My Tips on Getting Your Butt Out the Door

Yesterday I definitely wasn't feelin' the workout mojo when it came time for my planned afternoon run. I finally got myself out of the house and while I was on my run I thought of quite a few tips on how to get going when you're not feeling like working out.

• Lay out your workout clothes before you plan to work out. If you're working out in the morning, lay them out the night before (or even wear them to bed!). If you're working out after class/work, then place them right by the door where you walk into the house. Or you can skip going home altogether and pack a bag for the gym so you have no excuses not to go.

• Download a new playlist onto your iPod. This one is definitely a huge help for me. Without a couple of new songs that I put on my iPod yesterday it definitely would have been a lot harder to get going. 

yesterday's playlist! 

• Tell yourself you only have to do ten minutes. When my motivation is seriously lacking, I just tell myself that all I have to do is run one mile or do the elliptical for a little bit. Then, once I'm going, I usually end up continuing for twenty or thirty minutes. But, if I'm really not feeling it, just doing the ten minutes accomplished my goal, and a little bit of activity is always better than none! 

my little home gym! 

• Read some entertainment while you're working out. I love to read blogs on my phone or bring magazines with me to the gym. It makes the time go by quickly, and it makes working out more fun! 

•  Find a workout buddy. My good friend and neighbor is always up for a run and he's good at getting me to go an extra few miles once we're out there. It also makes the run fly by that much faster when you have someone to talk to! You can also make a little social outing of it and work out together and then grab a healthy meal with your buddy. 

• Spend a few minutes on a motivational pinboard on Pinterest. This one is a fairly new technique of mine that's really good at getting me going. I mean, how can this not motivate you?

• Mix it up. Try a new interval workout or group exercise class at the gym. Trying something new will get your mind off of the fact that you're exercising. I never would have realized how much I love classes like BodyCombat or Zumba if I hadn't made the choice to try them in the first place. 

• Schedule your workouts into your calendar. If it's in your calendar and you've scheduled the time to workout, then what's your excuse? Lately I've taken to writing out my weekly schedule and taping it on my refrigerator. Then, my workouts are planned for the week around the shifts that I work at my job and I don't have a problem with running out of time to squeeze in a workout. 

how do you get motivated to work out?