How to Make Yourself Get Up and GO?

Great advice!

1. changing into workout clothes
2. telling myself that I only have to workout for 10 minutes, then I can quit. Usually, once I'm started I don't feel like quitting.
3. I don't usually have time for TV, so I let myself watch an episode of something while I'm on the treadmill. A little bribery goes a long way.

I think we all have those days (or weeks)! I go to the gym on my way from work to home. I change into my workout clothes at work. Once they're on, that means I'm going to the gym and not going straight home to sit on the couch. I have an hour-long commute - it's a long time to talk yourself out of working out or rationalize why it's okay to take another rest day. So I have to lock my decision in before I even get in the car!

My dog gets me out for our two mile walk almost everyday. He doesn't like the rain so we skip those days. I have been very consistent because he follows me all over the house until I do take him. I do upper body workouts and the thigh master is great. I have the old one and it is working perfectly after 15 years. I wonder if that indicates how much I've used it. Have a great day. I'm from California, everyone says that.

I sign up for a class at my gym. Paying extra money helps me get out the door. It starts at 6am and the gym opens at 5am. I figure if I have to get up early for my class I can get up earlier and get to the gym when they open. That gives me an hour to walk/run the track before class and then another hour for class. 2 hours at the gym and I am done by 7am!

tell yourself you will to something for 5-10 minutes. most of the time, once you are moving, you can keep going to do more.

I lost 50 lbs, and I'm maintaining.

I don't want to go back!

These are great suggestions! Thanks for sharing.

On one of the Leslie Sansone workouts she says, "No one has ever said, 'I wish I hadn't worked out today.'"

I try to keep that in mind when i don't feel like getting started.

I promised Myself I would do it.

Edited by: WHEELS54 at: 4/1/2014 (13:33)

What has really worked for me this winter is signing up for a class I enjoy and then scheduling it at the same time and days for several weeks ahead. Since these classes need at least a 2 hour cancelation lead, I am unlikely to cancel at the last minute just because I don't feel like going. Once I am there, I always enjoy my workout and I never regret going.

Another trick that I use is to tell myself that I am only going for 10 minutes. Once I'm there I always stay for the full workout. Only once or twice in the past did I only stay for 20-30 minutes. Even that is better than not going at all.

These are great posts. I enjoyed reading them. Thanks everyone!

Susan

Keep telling myself how much better I feel when I start my day with a little me time to workout.

good one

haha I usually can get up early cause I told myself that after finish exercise I can go back sleep.

I realize how far I have come and then think about the people that helped motivate me to move in the first place.

Just don't wait.

My window is exceedingly tiny.

I am diabetic, low-carbing to within an inch of my life. And frail.

Before I get hungry (too easy, too all the time), before I feel angry (I decide to get the h*ll off the internet for a while; sometimes (other) social media make me angry); before I feel lonely (the first 10 minutes working out alone at home, even with a friendly video instructor who has immediacy to his or her delivery); before I feel tired (sometimes when I least expect it...)

I just don't wait.

[... and it is far too easy to wait too long, if the workout you have planned is one that you will not want to be drawn towards ...]

Edited by: TINIERTINA at: 3/31/2014 (23:11)

I feel like that everyday pretty much. My only trick is reminding myself how I feel afterwards, once it is done...I feel accomplished, especially on days where I didn't want to do it at all. I like to read as well, so I take my book on my treadmill and put it on the screen so I can read while I walk. It is particularly motivating when it is a really good book, then I tell myself i can read it only when on the treadmill, I have logged more than a few 60 minute workouts because I didn't want to put the book down!

I've been maintaining 4 years now and have that issue sometimes. Last Fall all I wanted to do were outdoor nature walks with my dogs and a camera. I love to capture the wildlife, and enjoy the peace of nature. I justified it by the mere fact I was moving, and each day no matter what, I at least do 10 min of something, even when I just don't want to, and I normally keep going. I don't see a problem with that. I'm moving, and boost the walk at times, I'm getting some "me-time", and a mental break from the stress of the work day. I also had a nice break from my monotonous program, and now I have a new well-rounded routine, which includes nature walks.

I believe it is just as beneficial for your overall health, just not the high cal burn you could force yourself into.

It's all about "balance"!

What a Great Idea, to download a book, on MP3, and listen while walking. I have to learn the technology, because I think it's simple to download onto smartphone, then attach headsets. Lace shoes, and exit the building!

