We all know the importance of getting active- but do we really know why it is so crucial to your health? Daily exercise is one of easiest things you can do to improve the overall quality of your life.  Exercise has many benefits, including: strengthening the heart and lungs, lowering body fat percentage and blood pressure, promoting good sleep, strengthening the mind and body and reducing injury.

Exercise is very important. So how can we get motivated when life is busy and tends to get in the way?

Set Specific Goals

Just saying you want to get fit isn’t enough. You need to set goals.  Goals must be specific and have a timeline attached. For example instead of setting a goal of just “running” you will be more apt to accomplish your goal if you say “I want to run a 5k in the next 4 months”

Make Goals Realistic

Be honest with yourself about what the goal will require, what resources you have and figure out realistically how much time you need to achieve that goal. Being unrealistic only sets yourself up for failure.

Why?

Everything we want requires hard work and effort. It needs to be worth it. Why do you want to do this? Think about all the reasons your actions will help improve your quality of life and remind yourself of why this is important to you.

Make Fitness Fun 

Don’t choose exercises or activities you don’t enjoy. The reality is you will hate it. Choose activities that make you feel good. Exercising should never be easy, but it definitely needs to be enjoyable to help you stick to it.

Bring in the Support 

Recruiting a friend or exercising in a group is a huge help when it comes to sticking to your routine. Create a challenge with friends or join a fitness class. Friendly competition never hurts anyone, plus it helps keep you accountable and motivated.

Inspiration 

Compile and surround yourself with images, messages and people that inspire you!  Creating an inspiration board can be very helpful. Add quotes, photos and goals that give you inspiration and hang it where you can see it everyday as a constant reminder of your realistic, specific goal!

Crank the Tunes

Create a playlist that pumps you up! Personalize it and crank it!!