Tag Archives: 10 Tricks to Motivate Myself to Exercise

Tricks to Motivate Myself to Exercise: #7

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Hi friends,

Finding the motivation to exercise, will help us get active and hopefully keep us healthy – and help us maintain our weight. The main reason I exercise if for well-being (for health, happiness, & to de-stress) and the second to maintain my weight. It is not always easy to motivate myself to exercise, so I’ve been sharing the tricks I use. Here’s trick #7 – Exercise on weekends. Hope you find it motivating!

Do you exercise on weekends? When do you prefer to exercise? Do you have any tricks you’d like to share? I’d love to hear from you.

Hugs,

Paola

Tricks to Motivate Myself to Exercise #7: Exercise on Weekends

Generally, on weekends we have more free time, that is if you work a Monday through Friday schedule, like I do. So, weekends are a good time to get in some exercise! If you like sports, you can play tennis, basketball, go surfing, swimming, or any sport that gets you out there being active and breaking a sweat. My hubby and I were playing racquetball for a few months and it is a great workout, plus it’s fun! You can also go for a bike ride or get out there to throw a ball with your children or friends. If you jog, on the weekends you can jog as far as you want! I prefer to walk and on weekends, I can take more scenic walks and not be as concerned about how long the walk will take.  Or, you could also go for a walk on a beach or a hiking trail. Or, if you have a membership to a gym, you can take a class. I like to go to Zumba classes on weekends, usually in the mid-mornings. Many people like to take a yoga class on weekends, to help them stretch and de-stress from the workweek.

If your children play a sport on the weekend, you could try to go for a walk around the field before or after the game. I used to do that when my hubby was helping coach my nieces’s soccer team. I’d out on my Ipod and walk around the field a few times, then watch her play.  If you have little one’s, you could go for a walk and push them on a stroller. I’ve done that with my nephews and they enjoy getting out of the house and seeing the scenery, plus we all get some fresh air. If the weather is too warm or cold, you can exercise to a DVD. I’ve done that with my sister and we have fun dancing to a Zumba DVD!

I know, on weekends we want to disconnect and relax, but if you exercise, even just a little bit, you will feel better and sleep better! Remember, if you can, try to carve out a little time for yourself to stay active and healthy!

Hugs,

Paola 

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Lola and I recently went for  walk at Balboa Park on a weekend, we chatted, enjoyed the beautiful Park, and had fun while exercising!

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I’ll exercise at the gym on weekends, even a few minutes on a bike can get my heart pumping!

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You could go for a jog.

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Take a walk.

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Go swimming.

lola-paola-exercise-bay-150x150Here is another picture of Lola and me on one of our walks, this one was by the bay in downtown San Diego.

Tricks To Motivate Myself To Exercise: #6

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Hi friends – Happy Wednesday! I am continuing the Exercise Motivation Tricks Series. This is trick #6 that I use to motivate myself to exercise! I was out of town last week and that threw me off my exercise routine, so I haven’t been getting many workouts lately. I may use this trick this week to jump start my metabolism this week!

What exercise tricks do you use?

Hugs,

Paola

Tricks to Motivate Myself To Exercise: #6 Use Exercise Videos

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I have a few exercise DVD videos that I use to exercise at home. I also use them when I travel and I know it may not be possible to exercise outside or at the hotel gym. When the weather isn’t nice outside, I have used these videos to exercise at my sister and my friend Lola’s house.

Currently, my favorite exercise videos are the Zumba DVDs. They are fun & the music just gets you  dancing. How can you listen to salsa and bachata, and not start moving your hips and shoulders? It is like a natural reflex for me. Maybe because I am Hispanic, haha. I also like exercise videos because I can do them at any time of the day and on any day of the week. Also, if I only have fifteen  minutes to exercise, then I just do fifteen minutes of the video and simply press stop. Fifteen minutes of exercise is better than not doing any exercise at all. It is good to get our bodies moving! It also helps our mood (gets us in a better mood), and gets the endorphins and metabolism going! When I use DVDs to exercise in the mornings, I simply get up, put the Zumba DVD in and the music starts playing while I change into exercise clothes. I put the volume high, once I hear the music I am ready to Zumba! Even on mornings when I am feeling sluggish, I may  not do the exercises 100% correctly or at full cardio level, but at least I am moving and that alone gets me feeling more energetic, before I know it, I am smiling!

DVDs are a convenient way to exercise, it’s like taking a class at a gym, but in the comfort of your home. In my opinion, they should also be fun. I have  few more intense exercise videos, like toning DVDs, and some hard core abs and boot camp videos. I have used those DVDs a few times, but honestly, they aren’t much fun for me.  Zumba is fun for me because I like to dance and it includes lots of dancing. I also like using my yoga DVDs when I feel a need to relax , stretch, and reflect. Everyone is different though, one of my friends really likes her butt toning videos and she is disciplined about doing them a few times each week, those are quite hard core for me! What matters is that you like the video and the exercises, and that you get the workout.

So, if you don’t have exercise DVDs and you think this is may be a type of exercise you may enjoy, then get some! The videos aren’t expensive, most cost between $10 – $25. You can find them at Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, sporting stores, and you can also buy them on-line. If you aren’t certain which video you may like, you can do a little research on-line and preview some videos beforehand. You can also preview exercise videos on YouTube.

Hope this exercise trick will help motivate you to exercise!

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This is a picture from a charity walk I participated in (I am the person to the farthest right, in the second row). Our team was on stage to kick-off the walk with a warm up and it was Zumba! It was a fun way to get the walk started!

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Tricks to Motivate Myself to Exercise: #5

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Tricks to Motivate Myself to Exercise: #4

 

 

 

Tricks to Motivate Myself to Exercise: Trick #4

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Hi friends, hope your weekend is going well! Do you have special plans for your long weekend?

