Finding motivation to exercise on bad weather days

A lot has been studied on the topic of weather and productivity. Interestingly, the results vary. But this shouldn't come as a surprise since human beings are different and react to various conditions differently.

For example, I find myself much more productive when the weather is rainy. When the weather is nice, all I want to do is play outside. If you are the same, a primary reason for the bad weather-productive connection is that you are less distracted, more focused and work more efficiently when the weather is bad. The idea of being outdoors is not very attractive so you may as well get stuff done inside. 

However, for some people, a gloomy day can lead to a dreary mind. It's hard to get stuff done when you are feeling down.

Although most people would agree that weather that looks and feels good puts you into a good mood, and you are more likely to be productive when you are feeling good, you can't get much done in life if you plan your productivity around the weather.

Because bad weather can affect workout motivation, here are a few tips to help you get out of your warm cozy bed when it's dark and cold outside:

• Quite the negative self-talk - All or nothing thinking, jumping to conclusions emotional reasoning and magnifying a situation can keep a negative voice in your head, making it difficult to get a workout started. Learning to catch your brain in the early parts of a distorted thought process can help you realize that your negative talk is unnatural, exaggerated and overdramatic.

• Dress appropriately - There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing, right? To make your workout more safe and enjoyable, invest in good quality rain and/or cold weather gear. This makes outdoor training much more comfortable. Even a new outfit can help with motivation when it comes to working out indoors.

• Find an accountability partner - Meeting a friend for a workout gives you an incentive (and accountability) to show up. It's more difficult to cancel on a friend than it is to cancel on yourself. Plus, having a friend (or a group) keeps working out social and a little more enjoyable.
  
  
• Do it for the energy boost - Always remind yourself of how good you feel when a workout is complete. Even a 20-minute walk is better than nothing. Exercise almost always makes your body feel good because of endorphins. Plus, exercise can help minimize stress. And nothing beats the winter blues like a rush of energy.
  
  
• Set mini goals - Give yourself a monthly challenge to help you think in the short-term. Keep your mini goals realistic and achievable. It's easy to give up when your goals are too ambitious. Every month, evaluate where you are and what you have achieved and then add new challenges as you go. Celebrate each small goal met as each bit of progress adds up to something great.
  
  
• Keep it fun - If you don't enjoy what you are doing, it'll be difficult to stay consistent. Consider a group exercise class or a ballroom or hip-hop dancing class. Maybe a softball league or a master swim group? If you don't like running, don't run.  If you enjoy nature, discover the closest nature parks. Discover your talents and interests. Remember, exercise doesn't have to be boring and it should never be painful. You are more likely to stick with something if you are having fun.
  
  
• Make it part of your daily routine - When you are tired, busy or stressed, it's easy to make excuses for why you can't workout. You don't have to physically go to the gym to move your body. Take the stairs, park far away from the grocery store, walk around the park on your lunch break or do yoga while watching TV at night. Even taking breaks during your work day to move or standing during a phone call can be a great mood booster 

Get motivated

You’ve likely heard the saying “you won’t regret a workout when it’s over.”

Getting the workout started, however, is often the hard part.

It may seem like motivation is something that you have to find and either you have it or you don't.
When you have motivation - you crush your workouts.
When you don't have motivation - it's a struggle to get started and to stay committed to your workout.

Sometimes, the body has the energy to train but the mind has a dozen excuses to skip (or not finish) the workout.
And sometimes the mind is eager to accept the upcoming workout challenge but the body struggles to find energy with each movement.

If you agree with one or both of the statements above, you are normal.
Every athlete, from age grouper to professional, will fight for motivation at least a handful of times throughout the season.

To help you out, here are three simple ways to get yourself motivated when mind says “let’s go” but the body screams “heck no!”

A proper warm-up

Give yourself a chance to wake-up your body before you convince yourself that you are too exhausted to train.
To rev your cardio system as you transition from being sedentary to moving your body, allow 5-15 minutes of mobility and dynamic exercises to target the key muscle groups being used in your upcoming workout. Hip hikes, light foam rolling, walking lunges and leg or arm swings are a few examples of simple exercises that you can perform before your workout to slowly increase the heart rate and to improve range of motion.
This is extremely valuable for early morning sessions as well as when you workout after a long, stressful day of life.
Also, during peak season, you'll find that you need a bit more of a warm-up before you start feeling energized before a main set. Don't count yourself out of a good workout based on how you feel in the first 15 minutes of your warm-up. Give yourself 10-15 minutes more to get the endorphins flowing and you may surprise yourself.

