Make Exercise Fun!

Hi All!! HAPPY Midweek :D
How are you?! How's your week going so far?! Are you ROCKING IT?! :D It's only Wednesday, so it's not too late to get in some mean workouts and eat clean this week! U GOT THIS!!

It's February and LOVE is in the air :D You get 1 body to live in and LOVE during this lifetime! Whether you're building a better body or making sure your current body is healthy, strong, and of course, sexy...lol, viewing exercise as enjoyable can pay off! Not sold on thinking of exercise as fun?! Today's post is how you can make exercise fun!! KEEP READING and find out how :D

If your goal is to eat healthier, learn to view your sweat session as an exciting way to spend an hour rather than a chore to cross off your to-do list! This mental trick may keep you from overeating, suggests research in the journal Marketing Letters. The study authors had 2 groups of people walk the same 1-mile course. They informed the first group that the purpose of the experience was to exercise. The second, that the goal was to have fun and listen to music. Afterward, lunch was served, and the people were asked to rate their mood. Researchers found that the people in the "fun" group not only ate fewer calories at dessert, but also were in a better mood than everyone else. The participants who viewed the walk as exercise reported feeling grumpier and more fatigued than the for-fun strollers. Researchers believe that when you frame your workout in terms of the effort it requires, you may search for "compensation" in the form of food. But when you view exercise as an enjoyable part of your day, you're less likely to turn to treats as a reward for dragging yourself to that Spin class at the crack of dawn...lol! Pinpoint what you LOVE most about working out, like losing yourself in your favorite playlist or cranking out the endorphins with a friend you don't get to see that often, instead of focusing on the effort it takes to get through the burn. Eventually, your brain will start to interpret the pleasure of working out as its own reward :)

Need some MORE motivation?!

Join a class. Group fitness has come a long way baby! There really is something for everyone to LOVE!! Group workouts make even tough workouts seem to go by more quickly ;)

Plan it out. There's no magic time frame required for a good workout! Waiting for the clock to tell you when a workout is done can make time seemingly stand still!! Instead, plan an exercise routine before hitting the gym. This way, the focus is set on the workout and not the clock :)

Lose the dread. While it's beneficial to stack the most challenging moves toward the beginning of your workout, don't feel pressure to kick things off with your most dreaded exercise. Similarly, saving the toughest exercise for very last isn't exactly motivation to make it to the end. Sandwich the really tough exercises with something you LOVE and the whole workout will seem much more fun :D

Go outside. Break out of the gym and go jogging, hiking, skiing, or ice skating :) 

Add some variety. Change your routine frequently to avoid boredom and prevent the dreaded fitness plateau ;)

Track your progress. Nothing makes exercise fly by faster than seeing results you LOVE! Measuring exercise progress and tracking it in a journal makes gains more tangible and provides a great way to stay motivated :D

While these are just a few ways to make exercise fun, it's important to keep in mind that the benefits of exercise are always worth a little hard work! Planning challenging workouts and choosing engaging exercises will go a long way to making fitness fun and LOVE the body you live in!!

If you have ANY comments about this post, I'd LOVE to hear from you :D
Have a FITastic couple of days!
SEE YOU right back here on Fridayyyyy!!