For all the times when you’re feeling truly fired-up and you just eat up your exercise schedule for breakfast, there are those times when you feel utterly uninspired and the very thought of breaking a sweat goes as far as paralysing you to the point where you can’t even change into your gym clothes. It’s very easy for someone who doesn’t exercise regularly themselves to say “just do it” because it really isn’t that easy when you’re in the moment and you’d pay money for a glass of drinkable inspiration.
A simple trick that always works entails firstly changing into your workout clothes knowing fully-well that you’re not going to hit the gym and workout — not today. Just get fully-kitted and then relax a little bit in your gym clothes. You might find that inspiration to get your butt off the couch and exercising suddenly hits you out of nowhere, but knowing exactly how I am when uninspired to exercise, I wouldn’t count on it, in which case you should ease-into your regular exercise regime by engaging in some exercises which don’t really look and feel like they are indeed exercises.
Biking
Specialized road bikes come in especially handy to help you get in some much-needed exercise during those totally uninspired days. Put your bike in the easy gears and try to get as far as possible, then on your way back you can do some of the heavier gears as you’ll essentially be in a situation where you’re forced to get in some exercise.
Pool Exercises
The mere act of swimming is in itself a good, full-body workout that perhaps doesn’t feel like an exercise when you’re doing it because it can be a lot of fun. If you’re so uninspired that you can’t even trick yourself to do a couple of laps, just walk around in the pool and it’ll constitute some relatively good exercise for your legs, at least.
Living Room Exercises
Living-room exercises, some of which can even be done in front of the TV, are a great way to ease back into your exercise regime when uninspired because they’re a bit addictive. Once you start you probably won’t be able to stop until you’ve all the way broken through the psychological barrier preventing you from getting active. These can include anything from sit-ups to calf-rasies, or leg-raises since these require you to lie down flat on the floor (starting position).
Yoga
Most gym rats who otherwise regularly engage in heavy exercises such as lifting weights or running long distance are quick to dismiss the intensity of yoga. This is the perfect opportunity to try it out then, after which you’ll discover that it’s not as easy as you may have thought it is and that yoga actually “burns”.
Dance-Along Programmes
The likes of Zumba comes to mind as a great dance-along programme which is so much fun that you won’t realise you’ve actually been exercising until it’s way too late and you’ve managed to get back some inspiration to perhaps get back to your regular exercise regime…the next day, of course.