Music
For an instant pick-me-up, there’s research to support that music can positively affect motivation and mood.  Don’t believe me?
Turn on your favorite jam before a workout and then envision yourself fist-pumping your way down your next race finish line.
Just like that - you have motivation.
Regardless if you prefer an enlightening or funny podcast to distract your brain during a workout or need the strong beats of techno, hip hop or alternative to get your heart pumping, the stimulating effects of music can help with many emotions, including minimizing low-spirited thoughts that often decrease the motivation to train.

Diet

It seems obvious that what you eat (or don’t eat) can affect your energy levels, digestive system and mood but with so much on your daily plate, nutrient timing, snacking and real-food meal planning can often be an afterthought for athletes.

To initiate a positive dietary change, always prioritize what you will eat before and after your workouts. By giving your workouts the spotlight, the effort is made to focus on food as fuel, which will help you train well and recover better. To ensure that you never train on empty, be sure to stock your workout bag with extra sport nutrition so you are always prepared. 
As for when you aren’t training, plan and prep a variety of wholesome real food options for easy meal prep so you can keep your body energized and in good health.  

Motivation - use it or lose it

We are nearing week three of January which means that all your new changes for 2014 will become new habits soon.

It doesn't matter if it is January, May or your birthday. Good habits require discipline, motivation, the right resources and hard work, on a daily basis. More so, change requires the ability to overcome obstacles and setbacks along the journey.

 If you have goals for yourself in 2014, motivation is something that you want on a daily basis. You have to have it to get you out of bed, you have to have it when the going gets tough and you have to have it when things don't go as planned.

But let's be honest that motivation is not something you can find every morning when you get out of bed especially when life gets in the way of your body composition, performance, career or health goals.

Because goals require more than consistent commitment, here are a few tips to keep your motivation going all year long.

1)) Accept that it's OK to not be motivated 24/7. By accepting uncontrollable circumstances in life that may affect your motivation, you will become more body and mind aware of what's within your control, instead of feeling frustrated or defeated.

2) Write down your goals and then visualize yourself accomplishing the goal before you go to bed every evening. After you visualize a stellar race performance, a change in body composition, a career change or a life-long trip, you can also visualize yourself working hard to reach your goal and how great it feels to put in the work.

3) Write down why you want to accomplish your goal. Because we know goals require hard work (if they didn't, you probably would have already accomplished that goal in the past without trying), you have to dedicate all your energy to that goal - when it counts. By having your goal on your mind, you will be mentally connected to your goal which will help you maintain motivation when times get tough. And when all else fails, go back to visualizing your goal when it is succeeded.

4) Be patient. Don't expect results or changes overnight. Have a step-by-step process on how you will reach your goal so that your motivation remains high as you adapt, physically and mentally to the journey of reaching your goal.

5) Be realistic. Many people lose motivation because a goal is not doable at this time in your life. That doesn't mean that it can't be accomplished a few weeks or months later or that moving closer to that goal will benefit you more than thinking it's not "the right time." Focus on yourself and your own goals and many times that will allow you to remove the outside pressure from comparing yourself to others. Sometimes you have to step outside of the bubble of people that think, act and live like you (or how you think you want to think, act and live) and re-evaluate your goals at this time. Perhaps now is not the time to train for an IM, you don't have to have the same body image as others and if you are just starting a new career or small business, do not compare the success of others with yourself right now.

6) Use your resources. Hire a coach, a dietitian, a sport psychologist. Talk with your family, your boss/co-workers. You are not expected to reach your goal on your own and motivation can be given by others - you don't have to find it yourself every single day. Don't overwhelm yourself with feeling stuck with your current skillset - invest in a team that can help you move closer to your goals.

7) Stay structured but flexible. Anytime you regret doing or not doing something, learn from it. Don't just tell yourself that you have failed and all is lost or ruined. As long as you don't give up, you can always move closer to your goals. Have a realistic plan but be flexible. Remember that you don't have to change the goal but sometimes you have to change the plan.

8) Learn from others. Do you know someone else who has experienced a setback similar to your own? How did she/he overcome that obstacle? Do you know someone who you can learn from or perhaps is experiencing something worse than you and you just need their positive energy and thoughts. There's nothing wrong with feeling defeated or without motivation but in today's society, instant motivation is at the reach of your computer or iphone - use them wisely.

