Use mindful habits to enhance motivation and bring more consistency
We all appreciate the importance of including regular exercise in our lives. However, like any (old) habit, training can become routine resulting in a loss of motivation and consistency.
Many can relate to those days when you start to create a debate in your head, “…Do I want to go through all the hassle and train or just skip the session and go home and relax?” But what happens when we actually skip our exercise session?
As is often the case, when our intent was to be relaxing at home, we end upregretting the decision to bail on training and mentally beat ourselves up for doing so. This creates more negative thoughts, causing stress. Instead, if we had made the choice to train we would be arriving home feeling refreshed and positive about the effort we put in.
So, how can we minimize the tendency slack off from a training session and bring more consistency and motivated to our exercise routine?!
The following are 3 mindful approaches to get more out of your regular training.
Mindful habits for better training
Be realistic and mindful about your exercise
The following three mindful habits should help promote fitness and enhance well-being.
First, be realistic.
Be honest with yourself and acknowledge the challenges you will face maintaining a regular exercise routine.
Make a list of obstacles that are barriers to achieving a consistent training routine. List the obstacles you have encountered in the past and anticipate ones that may pop up in the future.
Often many of these obstacles never make it off the paper, and the following two mindful habits should help keep them there.
Second, be thankful.
Anyone who has faced an injury or family/work commitments that have not made training possible can think back to how much you wanted to train but couldn't.
So when those thoughts arise about skipping a training session, remind yourself, be thankful for the opportunity to exercise, especially if you are not sure when you can train next.
Third, reflect on the rewards.
When you start to question yourself about attending the next training session, remember the benefits.
“Bring success to training by being realistic, thankful and focus on the rewards.”
How good do you feel after training?
What are the benefits of an exercise routine?
Our thoughts tend to dwell too much on the on the negative aspects or inconveniences of training. Change the dialogue in your mind and remind yourself about all the good things. You could even make a list of why you like training?
We hope these mindful approaches bring more enjoyment and consistency to your exerciseprogram. HAPPY TRAINING