How do you motivate yourself to exercise?

What worked for me was making a rule I had to do something for 30 minutes every single day. I thought of it as a matter of hygiene, or medicine. Something convenient & short that didn't involve a ton of planning or obstacles, like driving to get there, having to go at a scheduled time, relying on other people, needing special clothes or equipment - all those are opportunities not to do it.

Walking, or a short DVD or youtube video, fit the bill for me. ~30 mins felt manageable, vs 1 hr - not too much of an investment, it's over quickly, tough to rationalize not doing it, I could wear whatever. Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred is what I started with, re DVDs.

The first month was literally a pain (hello DOMS), but I got used to it after that, and started craving activity because it felt good. I guess a few months after that, I saw enough results to hook me good.

(I was also highly motivated because of life circumstances.)

You need to walk walk walk...it's not that hard on the back. And the motivation for me comes from the amount of food I eat..I can either burn some of it off, or keep it on...:) You need to find your passion..

Schedule your exercise. You're much more likely to follow through with it if you have a definite plan like "I go to the gym at 8pm on Monday so I can watch Dancing With the Stars and run" rather than "I'll go to the gym at some point this week."

Chat with the gym employees. I find that knowing I'm going to see the same person every Monday Wednesday and Friday helps me get my butt there, I know she's expecting me on those days, and will even say "See you Monday!" when I leave on Friday. Or make another gym friend who goes on a regular schedule.

If all else fails, bribe yourself. Buy new music to work out to. Buy yourself presents for achieving goals. I like to work out and it's habit by now, but I still reward myself! I just got a new kindle

Walk. It is low impact and walking for just 20 minutes a day can help you drop weight.

I hate exercise with a passion. I don't get that feel good endorphin release - what I get is back pain (herniated discs) or shoulder/arm pain (rotator cuff tendonitis). People say swim or do water aerobics (but my gym doesn't have a pool).

I would love to love to exercise. To me, though, it's torture and I would rather have a root canal done. So, I exercise rather infrequently, and when I do, I hate every minute of it. I realize that exercise, along with a healthy diet, is central to a healthy lifestyle, so I would really like to get over my aversion to working out.

Any suggestions/advice? Just biting the bullet is not working.

Thank you, all, for reading.

The first thing to do is to get your mind right, so that the body will follow. Instead of viewing it with a negative attitude, tell yourself that you're going to enjoy what you're doing.Tell yourself that exercise is good for you.When you're doing it, think about all of the benefits.

Think of it this way, you know you get those people who complain about how they're never going to get anything right or they're always negative or they complain about everything they don't want, so they never focus on how to solve their own problems and improve, until finally you just get sick of them when the answer is it's because of their attitude... you're doing the same thing with exercise.


You need to view exercise as an outlet and as a tool. By exercising, you're taking control of your life back, as you allow yourself to be able to do more things and have more opportunities. You'll feel better, because you're giving your body what it needs .You'll have less mood swings (more people will want to be around you), you'll gain more confidence within yourself,you'll look better etc It's going to make you live a longer, healthier , more able life.When you're an older person, you'll have a lot more ability and mobility. You can determine what you're life is going to be like at this stage and in 40 years time by the choices you make.
You're literally swapping 20 minutes a day of exercising for gaining years on your life.

Since you have a back problem, don't try and just do weights or anything that is going to put too much stress on your back.Do it with someone who knows what they're doing, or educate yourself about it first.It's MOVEMENT that's good for you. Anything will help. Walk up and down your hallway. Ride a bicycle around the block. Do pilates or take up a dance class. Run around your house dancing.You don't need a lo of equipment and you don't need to spend thousands of dollars : you just have to make the choice to be active. If you have kids or family, make it a way of life and incorporate them into it. Run around with them. Divide your exercise into increments throughout the day.Start sucking in your stomach and contracting and you'll be exercising while doing what you have to do . Buy exercise videos and swap them up.Do this today and another tomorrow to avoid getting bored. When you're watching tvt at night or reading, turn your legs to the side or rotate them. All of these small movements add up.


Mentally train yourself so that MOVEMENT is good, it can be pleasurable , it can be relief, it can make you stronger etc Don't view it as , " Aggg, I have to go exercise". Your attitude will determine a lot of your results.It's not about getting a six pack or being the best, it's about being healthy and being better than you were yesterday. I've literally gone from hating a form of exercise to telling myself that I'll enjoy it, to the extent that I MISS it when I don't do it.

Because of your back problem, these things might be the best to start off with : walking, running, cycling, stretching, dancing, zumba, turbofire or even martial arts . Things I've heard of that you might like are piloxing and turbojam.

At the end of the day, try to have a positive mindset about movement, look for simple ways to incorporate movement into your life and look out for things that seem to be fun.

Good luck! I know that you can do it.

One thing I did, I decided that I was not allowed to skip any workouts that I planned to do, and also to do something 7 days a week (mixing in light days obviously). I could give up once I had started if my motivation wasn't there. Several times I didn't want to, but I just started anyway, planning to quit. I never did go through with quitting though.

Most people that come to love exercise love the progress. A new running personal best. Setting new lifting perseonal bests. It becomes a game that gets harder and harder (the stronger/faster you are, new PR's become harder and harder to set).

When I'm heading out to sprint, my motivation is to run 0.01 sec faster than I ever have before. When I strength train, I look to always beat my previous workout. When jogging I always time myself, take splits, and try to beat my previous times. When doing yoga I try to improve my hold form vs. the last time I did it.

I think too many people make the mistake of "exercising" aimlessley without any measureable progress, and not attempting to improve at all. No wonder exercise sucks. Lacking any sort of goals you are just torturing yourself in the hopes that a number on the scale will be slightly lower next time you step on it. There is absolutely zero positive feedback duing the exercise itself, you never get f-yeah moments when you reach a goal you have set for yourself, and that more than anything is what makes exercise fun.