It’s so easy to talk ourselves out of exercising. Making excuses just seems like a mental process we can’t escape. There is something I have found that really works at integrating a fitness routine into your lifestyle so that it becomes difficult to talk yourself out of. This one thing is the MOST important thing to keep in mind in the earliest stages of an exercise plan…

Consistency.

At the beginning, consistency training is EVERYTHING.

When we think of getting into shape we immediately think of getting our body into shape, but we rarely put very much thought into changing our mindsets.  Since our minds are making all the decisions its important that we wire ourselves to first ensure we stick to any fitness routine we plan to undertake. After all, whats the point of starting on a fitness program if you just end up quitting a few weeks or months into it? Training ourselves to be consistent is all about training the mind. If you don’t do this first, then you are MUCH more likely to quit your fitness program.

When we wake up in the morning and look at that difficult and grueling workout ahead of us, it’s very easy for our mind to talk us out of it. The secret to making this automatic is:

Don’t make initial workouts hard or difficult.

Make them easy. So easy that your mind can’t really come up with valid excuses not to do it.

In fact don’t even make them work – make them fun. Go for a walk. How hard is walking around the block? OK, it may be difficult for some. If walking around the block is difficult then walk 100 feet and back. It doesn’t matter very much WHAT you do as much as it does that you DO SOMETHING, AND DO IT CONSISTENTLY!

Start with 3 times per week, every other day. By making the exercise simple, it becomes much easier to stick to and build that consistency you need. Over time your mind will re-wire and begin to think of this as a very necessary activity in your life. Once that consistent foundation is built, you can start increasing the intensity of your workouts and you will have a MUCH easier time sticking to your routines and feeling great.

If you are anything like me you will actually start to have the opposite problem – staying OUT of the gym on days when you need to rest.