What’s Your Excuse?

Excuse

1. Time

We all have the same number of hours each day and we have to learn to use our time wisely. With family, career, and many other obligations we seem to think we don’t have time to exercise. It is important that we make fitness a priority over other activities. It needs to be scheduled in your agenda every single day just as you would make time to shower, cook dinner, etc. Research shows you can get an intense workout in 30 minutes or less!  In fact there are several home workout programs that are fun and provide results in as little as 30 minutes a day such as T25 or P90X3. It is up to you to find the 30 minutes. Create time by waking up 30min earlier or going to bed a little later. People often ask when the best time of day is to workout. There’s no research that shows what time of day is best. Learn what works best for your body. We all have 168 hours in a week – it shouldn’t be too hard to find 4 hours in there if you look for it!

2. Money

If you can’t afford a gym membership, you can easily find a cheaper way to workout at home. Whether it is a DVD program that you can use over and over, or working out with a friend by going for a run, you can find ways to stay active without spending monthly fees. You can even find workout ideas on Google, YouTube, and Instagram. It is important to remember that exercise can help you save money in the long run. Preventative care with exercise can help avoid costly medication, obtain lower insurance premiums, and even groceries can be cheaper when you learn how to shop the healthy way.

3. Motivation

This is the difficult part for most of us. Research shows that if you can do something repeatedly for 21 days it becomes a habit. But sometimes we lose motivation in less than 3 weeks.  In order to overcome this, we need to find out what motivated us to start a fitness program in the first place. What is your WHY; your reason for working out and improving your health? Write it down and post it someplace visible to remind you daily.

A workout should be fun, not punishment. Therefore it is important to find an activity that you love doing. For me, I discovered Turbo Kick and it became my soulmate workout. Your soulmate workout is THE workout that doesn’t feel like work, it’s fun and exciting and you look forward to it everyday! In order to find the workout you enjoy the most, you have to try various programs.  This takes time and effort! Go out and try a TurboFire workout, take a Zumba class, go for a run – keep trying new things until you find something that you love.

If you are struggling to stay motivated, find a workout buddy to hold you accountable and keep each other motivated. What’s great about having a workout partner is that when one person is having a bad day, the other is there to encourage. If you can’t find a workout partner you can find people on social media who motivate you. Find someone that motivates you on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter and follow him or her.  Look for someone that you can connect with and check their page regularly for daily boosts of motivation!

So… what is it? What is your excuse?