If you routinely tell yourself you’ll start something “tomorrow” or find that you often wait until Monday, New Year’s Day, or the dreaded “someday," you might be a victim of exercise procrastination. The bad news is that you already know “tomorrow” and “someday” never actually arrive. There is no magical moment where the stars align and you suddenly feel inspired to start your exercise routine and healthy lifestyle. The good news is, all you have to do to overcome your procrastination is to simply start today.
Image
With FitClub’s tips below, you’ll be ready to start now!
Keep it simple. Whenever we’re starting a new habit, lifestyle, or way of life, it’s important not to burn yourself out the first day. If you’re new to exercise, you can’t expect to run a marathon tomorrow. Not only do you risk soreness and injury by doing too much too soon, but you also set yourself up for disappointment and burnout. Commit to starting slowly with fifteen to twenty minutes of exercise. Once those endorphins kick in, you may find yourself wanting to do more and jump back in again tomorrow. Setting reasonable and achievable expectations for yourself ensures that you see progress every day and look forward to your next workout.
Celebrate consistency, not the scale. Waiting to celebrate progress until you hit your goal weight or achieve a long-term goal can make exercise feel too much like work. Instead, celebrate your consistency instead of future progress. Put a checkmark on the calendar, check in on social media when you walk into FitClub or even brag to your friends that you’ve worked out seven days in a row. The tangible rewards and measurable goals will come—probably more quickly than you think—but consistency is the habit that will create a healthy lifestyle instead of a passing fad.
Mix it up. If you have exercised in the past but found that you quit because you grew bored, look at this new opportunity as a chance to mix it up and experiment. If you’re not sure where to begin, check out FitClub’s variety of group exercise classes. FitClub’s classes take place at all times of the day and evenings, so you don’t even have to wait for tomorrow’s class schedule to get started. FitClub’s hours make it difficult to come up with an excuse for not starting right now.
Tomorrow and someday never really come. If you are a procrastinator, you already know this. There’s no magical tomorrow when you wake up early for that workout that will change your life. You’ve probably already told yourself that you will start tomorrow and found a reason to hit the snooze button on your ambitions. What if, instead, you started today? Sometimes even just breaking our patterns of procrastination feels worth celebrating. In fact, while you’re reading this, there is probably a FitClub class starting soon. Click here, choose your class, and walk through the front doors! Don’t forget to brag, celebrate, and check in on social media!
