outfit they’d love, but the price is a bit more than their budget allows or a special treat they’d feel guilty giving themselves. Save for it by paying yourself for a workout and let that guilt go to the sidelines. Pay yourself for a tough workout. You could even create a scale with a normal workout being a specific amount, like a dollar, and a tough one that’s worth more, such as $2 or $3. Just put that money in the jar at the end of a tough workout, knowing you’re getting toward your goal. You’ll be working out harder each time just to reach your goal.
Opt for the workout to be the reward.
You don’t have to do workouts you hate. There are so many ways to get exercise. If you’ve always wanted to ride your bike to another city or another part of your town, that can be a tough workout in itself. That tough workout can be the reward for getting into shape to do it. In essence, the reward is the tough workout itself. Getting fit isn’t just about losing weight. Sometimes, it’s about allowing you to do things you didn’t have the strength and stamina to do previously and that can be very rewarding.
- If you don’t make it a habit or overdo it, opting for a sweet treat after a tough workout can be a reward. If you set your sights to one sweet treat as a reward every month, but only if you complete a tough workout on a regular basis, you can savor that sweet treat down to the last crumb.
- Tracking your progress can be a reward in itself. Track every exercise, the number of reps and sets, amount of weight if you’re doing strength training and even how difficult it was, you’ll be able to see how much you’ve improved, which is quite rewarding.
- Get reservations at the hottest health food restaurant in town. It may be pricey, so you may have to rack up several tough workouts, but eating a healthy meal with all the amenities of a five star restaurant will not only provide a great reward, give you more ideas for your own menu.
- Buy something new to wear. Start accumulating all the trappings for a new gym outfit. Buy shorts, shoes, socks, hat and a shirt that all go together, but get only one after a hard workout. That way you can motivate yourself to work out harder several different times.
For more information, contact us today at SkinSport Fitness Center