Cardio Exercise Motivation
When I'm pushing myself during my runs, I think back to when I was much heavier and trying to figure out how I pushed myself so much back then without giving up. Well here are three of the biggest factors that kept me motivated back then:
Music- I remember I had tried to run long before I had lost any weight and all I could concentrate on was my choking and trouble breathing. I thought it was impossible and I gave up. The day I started the journey where I actually lost all the weight I had set out to, I brought along a CD player and listened to music. The CD player ended up skipping the whole time, so I threw it in the bushes and came back for it later.
That night, I went out and spent $10.00 on am/fm radio headphones at Wal Mart. I used these for a good year before I even got an iPod and they worked great. I know it sounds stupid, but I owe a lot of my progress to my $10.00 Wal Mart radio headphones!
Take yourself out of your body- Another big thing that I still do to this day when I'm running is to take myself out of my body. I concentrate on anything but the run. I use the time to think and day dream. It usually takes about 2-3 minutes into the run before I get to this point, but once I'm there, it's 10 time easier to run. It really helps to have zero distractions. Putting the music up loud really helps this because I cannot hear my foot steps and breathing. Running outside at night also helps because it's almost like I'm not even there. I wouldn't recommend running outside at night to everyone though.
Look at yourself go- Think about when you're looking at someone else doing intense cardio at the gym. What do you think to yourself? Wow, they are working their ass off! Well no matter how good of shape they are in, if they're working their ass off and sweating, they are probably feeling just like you feel when you workout, but they keep going. They might be in great shape, but they're running 8 or 9 miles an hour and that's hard for anyone.
Now when you're working out and feeling like crap, look in the mirror or just picture what you look like. You look just like them. You are working your ass off and you should be proud. This makes it a little harder to give up because you want to be proud of yourself and the more you see how hard you're working, the more proud you are!
Music- I remember I had tried to run long before I had lost any weight and all I could concentrate on was my choking and trouble breathing. I thought it was impossible and I gave up. The day I started the journey where I actually lost all the weight I had set out to, I brought along a CD player and listened to music. The CD player ended up skipping the whole time, so I threw it in the bushes and came back for it later.
That night, I went out and spent $10.00 on am/fm radio headphones at Wal Mart. I used these for a good year before I even got an iPod and they worked great. I know it sounds stupid, but I owe a lot of my progress to my $10.00 Wal Mart radio headphones!
Take yourself out of your body- Another big thing that I still do to this day when I'm running is to take myself out of my body. I concentrate on anything but the run. I use the time to think and day dream. It usually takes about 2-3 minutes into the run before I get to this point, but once I'm there, it's 10 time easier to run. It really helps to have zero distractions. Putting the music up loud really helps this because I cannot hear my foot steps and breathing. Running outside at night also helps because it's almost like I'm not even there. I wouldn't recommend running outside at night to everyone though.
Look at yourself go- Think about when you're looking at someone else doing intense cardio at the gym. What do you think to yourself? Wow, they are working their ass off! Well no matter how good of shape they are in, if they're working their ass off and sweating, they are probably feeling just like you feel when you workout, but they keep going. They might be in great shape, but they're running 8 or 9 miles an hour and that's hard for anyone.
Now when you're working out and feeling like crap, look in the mirror or just picture what you look like. You look just like them. You are working your ass off and you should be proud. This makes it a little harder to give up because you want to be proud of yourself and the more you see how hard you're working, the more proud you are!
Labels: Cardio, Exercise, Motivation
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