Struggling to Move Each Day? These 3 Things Help Hold Me Accountable

About once a day, I have an internal battle: to get up and move or to, well, not. As I go through my internal dialogue, I remind myself that objects at rest stay at rest, and objects in motion stay in motion. Although I love reciting that first law of physics to prove I listened in school, more importantly, I love how it reminds me that moving will never be easy until I actually get moving.

And sure, I'd love to say the laws of physics help motivate me to work out each day, but we all know there's a little bit more to it than that. In the past few months, these three things have helped keep me motivated to exercise each and every day.

Change up weekly goals

I'm a goal-oriented person for sure, so setting very specific goals each and every week, if not every day, helps keep me motivated to get up and get moving. Some weeks I'm determined to try a new workout video a day; others I'm aiming to increase mileage, or complete a set number of reps while testing out my new UA HOVR™ Rise Printed Training Shoes ($110). I've even gone as far as changing my fitness tracker's daily calorie burn goal each week, so I'm challenged to find new ways to increase the intensity of my workouts. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what the goals are that I set. What's more important is the fact I keep myself accountable by always being on my toes and working toward something new.

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Friendly competition

When I say friendly competition, I truly mean friendly. A group of five of my friends and I all have the same fitness tracker, and for the past four months, we've been following each other's progress. I'm able to see the types of workouts my friends complete, when they complete them, and how much of their goal they've accomplished for the day. For me, having this little extra bit of competition has helped fuel my daily desire to get out there and move and stay accountable to a daily goal. I can't stay resting when my friends are working hard! Sometimes even viewing the type of workout they've completed helps inspire me for how I want to get in some exercise myself!

Productive recovery

Exercise comes in many forms beyond crazy-hard workout classes or lengthy runs. Although a long run may be my preferred method of expending energy, it's not something I can or should do daily. But that doesn't stop me from stretching my legs and moving. Even an hour walk around the block is a meaningful workout. One trick I use to get myself pumped for a less-than-exciting workout is to allow myself productive recovery time, meaning I give myself some downtime to look forward to. For example, if I set out for a neighborhood walk, I make sure to allow myself some of the recovery time to use wisely and either run errands, get a treat at a local coffee shop, or make a much-needed call to friends or family. If I'm doing yoga for 45 minutes in the morning, I make a coffee and open my email, so I can immediately be prepared for some postsweat productivity. It may seem small, but giving myself something useful and non-fitness related to achieve afterwards, it can jump-start my workout entirely and hold me accountable.