This reminds me of a TV show I saw once where a psychologist described being asked by a patient, "Doctor, how do I stop biting my nails?" His response was, "Keep your hands out of your mouth." I know it's not that easy, but sometimes you have to use the force of your willpower to push your body where it doesn't want to go.

Personally, If I were taking my dog for long hikes, I would would put that in the win column. Could you do more? Sure, but don't beat yourself up if that's all you do on certain days.

There's no replacement for good, old-fashioned discipline.

If reading is your activity of choice, then download a book on mp3. Then commit to only listening to it while you walk or during your workout. Make sure it's a good suspense novel so you'll be aching to hear the next part. :)

For me, thinking about all of my previous failed weight loss attempts is enough to get me going. There is a saying that goes something like, "A year ago, you will be glad you started today." That's my motivation - to spend 2014 establishing healthy habits and being able to look back and see how far I've come.

I have a very large dog that must be walked everyday for at LEAST and hour. This makes sure I am out and moving. We walk off leash in the bush.

I post my exercise intentions on Facebook. If I post it I will do it. It is then easier to follow through than it is to explain why I did not exercise. lol

Sometimes I will trick myself by saying something like, "I only have to walk 5K today." Then when I get to my 5K turn around spot I will be feeling pretty good and I will go on for 5 miles. I am pretty sure this logic would work for circling the block too.

I always tell people it is easier to get up and walk around the block than it is to sit and think about walking around the block.

Be thankful that you have the ability and fitness to both hike with the dog and do yoga on the same day. Many would love to be able to do both in one day. Be grateful for that gift. Someday you might not be able to.

Plus nothing nags you better than a hopeful dog wanting to go for a walk. :)

Edited by: WOODSYLIBERAL at: 3/31/2014 (00:48)

I thought hiking with dogs is a great idea to get up and go. I haven't been motivated all winter to move any more than necessary, now that it's starting to warm up, all my excuses are gone. Early morning is the best time, so I'm aiming for before work. I know I just have to create the habit, then it won't be hard My alarm is set for 1/2 hr earlier than normal for tomorrow.

I have been in maintenance for three years now, and that still happens to me a lot.

Sometimes just getting up doing some pushups or air squats will shift my attitude enough, and I'll then be motivated to work out. Sometimes lying to myself (come on, it's just 15 minutes, you can do anything for 15 minutes, right?) or time travel (just remember how great this feels when you're done!!) will work. Some days, ALL I do are 5 minute intervals of "squat therapy", stretching, and walking.

And yeah, some days (like yesterday, when it was raining and the only thing I wanted to attend to was my Kindle) are all day reading fests where I barely move at all. Since those are now rare, I don't allow myself to freak out about it. It's just a day of rest that I wanted (and perhaps needed) to take, not The Beginning of the End.

I try to not get too hung up on one or two things that worked suddenly not working for *this* day's workout or whatever. I will either allow myself to be human and have a day of failure, or I'll try something different and see if that works better.

I agree, for me I just have to do it, try not to think about it. You're always going to be glad you did it afterward, so the trick is silencing that internal debate beforehand -- assuming, of course, that you know you're healthy and are just tired/lazy, not ill or injured.

I wake up at 5am before work now and work out. I have learned not to allow myself to have debates in my mind when the alarm goes off about whether I should stay in bed or not. I just get up and go. The longer I let myself lie there, even if I tell myself it's just for a few minutes, the higher the chance I won't work out.

From my experience, it is best for me to just get up and do it. The more I think about it, the less likely I am to go. Even if it is just going for a longer walk on my way to the grocery store, I just set my mind to it and go. While I'm walking, I give myself positive thoughts like "isn't it so nice to be able to stretch my legs? I'm so much healthier than when I just sat on the couch. I can't believe that I use to drive to high school in a car when it was only blocks away. The fresh air is so refreshing. Feel that legs? Doesn't it feel good to be used?" It keeps me going and helps me feel refreshed. Forcing my mind to think good things about exercising or even just extra steps in my day helps me to get up and do it again or even do more the next day.

I am realizng more and more the relationship of my "don't feel like it" to the fact that I haven't been doing it and truly believe what they say about endorphins from excercise. Once I come out of a slump and get going again I realize how much better I'm feeling about life in general and the easier it is for me to get out to excercise. I go in cycles of motivated and not. I wonder how much further I'd be in my weightloss if I had been consistent all along, but in the end, I still haven't given up completely and still making progress even if it is slow.

