DON’T LET YOUR THOUGHTS STOP YOU FROM MAKING PROGRESS

Do you have great intentions to get up early and hit the gym although as soon as the alarm goes off you have a thousand thoughts racing through your head telling you why you should stay in bed? “It’s cold & dark outside”, “I need more sleep”, “I’ll train this afternoon”, “I’ll feel better for having some extra sleep”. So you roll over and press the snooze button and another morning goes by and you still haven’t managed to get out of bed early and do your training. Then the afternoon rolls around and the thoughts start again, “I’m too tired to train”, “the gym will be busy”, “I have other things I can do”, “I can always just double up tomorrow”. Another day passes and you still haven’t managed to get do any exercise and think it’s ok because I’ll just start tomorrow.

What I want you to realise is that these thoughts NEVER stop and until you learn to ignore them and focus on what needs to be done instead of what you THINK you should do you will NEVER EVER CHANGE.

So how do you establish these habits and make exercise a part of your daily routine?

The first step is to stop waiting to be motivated and expecting to want to exercise ever day and instead know that you have to make it happen.

Do you honestly believe that all those fit and healthy people love getting up early every day & never struggle? If you do you’re putting unrealistic expectations on how you should feel. The reality is that the people who exercise regularly have established a routine by acknowledging that they need to exercise regardless of whether they want to or not.

This week I’ve managed to get back into the swing of getting up early and doing my exercise before work. For sure it might mean getting up and 5:50am instead of 7am but the feeling of knowing my exercise is done for the day is well worth it. Every morning the same thing happens, I look at the clock and think I’ve gotta get up soon or the alarm goes off and instantly the thoughts start racing through my head. “I could easily train this afternoon”, “I’m pregnant and shouldn’t really have to exercise so often”, “I feel a bit tired so maybe some extra sleep would be better” and it goes on.

What I’ve learnt is to ignore the thoughts and just go about my usual routine. At the moment this means getting straight up, putting my gym gear on (which has been laid out the night before), heading to the kitchen for my Iron and OJ (might as well put the sugar from the OJ to use during my training), back to the bathroom to brush my teeth and I’m downstairs in the gym. Aircon is turned on, music is on and I’m into it. It only usually takes me about 10 minutes before I’m feeling great and wondering how I could have thought sleeping in would be a better option.

So start working on establishing a habit, for sure it might be uncomfortable to start with but the longer you keep doing the same thing over and over again the easier it gets. Also realise that you are not going to feel like it or be motivated every day and that’s where you have to remind yourself WHY you are exercising . For me I exercise because I know how good I feel afterwards, just reminding myself how good I will feel AFTER is enough to get me going!

So it’s time to ignore the thoughts and instead focus on what needs to be done. I promise you’ll feel so much better for it.

Have a great day!

Cheers, Hilds

EMAIL : hilde@getactiveonline.com

Posted By Hilde on Wednesday 27th October 2010 @ 12:21:07

Updated : Thursday 28th October 2010 @ 08:41:55 | Words : 631 | Views : 38 | Comments : 1

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Well I was laying in bed this morning at 5.45am feeling incredibly sore after a full on hill running training session last night. My calves were burning and I was sore everywhere. I was just about to stay in bed and not worry about my 5km power walk when I kept thinking of your blog yesterday!!!!! So I just got up and went out into the beautiful morning air, walked harder and faster than ever and now I feel fantastic! Needless to say that my food will be spot on now for the day because I have exercised.

Thank you Hilds for writing about topics that we all experience but need reminding of how to deal with. You certainly inspired me this morning to get off my butt and go for it.

Kim xx

Posted By Kim Fergusson on Thursday 28th October 2010 @ 08:41:55