I am 18 years old in this photo. Just 2 years into lifting weights. It never crossed my mind back then that I’d still be lifting at the age of 63. But, it’s even more important now.
Hi there, welcome to the new place. I was having a difficult time merging my dog site and my lifting blog so we are now all together. Even though this is my canine related website, lifting is a part of my life; so here we are.
Today I wanted to discuss motivation. At 63 years of age I’ve had many, many ups and downs as far as working out. And, I know that motivation is one of the biggest obstacles when trying to get to the gym or exercise. I’ve been asked how I stay motivated many times when discussing working out for about 47 years (yikes). I have to admit there were spans of time when I just didn’t workout for one reason or another; but when I’m in, I’m in.
Getting motivated and staying motivated is not easy; especially if you are one of the many people who consider working out to be the last thing you want to be doing. I feel very lucky that I happen to love it. I love doing physical things on a day to day basis so it makes that part much easier. But I most definitely have times when I’m just not into it. So what do I do to stay motivated?
Get dress when you don’t want to workout. Once your dressed in workout attire, it is much easier to get your butt to the gym.
Allow yourself to NOT workout when you really don’t want to. A day or two off is a good thing.
Consider yourself lucky to BE ABLE to workout. There are many people who would do anything to be able to.
Get into the right mindset. You are doing this for you, invest in that one body that you have to live in.
Working out is a lifestyle. It is not a quick fix or something you do for a week or month and then stop.
Schedule your workout into your daily schedule; not just when you think you have time.
I have found that working out first thing in the morning is the absolute best time to schedule it. I work out before my shower, before I eat breakfast but typically after I have walked my dogs. That way I never have to fit it in anywhere.
Take days off.
You do not have to spend hours in the gym (unless you want to, that is.) Keep it short and sweet. I like to workout most days so I can get a good workout done in 30-40 with stretching.
Working out all the time can be a mind game. Try to schedule things around your workouts, don’t be too quick to cancel them. They are extremely important.
Get some cute new workout duds. That always helps get you in the mood. ;)
Long ago we use to have to do lots of physcial activities throughout the day. Now with modern conveniences, everything is too darn easy. We barely have to lift a finger anymore and because of it out bodies suffer. As we age we tend to do less so we lose muscle even faster than we should. The old saying
“you’re too old to be doing that”
is only true if you stop moving. If you allow your body to decline by not doing physical things then working out seems so much harder. Start today, start slow and keep going.
You got this!!!!