How do you motivate yourself to gym / running

I used to run about 5km at a stretch ( it’s not even close to half a marathon but that’s enough for me ) and now I have lost all stamina while studying for L3… Moreover I have been feeling very depressed about certain things and to make things worse I just don’t feel like going to the gym or running though I want to. How frequently do you guys exercise /run/gym…

I used to run 3x per week, but got lazy during the horrible winter and have really been doing 1x per week if that lately. Part of it is just a new contract is messing with my hours and so it’s harder just to pack up and get out the way it was before.

The trick though is jut to get out there and go. You don’t need to push yourself too hard in the beginning, just get used to going out. Endurance comes back, often faster than you expect. The trick is not to get too upset with yourself during the first couple of times out. After that, your desire to do better than last week becomes the baseline, rather than your desire to do better than last year. That’s an achievable goal, and you might find that you’re more eager to achieve that. Soon you’ll be at a point where you can start trying to do better than last year.

My motivation? I think about what would happen to me if I didn’t exercise. I don’t want to become a Fatty McFatty.

It helps if you sign up for some group workout or activity with a training schedule. For instance, join spin class (don’t know if they have this in India) or 10k run.

I generally run 4 – 5 miles 3 or 4 times a week: sometimes with my dog, and sometimes with my horse.

I just look at them and say, “You guys need some exercise,” and we’re off.

Go to a gym with lots of cardio bunnies.

^respekt

Gym is easy once you’re in the habit, I tend to go every lunch or after work assuming I’m not travelling.

running is harder though, I try and get up early once a week and hit the road but it’s tough.

Figure out what is keeping you from the gym and change it.

For instance, sometimes I would get back pain and wouldn’t feel like going. I was too stubborn to go to the chiro, so I would just sit out the gym for a while. Now, I immediately go to the chiro and perhaps tone down what I’m doing at the gym for a while (do more cardio than weights also). I also had long hair (shoulder length) until April or so. I went to the gym a lot less when I had it because it was super annoying. I knew that with ski season over I would need to keep my leg strength up over the summer, so I cut my hair off and have been at the gym on the regular ever since.

I am with Numi. My motivation is looking in the mirror. Why would you want to be fat and overweight? That is motivation enough.

hate running. do lots of swimming though

I always find energy to go for more reps when the hot college chicks are around and back for the summer.

best overall workout

Anyone else notice those bunnies that go to the gym in pairs and then chit chat on the treadmill for 5 minutes before starting the machine? Usually, they are like “oh you are so good, you ran X miles this week and I only ran Y miles”. I always imagine in their heads, they are adding “you skinny bitch…”

I drink coffee before running, helps me get motivated. It’s just a habit really. I used to run like 5mi/daily, but I realized that it wasn’t doing me any good, so cut down to 4mi 5x a week + weights, and I’ve neither gained nor lost weight. May cut further to focus on weightlifting.

It’s not really easy to motivate yourself if you’re not in the habit of it, and frankly it will be very painful and annoying the first few months.

^ is that safe? Doesn’t coffee raise your heart-rate? Combined with a tough run wouldn’t that put some strain on the old heart?

Find another excercise/activity that you like so much you don’t need motivation to do it.

Don’t wack off before you go to the gym and do it early in the day

One thing that has kept me from running as much is that my achilles tendon was bothering me earlier this year and I just cut down on running to let it heal. I suspect my problem is that I was too cheap with my running shoes and the heel of my foot pronated. This was especally frustrated since it affected my dancing, and when choosing between running and dancing, dancing won out.

However, my tendon has not been bothering me for the last month or two, so maybe it makes sense to buy a better shoe and get going again… my only real problem is that it’s freakin hot outside now…

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