How to Get into an Exercise Routine - Five Tips

Feeling motivated to workout every day can be a challenge. Getting into an exercise routine can often be more difficult than simply starting to exercise. However, turning an exercise routine into part of your lifestyle may be the most important part of reaching your fitness goals.

Everyone has different approaches for keeping motivated, but here are the top five ways to create an exercise routine that you can own and stick to.
 
Make Fitness Fun
Exercise doesn’t have to be a chore. The word “routine” is often associated with something negative and boring, so why not change the thinking from exercise routine, to “me time.” Find an activity that you greatly enjoy that gets you moving and shaking and it will certainly be easier to participate on a regular basis. In fact, you may actually look forward to it!

Sports, hiking, bicycling, and, of course, Jazzercise dance fitness are all great ways to turn an exercise routine into something more – and take the “work” out of your workout.
 
Bring a Friend
Group activities are a fantastic way to keep yourself honest, because if you don’t your friends will! Planning to carpool with a friend adds that little bit of extra accountability that, after a long day of work, might be just enough to motivate you to keep up your routine. Beyond carpooling, make plans with your friends after you complete your workout. Treat yourself to dinner or go to coffee immediately afterward. Not only will that provide a reward for sticking to your routine, it has integrated the exercise routine right into your life.
 
Make it Public
Similar to working out with friends or in a group, sharing your fitness goals with the world helps keep your exercise routine on the straight and narrow. Make a bold proclamation on Facebook about your workout goals and ask your social media friends to check on you. Another method is to put a calendar right there on your refrigerator for your family and friends to see or use a fitness tracker. 
 
Don’t Beat Yourself Up
A successful exercise routine needs to be reasonable and achievable. Trying to work out twice a day every single day, while not touching a single carb and managing your family and work, just doesn’t seem sustainable.” If you miss a day of your exercise routine, do not punish yourself. Sometimes life calls for missing a work out — it doesn’t mean that your routine is over! Just start right back where you left off.
 
Define your Goals
Understanding your fitness goals, whether it is to lose weight, be healthy, look good in a swimsuit or just feel better about yourself, can be a great motivator for sticking with an exercise routine. However, if your reason does not line up with what is really important to you your commitment may fade. As Steven Covey, author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People asks of us, “What one thing if I did on a regular basis would have a tremendous positive impact on my life?” Put that in context of your exercise goals and surely you will stick to an exercise routine.