Exercise Motivation
The Key to Your Fitness Goals

Discover great exercise motivation advice for yourself. And create your own customized motivational messages for your friends and family...

...If you know anyone that needs some motivation to exercise, or just a show of support, let them know with a customized message.

They could be starting a new exercise regime, or a new healthy eating plan; they could be recovering from injury; they could be your exercise partner gone AWOL... as long as they need exercise motivation, they'll need your support.

Click here to send your motivational messages now.

Or read on for your exercise motivation advice...

Exercise motivation is probably the single-most common reason we don't achieve our goals. Whether it be recovering from injury, losing weight or simply toning up a lil... that "I did it!" moment seems unreachable.

Well the truth is, it may well be unreachable without good exercise motivation. We've all heard (and used!) the age-old excuses. Check out these "Saint vs. Sinner" examples (sinner's excuses in red, saint's answers in blue):

Are you a Saint or Sinner?

Each of those excuses is actually saying "I have no motivation to exercise". So... how do we get that exercise motivation?!

I'm not the first (or last) to say it's not easy. If it was easy, we wouldn't be making excuses! But here's the crucial bit, all of us can do it.

Believing that you can do it is the first, massive step towards actually doing it. That's true in any walk of life, not just exercise.

Close your eyes and visualise an image of yourself after achieving your goal, sense the feeling and emotion of how you'll look and feel.

Tell yourself that you will become that person. Whenever you stumble (there will be hurdles you don't clear the very first attempt), remember that feeling of the "new you", and keep going.

Here are 10 more tips to get that exercise motivation (remember small steps):

1. Do an activity you enjoy! That's always been and always will be my fitness philosophy. No matter whether you're a pro athlete or casual cyclist, you won't last long if you don't enjoy it.
   Enjoyment is staying power.
2. Your health. Whether your doc's told you to exercise or not, it'll catch up with you one day. Do you really want to miss seeing your grand-kids grow up? Do you really want to die a painful death? Do something about it now.
3. Make it visual. Take a "before" photo and stick it where it'll catch your eye throughout the day. As you exercise, take pictures often and physically see the improvements.
4. Set realistic goals. Having a specific target to aim for within a set time-period gives you focus and direction. You'll have a real sense of achievement when you hit that target. Make each goal realistic. Your long-term goal may be in the distance now, but by setting smaller goals step-by-step on the way, you'll get there faster.
5. Get scribbling. There's no point setting goals if you don't write them down. Get into the habit of writing things down - how you feel after a workout (what was in the workout), what you've eaten (to keep track of calories), and most of all... why you're exercising. Get a pen and paper and do it now!
6. Good morning exercise. Getting up and blasting out a workout straight away is the best way to get it done. I know if I "leave it till later", by the time "later" comes, I would've talked myself out of it, or got "too busy" with other things.
7. Mix it up. Once you've found something you enjoy doing, don't just do the same workout day after day. You'll soon get sick of it. Change things everyday or every week, and give yourself new challenges.
8. Treat yourself. When you reach a goal or maybe even at the end of each week where you've stuck to every workout, give yourself a reward. This will back-up that feeling of joy when you see yourself progressing.
9. Imagine the new you, and how the new you is happier. Maybe the new you fits into that new dress, or maybe the new you is confident enough to whip out that bikini on holiday.
10. Encourage others and tell them to encourage you. Exercise with a partner, join a team - it's amazing how the feeling of "I don't wanna disappoint them" motivates us.

Carrying on from that last point to encourage others, you can do just that by sending them an exercise motivation message. Simply fill out the form below.

Here are some inspirational exercise motivation quotes to get the juices flowing:

Click Here to Submit Your Exercise Pictures.
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