Tips for getting motivated to exercise

If you keep promising to get fit and then keep putting it off, maybe you just need a little motivation to get started. Here are three tips.  

• Since everyday modern life is relatively sedentary, most of us who want to improve our fitness have to make conscious decisions to be more physically active. The strength of your motivation will make a huge difference to how successful you are.
• In general, formulating positive reasons for getting exercise is far more effective than dwelling on negative ones, according to psychologists. So if you are thinking about starting to do regular exercise because someone close to you has had a heart attack, try to reframe this as a positive wish to stay healthy and have lots of energy. People who are strongly motivated tend to exercise more and to persist for longer than those who are not — and they are more likely to enjoy it.
• You may feel more tired and stressed out than you used to be, have aches and pains that you didn't used to have, or simply not feel as healthy as you once did. The trick is to harness these complaints into positive long-term incentives for exercising, such as wanting to get in shape, sleep better or maintain your muscle strength and stay independent as you get older.
• Remember that the longer you can keep going with your exercise program, the more likely it is that healthy exercise will become a permanent part of your life.

• Some people believe that only intense or structured exercise, such as aerobics, counts as a cardiovascular workout — but it is the total amount of activity in your daily life that matters most. As the World Health Organization points out, there are four major "domains" in most people's days — work, travel, home and leisure — and there are opportunities for physical activity during all of them.
• Exercise that fits into your lifestyle can be more effective than structured exercise. So perhaps the key is to abolish the "E" word completely, and just think about how, when and where in the course of your everyday life you can add more physical activities. Try to find opportunities for activity throughout the day, every day.

• You can increase your chances of sticking to an exercise program by making a deal with a friend to go for a walk together every week at a set time, or by joining a walking group.
• Studies show that people who undertake activities with a spouse, partner, friend or in a class are more motivated. If you make a firm commitment, you are much less likely to change your mind because it's raining or because you just feel too tired.