I’ve been involved in fitness in one way or another since I was eight years old. As a kid, I always had coaches who motivated me to stay in shape.
After high school I joined the Marine Corps and you can bet, I had plenty of people in the Marines to motivate me as well. I also taught aerobics for a while and I had my students to motivate me during that time.
Once I got out of the Marines I had kids and I decided to set up a home gym so I could still workout, as I always have, without having to worry about dragging the kids out of the house every day to go to the gym.
That’s when I discovered that my fitness efforts throughout the years have been, to a large degree, externally motivated.
Well, I for one, was in shock!
I always thought that I was a motivator, not a motivatee – yet, when I tried to remain dedicated to my fitness goals while using my home gym, I failed miserably.
Feeling compelled to stay in shape, and recognizing the financial investment that I had put into my home gym, I was determined to find ways to motivate myself to stay fit. Here are the things that have worked for me.
Keep a Journal
The first time someone told me to keep a journal as a source of motivation I thought they were crazy. There’s no way a journal is going to get me to forgo an extra hour of sleep to get up and workout – or so I thought!
Begrudgingly, I decided to try keeping a journal since I was seemingly incapable of working up the discipline to workout without some sort of help. Wouldn’t you know, the journal worked! Here’s why.
When I began, I knew that I was woefully out of shape according to my own personal standards. So, I got a fresh notebook and entered my current weight and measurements (taken at the waist, hips, thighs and upper arms). I wrote down a workout plan for two weeks, which included a training split and which exercises I would perform for each muscle group. I left blanks to add the amount of weight I used and how many reps I performed during each workout.
You’d be amazed at how compelled you’ll be to complete a workout once it’s written down and you have to fill in the blanks or make a giant annotation that you skipped that days workout.
I struggled to stick to my journal for one month, at which time I weighed myself again and did my measurements. When I went to write my new measurements in my journal I saw that I was not only losing weight, but I was losing inches. Looking at my journal everyday and seeing the progress I’m making written in black and white gives me the reassurance that I really can be a home gym junkie, I just need to keep myself motivated and always look forward to the next day’s workout.
Get Your Family Involved
Home fitness can be beneficial to the entire family. What better way to instill the fundamentals of healthy living into your children than to include them in your home workouts.
My kids are 21 months old and 4 months old – needless to say, I have days when the last thing I want to think about is working out. So, I put in some crazy music and I dance like a mad woman with my 21 month old. He joins in the fun, but spends a good portion of the time laughing at his loony mom. I pick him up and dance with him and I wrestle with him some as well. By the end of the hour he’s all tired out and my heart’s racing from a pretty decent workout.
If your kids are older ask them to count repetitions for you or to help you stretch – let them be your “personal trainer” – they’ll love the opportunity to tell you what to do for a change. If you can afford it, get them a mini-trampoline to bounce on while you do your cardio on the treadmill. There are so many ways to get your kids involved – you just need to figure out what they’ll look forward to doing.
Once workouts become routine in your household and your kids really enjoy them, you won’t be able to skip a workout without getting hounded by your new found “workout partners” – Talk about motivation!
Change Your Diet
What? Like trying to find motivation to workout isn’t hard enough, now I’m going to ask you to diet as well? Hmm, sounds a little unreasonable, right? Yup, I thought so too. But again, I was wrong!
The same person who advised me to keep a workout journal advised me to keep a nutrition journal as well. Of course, I resisted in the beginning, but eventually gave in only to realize that the two journals work together, not only to keep me motivated, but to allow me to get the greatest results from my overall fitness plan.
In my food journal I use to write down everything that I planned to eat compared to everything that I actually ate. I also wrote all of the calories, carbohydrates, proteins and fats that were in my food choices. This allowed me to compare my food journal to my exercise journal on days that I was sluggish or extra sore from a workout. I was able to better adjust my diet and exercise plans by determining what eating plans gave me the most energy for workouts and recovery.
Use Exercise Videos
A lot of people, myself included, have a difficult time finding motivation from workout videos; however, there are some really great ones out there that may work for you.
I personally have found that the Cathy Friedrich workout videos are extremely motivating. She brings a lot of energy and intensity to her videos. Crunch Fitness also makes some high quality videos.
I don’t use videos as the foundation of my workout program, but I do use them once in a while the change things up a little bit. When I feel my motivation beginning to falter, I skip my planned workout and do an exercise video. Usually, the change in my original plan is enough to get me back on track the next day.
So, that about sums up my transition from motivatee to motivator. It took a little while and a lot of patience, but I was eventually able to get on track with my home gym workouts. Using the tips above and making sure that you get adequate rest between workouts so you don’t burn yourself out, I’m confident that you too can make the most out of your home gym experience.
Top Suppliers of Home Gym Equipment Online
Related posts on HomeGymJunkie.com
