Exercise Motivation

This hub is written to answer the question: "How do you motivate yourself to exercise every day? I did my 3rd day of 20min exercises. I want to move up to 40-60minutes a day, but I can't find the motivation to do it. I will start of strong by soon as I get to 15 minutes I rush through the last 5 just to get it done and over with. I use music but it doesn't seem to help! Is there any way I can make housework a great workout? I do a big clean every other day, usually for an hour. I want a way to burn tons of calories without even realizing I'm doing it."

There are several key components of an exercise plan in this question. First, how can someone tap into the motivation that is necessary to begin and maintain an exercise plan. Secondly, should someone increase their exercise time from twenty minutes to a much longer workout? And finally, can housework be exercise?

Motivation to exercise is a tough one for me. I hate to sweat. I hate to exercise. However, I know that I have to do so. I work from home and sit at a desk for most of the day. If I don't get up and move, not only do I gain weight, but I also begin to have problems with my feet and ankles swelling from sitting so long.

Because I would definitely like to continue losing weight rather than gaining, I make myself exercise almost every day. In order to be motivated to exercise, I think about my fitness goals and I have recruited an exercise partner. I'm a very goal-oriented person, so setting achievable fitness goals is a good source of motivation for me.

Having a friend join me in exercising has really helped me push myself to exercise on days when I just don't feel like it. My friend and I do not exercise together. Instead, we have a friendly competition on Fitocracy.com. Fitocracy is a social fitness website where members can track their workouts.

When the users enter their workouts for the day, Fitocracy assigns point values to what they have done. My friend and I try to see who can get the most exercise points each day. On occasion, we challenge each other to an intense day and push ourselves to really get a lot of points to see who can get more. So, Fitocracy has been a great motivator for me.

Whether or not someone should increase their workout time from twenty minutes to forty to sixty minutes is a subject of debate. The old school exercise gurus may say that the longer that you exercise the better. The newer approach is to work for shorter periods of time, fifteen to twenty minutes, with more intensity such as high impact interval training (HIIT).

I think the exerciser has to consider what would work best for their goals and their schedule. For me, I prefer to do one to three twenty-minute workouts most days rather than doing a longer workout that is less intense. However, there is one long workout that I enjoy, so I do that whenever I want to.

I also use a stationary bike and kettlebell weights sometimes. Variety helps me to not get completely bored with workouts. Motivation is already a struggle. I wouldn't want to make it worse by making it as boring as possible.

To answer the last part of your question, any physical activity can be exercise. Whether or not you count your normal chores and other physical activity as your exercise for the day is up to you and your goals. For me, I think of the additional physical activity that I do beyond my workout as a bonus. It's more opportunities to burn some more calories. Therefore, I don't count it as my workout. If a person's goal is just to be moving every day, then I could see why that person may want to count housework as their exercise.

Good luck with you on your road to fitness!