Here’s Trick #4 from the series Tricks to Motivate Myself to Exercise. Hope you like it.

Hugs,

Paola

Trick #4: Exercise at Gym Close to Work or Home

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Going to a gym that is located close to work or home really works for me! It is convenient and practical. I am a member of 24Hour Fitness, I have been for about 10 years! The membership I have is for multiple locations, pretty much all their gyms in various cities. I usually go to the gym after work and take the classes. I know the schedules for the fitness classes at the gyms close to work and don’t always make it for the entire hour, but know that it is better to exercise for forty-five or thirty minutes, than to not exercise at all. Another option is to use the equipment to exercise, such as a treadmill, elliptical, or bicycle. An item that helps me pass the time when I exercise on equipment is a magazine, book, or my IPod. I always have a magazine in my car and my IPod in my purse. Before I know it, I’ve gotten at least 30 minutes of cardio and walked two miles!

Every once in a while I’ll go to the gym located about two miles from the station at lunch time and walk on a treadmill for thirty minutes and stretch for five minutes, freshen up & change, then rush back to work. I get a pretty light work out because I don’t really want to get to sweaty since I go back to work afterwards. I try to go to the gym at lunch time at least one or two times per week, particularly if I know I will not be able to exercise that evening. Exercising regularly at lunch time can be challenging for me because sometimes I have shoots or meetings at lunch time, but mostly because I often work through lunch time (which is not good, but such is life).

On weekends, I’ll try to go to gyms close to home. I’ll take a class or use the equipment. My husband also has a membership to 24Hour Fitness and it helps (me) when I can motivate him to go to the gym with me, somehow it also motivates me to know he is going with me. Every once in a while, I’ll go to the gym close to home on weekday mornings, but the classes offered are at 5:00 am, which is usually about an hour too early for me. Sometimes, I’ll go to the gym in the mornings and just get on the treadmill or elliptical for a quick workout. When I do make it to the gym in the mornings, I feel great the rest of the day, full of energy! Exercising in the mornings is also good for your metabolism, more on that in another post.

Do you have a gym membership? Which gym do you go to? Do you have a favorite class you take or do you use the equipment? Do you go to the gym in the mornings, lunch time, or evenings?

 In the picture above, I was stretching after exercising on the treadmill at the gym.

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When I want to get in some light exercise, I use the bicycles. It is simple and I can read while I get a workout (or catch up with  friend on the phone), which helps the time go by faster. Before I know it, I will have gone a few miles on the bicycle and gotten thirty minutes of exercise.

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I keep print outs of the exercise class schedules from the gyms located close to work and home handy, so I can quickly see which class I can attend on a certain day. I keep them in a cabinet at work, in the glove compartment of my car, and the nightstand in my bedroom at home.

Tricks to Motivate Myself to Exercise : Trick #1

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Hi friends,

Hope you had a nice weekend! The New Year has started and one of the most common new year’s resolutions people make is to exercise more and/or lose weight. If you follow my blog, you know I like to exercise, but I have to motivate myself to exercise. I don’t have a huge urge to exercise, but always feel better after I do it. I often wish I was like those people who wake up in the mornings with a huge urge and motivation to go for a jog, but I am just simply not like that. But, if I don’t exercise for  a few days, I do feel the urge and need to exercise, at least go for a long walk! I sometimes have to trick myself into exercising. By trick, I mean I use different techniques to motivate myself to exercise. I exercise mostly to be healthy, it is also a  good stress reliever for me, and of course, helps me stay in shape and fit into my jeans (always a plus)! I also love chocolate and certain snacks, exercising allows me to treat myself every one in a while and not have to deprive myself of my favorite foods.

I am going to write a series of 10 Tricks I Use to Motivate Myself to Exercise. I will list them in the order in which I enjoy them most and do them most often. Hope you enjoy reading about these and how they work for me….and if you need extra motivation to exercise, hopefully these will work for you too!

Do you have any tricks you use to motivate yourself to exercise? What are they?

Was exercising more often one of your New Year’s Resolutions?

Hugs,

Paola

Trick #1: Have an Exercise Buddy 

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My exercise buddy is my bff Lola. One of the first blog posts I wrote was about the positive things related to having an exercise buddy. As we get older and have more responsibilities (such as a full-time job, spouse to spend time with, dinner to make, errands to run, a house to clean, kids, pets, etc., etc.) we have less time to spend with friends. Spending time with friends brings happiness and a sense of belonging to our lives! On the days I exercise with Lola, I look forward to the end of the workday and to seeing her because I know I will enjoy my time with her. We usually exercise after work, we set a date ahead of time and stick to it (but if an urgent matters comes up and we need to change the date the other understands).  Or main form of exercise is going for long speed walks by the bay downtown. We meet at Lola’s home and go for a long walk. During our walks, we talk about everything, we catch up on our lives! We laugh and we confide in each other. I never get bored of walking the same route (even though we do change it up every once in a while), because I am having fun with my friend! We call it our therapy. We laugh, we talk, and we walk! Sometimes, I may be having a very stressful day at work, but once I get to Lola’s home, I immediately de-stress, I can vent with her about my day or not even bring it up because once I get there we have some many other good things to talk about that I am able to leave the stress of my day behind.

Having an exercise buddy is a good way to motivate oneself to exercise!  If you know someone is waiting for you, so you can exercise together, you are more likely to show up and exercise. Plus, if your exercise buddy is a good friend you enjoy spending time with, you know you will have a good time and it will be fun! So, you have so much fun that before you realize it, you have already walked a few miles and gotten a good workout! Exercising with a friend is not only good for your body, it is also good for your soul!

If you would like to read the blog post I wrote about having an Exercise Buddy, click here.

Do you have an exercise buddy?