9) Re-evaluate your goals every 4-6 weeks. Because it does take time to make changes and to adapt to change, you may find that your initial goal is not the goal you had in mind. This isn't saying that you aren't able to commit to the goal or that you are weak or failing but priorities change in life. Sometimes a goal can require extreme measures once you actually put in the work and when you consider the bigger picture, that initial goal isn't worth the stress, commitment and often, isolation from friends/family. Balance is important when you have a goal and your hard work toward your goal should benefit your quality of life as well.

10) Take breaks. It's unrealistic to commit to the same style of eating, training or living for 365 days. If you have ever taken an extra day off from work "just because", enjoyed a 3 day weekend for a quick vacation or spent a week with your family in a new location, you know how great it can feel mentally and physically check-out from the normal routine for a short period of time. If you feel controlled by structure, learn to enjoy a little break every now and then to re-charge yourself and to keep yourself motivated to work hard for your ultimate goal.

5 tips to boost fitness motivation

Weight loss and exercising more among the most common resolutions every New Year day. And surprisingly, statistics are not all that bad – about 60% of people who make a resolution will stay consistent for around 6 months!

But since we all know that exercising comes with a host of mind/body benefits, it's important that exercise is part of your lifestyle. You don't have to run a 5K or do a triathlon to be healthy or even join a gym. You just have to move your body and do so daily (and often). 

Product spotlight:
Trigger point therapy
Oakley Women

Brooks Running

Garmin
Yurbuds
Fage yogurt

On Monday 1/6/14 I did a segment with WJXT4 The Local Station on "Tips to maintain exercise motivation in the New Year.  

If you are interested, you can WATCH HERE

TIP: TRACK YOUR PROGRESSThe best way to reach a fitness goal is to be consistent. We don’t want perfection, we want progress. It’s easy to sign up for a gym membership and then tell yourself that you are going to workout for 1 hour a day, 7 days a week until you reach your fitness goal. But that’s not practical to be superhuman in your first week of working out with a new or improved plan. In order to set yourself up for fitness success you have to adapt to the stress you put on your body and then you have to recover.
I recommend to write down short and long term goals and then have a plan and track your progress in a journal. Start slow. Every two weeks you should be making a small change in your routine to move you closer to your goals

TIP: BE YOUR OWN COACHHaving a personal trainer or coach is great for they help you make the most efficient use of your time and customize a plan to your own goals and lifestyle. But with the help of apps on your phone or tablet, you can be your own coach to keep yourself motivated with purpose to every workout. Also, use social media to let others know about your workouts for accountability or join a group so that your friends can make sure you don't fall behind while others in your group are making fitness gains. 

TIP: REDUCE RISK FOR INJURY

Before every workout, dedicate 5-10 minutes to warming up your muscles with dynamic stretching or foam rolling, especially if you workout first thing in the morning or after sitting at work all day. Foam rolling is an effective and affordable way to wake up your tendons and muscles. After your workout, light stretching is recommended. Also, to give yourself a little "THANK YOU BODY" time and to slow down, I recommend at least 1 hour of yoga per week to increase range of motion and flexibility. 

TIP: NEW GEAR = INSTANT MOTIVATION

Having the right gear is instant motivation. Anytime you are feeling a plateau in your workout routine, by a new outfit or consider using technology to give you instant feedback during your workouts. For clothing, choose moisture wicking material that is breathable and flexible. If you workout in the dark, choose reflective gear. Also, layers are great as your body warms during a workout.  And of course, don’t forget to protect your eyes even in cloudy weather. And to clear up any confusion, your glasses should not give you a headache or hurt behind your ears or on your nose, or slip off your face.  For athletic shoes, several run stores like the Jacksonville Running Company can do a gait analysis to help you determine the right shoe for you. 

Also, music is a great way to improve your mood, just be sure to get a good pair of headphones that allow you to move without the buds slipping out of your ears (especially when you sweat).

TIP: RECOVERY NUTRITION

After you have damaged your body, it's time to do the serious work...recover! This is where the magic happens. To be consistent you want to adapt to training stress and recover to repeat it all again during the next workout. Cow's milk is a great recovery drink to deliver a nice mix of carbohydrates, protein, fluids and electrolytes to your damaged tissues. Your type of recovery nutrition may vary based on your fitness routine. 

And speaking of instant motivation - NEW GOGGLES to wear at swim practice this evening! (Thanks Karel!)
Speedo Women's Vanquisher Mirrored