Ok so I don't believe everything I see on Dr. Oz but the other day I saw something that made the light bulb go off. In the winter time we don't get enough sunlight or Vitamin D. He recommended taking a multivitamin in the winter with Vitamin D to help with depression. I don't get it real bad but I get it bad enough that I probably will try it next winter season to see if it helps.

i love working out i do 40 minute 5 days a week .i feel good about myself now . each day i work hard hard to get to my goal

I will just say if I am tired or feel less than perfect for a workout...... I will just give it ten min. and if I still feel the same then I will see what my body needs. Mostly when I start I and give it ten min. I keep going and feel great by cool down. It is a trick our mind plays on us. Our Minds are tricky things. I can be in severe pain from premature RA but it doesn't serve to help me to be inactive. Everyday I am active is a day I can avoid serious meds and possibly a wheelchair.

I move away from seeing myself in a Wheelchair and toward seeing myself wobbling around ( still moving) little and gray with great grandchildren playing all around in my 90s. Good Luck!

I find that I just have to make myself do it. I start with 5 minutes, then keep adding to it, soon 90 minutes have went by. Sometimes I only push myself for 15 minutes, but that is ok, because I am still moving. For me, walking my dogs gives me great joy because I check out the looks on their faces and can see their utter happiness-it gives me reason to walk longer. Their energy also helps me stay motivated because they walk at a fast pace, so I have to also, in order to keep up with them.

I do the things that I like to do

I like being outside so I make sure some part of my workout is outside

Some days all of my workout is outside and that is great

Also as someone said goal setting I did my first half marathone Nov 2013 because of goal setting

New goal is run up 96 flights of stairs in under 25 minutes - tnis is motivating the hell out of me because 96 is tough in 25 minutes and I am lovin that

I have been getting up early so I can get on the treadmill before work. I can't believe how great I feel after. Totally worth it!

Just do it! You will feel awesome afterwards! Like someone else said, maybe you're not doing what you enjoy? Maybe you don't enjoy the videos? It sounds like you are hiking with your dog, that's awesome too! Some movement is better than no movement. I was experimenting with SP videos, youtube videos, etc. and while I liked the variety for a while, it was still a chore. Then I challenged my sister to run a 5k with me, more to get her motivated to exercise than for myself. I hate running! But after 4 weeks of it, and disciplining myself to just do it 3 times a week, no excuses, it's getting easier. And I love how I feel afterward. And I'm going to love how I feel completing my first 5k at the age of 42 in one more month too. So I guess my takeaway is maybe try something new? Set a goal for yourself. And keep hiking with your dog in the meantime!

Going back to a full time position after 10 years has been an adjustment. I gave myself two weeks to adjust and now need to get up at 5:00 am and become one with my treadmill. During that two weeks I got to work early and had time to walk around fitness track at work for 15 minutes. Weekends are now precious and am spring cleaning and working a lot of muscles. That's a two win deal exercise and a clean house.

I know that I'll feel good after I start exercising. I always do. So no matter how I feel before I start, no matter how badly I want to talk myself out of the workout, I remind myself of that good feeling and push through.

Energy levels fluctuate throughout the day. I ride them like waves and get do my exercise in bursts when I have energy rather than force myself to work out when I am tired. It has made a world of difference to my overall fitness.

Yes, do it for the dog!

One of my favorite quotes I've picked up in my life's journey is, "Motivation does not always precede action." (If anyone knows the source, please let me know!)

Back in the day, there was the Nike "Just Do It" campaign. I had that slogan on my favorite workout t-shirt, and chanted it in my head frequently. Once I took action, the motivation took care of itself. Not that I haven't had to re-boot a number of times!


I also blogged about this not too long ago:
www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_
individual.asp?blog_id=5617541
Hope something here helps!

I sometimes tell myself that I only need to get in the pool for 10 minutes, and if I still don't want to be exercising, I can leave when those 10 minutes are up. I left once, went home and promptly threw up, and ended up being sick for week.

My take-away? Sometimes you're just feeling lazy, but sometimes your body is trying to tell you something.

by wanting to be fit more than the desire to be a slug.

Also, habit. I now have 14 years of making myself get up and work out whether or not I want to..not going to waste time arguing with myself anymore. It got old after about 6 months.

