I am sure many of us find our motivation to exercise lacking at times. Working late, too tired, meeting friends for drinks or dinner, a date… etc. Enough with the excuses!

 The following article on Motivating Yourself to Exercise is from the fitness newsletter of my colleague, Julia Derek, personal trainer. Her monthy newsletter is called Fit and the City - appropriate for us city girls. Check it out for other informative articles.

Eleven Ways to Motivate Yourself to Exercise.

1. Find an exercise buddy. If you can’t find one among your friends, join exercisefriends.com.

2. If you’re competitive, make a bet with someone that you’ll lose weight by a certain date and tell everyone you know about it so there is no way out…

3. Book a beach vacation three months in advance. Miami and Los Angeles are great choices because everyone there looks fantastic, so you better too.

 4. Sign up for an event like a 10 K, triathlon, or half-marathon and train for it.

5. Do a Demi! Get a much younger boyfriend/girlfriend. I can guarantee you that you’ll find time to go to the gym…

6. Hire a funny, likeable trainer. Some people are motivated by a hot trainer.

7. Become a trainer or group exercise instructor. Few will come to your classes if you’re out of shape.

8. If you’re single, join a volleyball league or runner’s club instead of going to bars to meet your new significant other.

9. Play badminton on the beach or in a park. Position yourself with your friend in a crowded area and start playing. The worse you’re at it, the higher the chances are the ball will land in a group of people. Great excuse to make a connection!

10. Become a fitness magazine junkie. Vow to read every fitness book out there. The more you educate yourself about health and fitness, the harder it becomes to not take their advice.

11. Update your Ipod with great new uplifting music every Sunday so that you have something fun to listen to during your workout. A cool new exercise outfit won’t hurt your motivation either.

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