10/29/09

Too busy? Baby’s crying? Sooo tired? Don’t chance blowing off your workout because you were, yet again, able to convince yourself (during a moment of weakness) that it’s okay to skip it today. Excuses may be easy to come by, but if you have a backup plan you just might be able to thwart those exercise evading tricks that your mind tends to play.

How? The May issue of Fitness Magazine covered a Columbia University study that women who compiled a list of alternatives to typical workout avoiding excuses tend to exercise twice as much as those who succumbed to an excuse not to. They outlined a few options to help get you in the right workout state of mind. Fitness suggests:

IF… “I can’t make it to the gym at lunch” is your excuse…
THEN… “I’ll do a workout DVD as soon as I get home”

IF… “All I want to do is curl up on the couch and relax” is your excuse…
THEN… “I’ll slip on some sweats for a yoga session”

IF… “I head straight for the fridge after work” is your excuse…
THEN… “I’ll grab a 150-calorie snack and eat it on my way to exercise”

IF… “I oversleep” is your excuse…
THEN… “__________“ (here’s where you get to play along)

IF… “__________“ (Insert your biggest obstacle here)
THEN… “__________“ (Insert a realistic alternative to the excuse here)

To ensure that you follow your own advice to exercise (even when you have the ability to come up with any excuse in the book not to) carry this little excuse-alternatives list in your purse, post it on your fridge, do whatever you need to remind yourself that for every excuse there is an alternative. Besides, you know you will feel better after, so why not get moving now?

posted by: Laurel