Thanks for the replies! Waking up earlier isn't really an option as I'm already waking up around 4, 5 at the latest, to get to work most days - when I'm off I always work out in the morning.

And it's not that I don't have fun working out, because I mostly do, I just have spells where all I want to do is completely inactive things and I think it has to do with my mood - it makes me less willing to even try getting up.

And maybe I am being too hard on myself. Before I started SP a couple of years ago I would have made any excuse not to take the dog on a good, long hike - and now I do it almost every day, even when I don't feel like it unless I'm really not in the mood and can get my boyfriend to do it instead. That's why I love this place. :)

I know how it feels some days, especially when the old aches and pains are acting up. However, I give myself a talking to and I know that movement will actually help the aches and pains. I also look how far I have come so far and review my goals to talk myself around.
Exercise is the real key to good health and weight loss. Exercise reduces those inches and firms those muscles.

I log a lot of miles a week, and sometimes I just don't feel like it... i tell myself to just do it for 10 minutes... it almost always works out to a lot more. I also take a complete rest day every now and then. And you might consider slowly tacking on more distance on your dog hikes to make them count for more of your fitness. I find if I don't WANT to do something, I usually won't. Better to maximize what I WILL do than to try and force myself to do what I hate.

A friend and SP gave me one of the best quotes/tools I have for these days: "When you feel like giving up, remember why you started." When I started my journey, I allowed myself one vanity related goal (I want to be able to make more clothing from conventional patterns and I need to lose a lot of weight for that) and challenged myself to come up with 2 more that had nothing to do with how I looked. The first was to climb Mount Si and Rainier in the next 5-7 years, the second was to be able to do a 1-week backpacking trip at Yellowstone without having to stop. Having these three meant that if one wasn't enough, I had 2 more very vivid things I could remind myself I was working for.

The other day when I was straining towards the end of my workout and wanting to give up and track the exercise without finishing it all the way, I reminded myself that my body wouldn't get the benefits of those last few reps if I only pretended I did them, and that I'll never be able to make it up the mountain with shortcuts and excuses.

Today, I didn't feel like going on my daily walk because it was raining. I used rain and migraines as the excuse for using yesterday as one of my weekly rest days, and reminded myself of that today and also reminded myself that without exercise, that backpacking trip in August is gonna be a nightmare for me of exhaustion and soreness rather than the enjoyable romp through nature's beauty that I wanted when I made that goal. It got me off my butt, into the rain, and on a 26 minute walk that will turn into another 20 minute upper body dumbell workout when I'm done typing this message.

Those are my tricks. I have pics of the trails and paths I want to take around my house and on my fridge in case visualization doesn't work. So far it's helped me exercise every day and keep below my BMR even when I'm not perfectly in SP's calorie range. Hope that helps!

It sounds like you are being critical of yourself for not being more active. Just think about it, if a friend was in a slump would you tell them "how awful" it is that they are only walking their dog when they should be doing so much more? Of course not because you know that walking their dog keeps them in the habit of doing something physical which is much better then doing nothing. I also sense you are "over analyzing" why you lack motivation and desire. Just accept that it happens to the best of us and don't dwell on it. Instead try endorsing yourself for what you are doing, not what you "should" be doing. You just might find some desire returning.

TRIXYMAHOGANY,

We all have days when we don't want to workout. It happens. You're human, but you wouldn't want this to happen all the time. studies have shown that being sedentary can damage our long term health.

Perhaps one reason you don't feel motivated to exercise is because you're not doing something you enjoy. Exercise should be fun. Because when we enjoy doing something, we look forward to doing that something each and every day. So, instead of doing your power yoga DVD, how about trying something else ?

Mind you, if you skip your workout today, that doesn't make you a bad person or an unhealthy one. You just resume your routine tomorrow.

Also, have you considered doing your workouts earlier in the morning ? if you think you lose motivation during the day, then perhaps it would be better to schedule your workouts in the morning when you feel like you have more energy.

I have weeks where all I want to do is lay around or hide in my bed when I'm not working, and this week has been one of them. I shirked all my ST videos for the week, and the only exercise I've been doing is hiking/jogging/walking with my dog on the trails in my area. But I'm really not even doing that for me, but for my dog.

So how do you make yourself get up and go work out when the desire isn't there? Does anyone have any special tricks? I know i should do my power yoga video today but I just can't find the motivation. It's all rainy and all I want to do is read. Any tips on how to combat this?