Confession: I am sorely in need of some exercise motivation tips. How about you?

We all start the year with good intentions when it comes to exercise motivation tips. But then, other things that need our attention, work that won’t do itself, and little people that need us.

Plus the fact that when it comes down to it, you may want to want to exercise instead of, like, actually wanting to exercise. Am I right?

Heck, as I write this post I’m actively avoiding going for a run.

We’ve all heard general advice like work out early in the morning, plan to meet a friend, or work out with your children.

Those are all good ways to force yourself to exercise even if you hate it. But what about finding a sport or exercise routine that you genuinely enjoy.

Is that too much to freaking ask??

Here are some exercise motivation tips for 2019 that you probably haven’t heard before!

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1. Find a way to…channel your natural competitiveness

From the cradle to the grave, life is all about competition. As much as we try to smooth it over, to sugar coat things, and to promote the values of teamwork, competition is part of our genes. For those of us who grew up in generation x or y, thus mostly insulated from survival urgency, many things have come to sub for the original competition, simply staying alive.

Humans will always find a way to compete, so let’s use competition as exercise motivation. And even if you consider yourself non-competitive then you’re in some sort of race. If you accept that premise then the discussion then turns how to express that in a healthy versus a harmful way.

And that’s why all adults should play sports or find an outlet with similar elements. Even if you were picked dead last in dodgeball or Red Rover as a kid. Even if you’re worried you’ll make a fool of yourself at that group fitness class, and even if you have no idea how to get started.

Try This: Group fitness or work gym challenge (steps, who can work out the most days in December, etc). Or sign up for a 5k…

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2. Use exercise to blow off steam

Steam = aggression. Get cut off in traffic? Co-worker take credit for your idea [again?]

Find a competition that will improve your life, and help you release that anger in a safe productive way. This is where sports comes in. As a kid, participating in sports is a way to blow off that natural aggressiveness and energy in a safe and productive way. We often lack these outlets as an adult. The endpoint of a competition that will improve yourself is one where you can continue to improve and achieve without harming others.

Try this: kickboxing, martial arts, or group fitness class.

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3.Find a competition that’s not a zero sum game

Find a way that your biggest competitor is yourself. In order to make this outlet a constructive instead of a destructive habit, find something where the end goal is ultimately self improvement rather than beating others.

Try This: Group fitness such as Orange Theory or Crossfit. Endurance sports such as running, cycling, or swimming.

If you’re in Atlanta and want some group fitness company, check out Atlanta Tri Club.

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4. Take the long view

Find a lifelong sport such as tennis, golf, running, swimming, or triathlon (no, really!) We all need things to look forward to and if you’re, say, forty, in theory you could still be a professional golfer. 🙂

Examples of not-lifelong sports would be the sports you probably did as a kid. In my case, those were pole vaulting, gymnastics, and cheerleading. There isn’t much community or aspiration to be found in those sports after college age. 🙁

5. Find a sports you can win

Not win literally, though that’s always fun. But I’m talking about incremental goals. As a kid we used to play a game called “kill the man with the ball.” Not many incremental goals there plus the end point was to hurt someone. Contrast that with a sport like, say, tae kwon do, where you have a series of small goals (read: small wins) to keep things interesting.

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6. Find something that’s like playing

Find an outlet that’s fun! There are lots of known benefits of play beyond fun- it can make you smarter, for one. So don’t rule out things like kickball or softball or Zumba.

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7.Make exercise social by joining a group online

If you haven’t been using Strava yet, now’s the time to experience what all your training buddies have been talking about. It’s the perfect place to track your mileage and measure fitness gains without having to put effort into uploading data (simply hit start and stop on your phone). Plus, it’s a social media gateway to see how your friends or pros (such as Jesse Thomas) are training and in turn get motivated to get out there.

Try This: Strava, Garmin Connect.

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8.Up the ante with a virtual challenge:

Each month you can join an existing challenge, such as the Strava Climbing Challenge, where you attempt to climb the cumulative elevation of Mount Everest in 20 days. Once you join a challenge, your results will populate on a leaderboard, where you can compare yourself to other participants around the world.

You could also start your own challenge with friends or a triathlon club, such as most bike miles in March as you build your base or setting a new 5K PR. Or you could finally go after the King or Queen of the Mountain on that competitive segment on your favorite ride route.

Try This: Zwift for cycling or running.

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9. Gamify your routine to add interest

Foam roll daily? Boring. Eat small, balanced meals every few hours to keep your metabolism revved? Yawn. No one would argue that these things aren’t good or important. The issue is more that the long term payoff is vague and therefore hard to get excited about. Furthermore, the alternative choice often leads to instant gratification, i.e. watching a tv show instead of foam rolling or eating a donut instead of that balanced meal!

There exists a checklist of things that runners should be doing but don’t always make the time for. Some examples are getting more sleep, eating healthy balanced meals, foam rolling, stretching and regular maintenance for physical issues (massage, chiropractor, etc.). These decisions can lead to improvements whether from decreased recovery time, or time off training due to injury or illness. It’s when hundreds of these tiny decisions add up over time that things start happening, so how can we better make that happen?

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10. Create your own exercise challenge

 The goal is to make this as exciting as the immediate gratification alternatives. Consider gamifying this with your friends. For example, you all could have a checklist of possible items and compete to see who can do the most or the most consistently over a mutually agreed upon time period. Make the to-dos (or don’ts) specific, and add in some type of reward. Least number of points buys dinner!

Use this list as a guideline. One of these items may not make a huge difference but all together, little changes add up!

• Stretching Daily
• Core exercises
• Checking off list of agreed upon weekly workouts
• X hours of sleep
• Y amount of water per day
• Z servings of vegetables
• Avoiding or limiting alcohol
• Fueling pre and post workout
• Be creative! What types of consistent small things have supported your efforts in the past?

Try This: create a facebook group of motivated friends and throw in a reward to keep things interesting

11. Sign up for an event

Signing up to complete an event can be great motivation! And it doesn’t have to be something huge like a marathon either. Who knows, you might even enjoy it!

Try This: 5 steps to sign up for your first race [free download]

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What ways have you supercharged your exercise motivation? Do you have other unique exercise motivation tips? Let me know in the comments!

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like this idea? pin it!

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these resources may also help you:

• Ultimate Guide: How to start cycling
• Find your runner personality [ to go faster]
• Top 4 worst new runner mistakes
• How does Garmin race predictor work?
• The real deal on getting back in shape after baby

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Next up: Should I run by pace or heart rate?