‘Just start’ has always been my mentality when it comes to doing exercise.
Completing a workout will ALWAYS help me feel happier and mentally stronger. JUST starting is how I get it done when I really don’t want to, here’s 5 ways that help me JUST start.
Avoid procrastination. Do you ever find yourself thinking about how hard a workout is going to be? You sit there thinking about the squat jumps, burpees, sore muscles, lack of oxygen and before you know it, you’ve talked yourself out of starting because it is just ‘too’ hard. My top tip; don’t think about it! Don’t think how long it is going to be, how hard it might be, how sweaty you might get, JUST start.
Prepare to JUST start. You want to create the path of least resistance. Lay everything you need for your workout on the floor next to your bed the night before. Get up, put your kit on, brush your teeth, drink some water and JUST start.
Don’t hit snooze. This is the ultimate ‘JUST start barrier’. Hitting snooze only makes getting out of bed harder, it’s been proven time and time again that those extra minutes interrupted by the joys of your phones alarm only lead you to feel sleepier and less active during the day. When your alarm goes off, get up, don’t scroll or hit snooze, JUST get going.
Set achievable goals. If you hate long workouts (45-50 mins), don’t keep setting yourself a goal to do 6 of those a week. Keep it realistic. Set yourself to do just 20-30 minutes, you can always do more and the likely hood of you wanting to do more will be higher after 20 minute of exercise than the beginning of the workout. Action = motivation. JUST start with small, achievable, reachable and realistic goals.
It is JUST a warm up. Every workout starts with a warm up. That’s all and I know you can do that. After doing the warm up set yourself a new mini goal of completing just the first circuit, just that. Don’t look at the time or how long the workout has left, just set yourself a goal to do the next 5 minutes, then again after that set a new goal. This way you are always achieving, constantly feeling like you are achieving. So, pat yourself on the back a few times during your workout then focus on the next part, believe in yourself and JUST start.
