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Health & Fitness

Fight the funk. Rediscover the motivation to exercise.

It’s way too cold.  I’m tired.  It’s snowing.  I think I’m coming down with something. I need to clean this house.  

These are just some of the excuses I tried to use to avoid the gym this week.  This is very unlike me.  I was unmotivated, in a funk.  It happens sometimes and it doesn’t take much to get me there.   This week one of my kids was sick on Monday so I had to stay home and skip the gym.  My routine was disrupted.  I was aggravated to miss my workout, but yet wasn’t motivated enough to do some burpees in my living room.  I ate too much and moved too little.   I enjoyed it and hated it at the same time.  One bad choice or circumstance tends to lead to others.  It’s a downward spiral...the delicious food and inactivity made me feel gross, and then I didn’t even want to put on my workout clothes, so I tried to find excuses to avoid the gym the next day.  You get the picture.  Maybe you have gone down this path.  

What do you do to get back into your workout routine when you’re not motivated?  

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Through years of regular exercise I have experienced many of these funks and each one makes me stronger mentally, and helps me to build the skills I need to overcome them.  Every time you bounce back you train your brain to fight the funk.  Everyone has these moments, days, weeks or even longer periods lacking motivation.  The longer you let it go, the harder it is to fight.  I am blessed to have a strong support system to help me during these times, and they got me right back into my routine this week, missing only one day.  

My Husband knows working out makes me happy.  When I lose my motivation, he gently pushes me and reminds me how much better I’ll feel if I go.  He also sets a great example for me.  He rarely misses a 5:30am class, leaving when it is still so early, cold and dark.  His commitment amazes me.  

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My friends at the gym are awesome.  I look forward to seeing them every day!  When they don’t see me for a day or two I get a text asking where I am. This is the treasure of belonging to a small gym with a tight community.  They notice when you’re not there.  They hold you accountable.  They know your goals and keep you honest.   They are also inspiring.  This Tuesday at 8am, when I was in the midst of the agonizing decision whether to go to the 9am class or not, I thought of my friend, J, who has recently set a goal and has been at class every single day, working hard, getting results.  Her dedication pushed me out the door to the gym on Tuesday.  

Driving there I was swearing under my breath.  I was not in the mood.

The second I walked in the door I heard the music.  I saw my friends.  I was smiling.  I started moving and I was back!  As quickly and easily as the funk took over me, I killed it.  I just had to get myself physically to the gym.  The euphoria of exercise is so powerful.  The obstacle was all mental, not physical.   I recently saw a quote on Jillian Michaels’ Facebook Page that read “Commitment means staying loyal to what you said you were going to do long after the mood you said it in has left you.”  We’ve got to keep our moods out of it and just do it.  It has to be just what we do.  Just like when the kids whine that they don’t want to go to school...there’s not an option of staying home.  As should be with our commitments to ourselves, our goals and our health.  

Have you ever in your life finished a workout and thought “I wish I hadn’t done that”?  

So if you are lost on your fitness path, or have let go of your new year’s health resolution now’s the time to remember what you said you were going to do, even if the mood has left you.  Fight the funk.  You’ll be so glad that you did.  

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