Thursday, February 16, 2012

Exercise Plateaus and Your Creative Mind


Incorporating exercise into your routine is a great way to learn to stick to an exercise program but sticking with it when you've reached a plateau can be a motivational challenge. Use the tips below to apply your own creative thinking to your exercise routine to sustain motivation to continue exercise.
Remind yourself that exercise is a lifestyle change you successfully added to your life and fight to keep it in place. Recall times when you or someone you know stopped exercise and had to overcome the additional obstacles of a weakened body and a schedule that incorporated other activities into the times formerly reserved for exercise in order to pursue exercise goals.
When your motivation is sagging because you just don't feel like your exercise is making a difference establish concrete goals to pursue. For instance, if you started an exercise routine to lose weight and although you still have weight to lose your weight has remained unchanged for some period of time, your motivation will lessen. Redefining your goals to tone up specific muscle groups or to add a few minutes of exercise a day or to change where you exercise such as from a gym to outside can help you get over the inclination to stop exercising.
Think about the unseen benefits of exercise for your body if you find yourself becoming less motivated to exercise because you've reached a plateau. You accept the unseen benefits of eating healthier foods that they will ultimately keep your organs and body healthier internally than if you alter your diet and include wrong choices. Use the same philosophy to stick with exercise, focusing on benefits to your organs and muscles that though not visible to you on a daily basis are being supported by your exercise program.
Reserve a time for exercise and when you reach a plateau don't replace your exercise time with increased activity around the house or garden as an equivalent exchange. You might build up a sweat vacuuming or pulling weeds but exercising with the goal of working specific muscle groups for strength or maintaining a certain heart rate for cardio or increasing your endurance are very different from the benefits you get from moving around as you do household chores. Your body deserves your full attention during your exercise time.
Change your exercise goals based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 150 minutes a week to the higher recommended number of minutes of 300 per week. Shooting for the minimum is a quick way to lose motivation if you're not "seeing" results. Instead of counting minutes to reach 150, reset your counter to achieve the recommended amount of exercise for healthier living to 300 minutes a week of exercise.
Consider hiring a trainer or other exercise professional for several sessions to leap start your efforts.
Feeling less motivated to exercise when you feel like you reached a plateau in your exercise routine is an important indicator that you should switch something up in your exercise program instead of avoiding or skipping exercise. Pay attention to your feelings and use the tips above to re-commit to your exercise program.

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