Motivated Movement..

Recently, a friend and I were speaking about motivation.  
A quote below:
“Every day I wake up thinking about how I should be working out,  but then something else gets in the way.  My schedule is busy and I don’t have time to get to the gym.  I want to have the strength and resolve like Mike [boyfriend].  He is the most dedicated gym rat I know.  Works an 18 hour NYPD shift and then wants to come home to not sleep, not eat, but work out!!”
I first responded to her comment by reminding her that everyone has different fitness goals.  Likewise, many people in high-risk, stressful jobs utilize exericse as a method of stress reduction.  I hypothesized that after an 18 hour police shift, her boyfriend needed a way to release his adrenaline, which is why he opted for exercise before anything else.  
We discussed her short term and long term goals.  To address her lack of motivation, I invited her to sign up with me for a 10 week personal training program.  It is harder to be a slacker when you know someone else is expecting you to perform at a certain level.  Likewise, I reminded her that jumping rope 10 minutes per day to upbeat music would be a quick, affordable and efficient way to squeeze cardio into her schedule.  
For a short term goal, I would like to see her cardiac output increase by 5% within the next 3 weeks.   She recently quit smoking, but still wheezes while walking up stairs.  Long term, I would like to see her combining circuit training with cross-fitness elements.  I am sure that if I were to design a fitness plan that incorporated multiple elements of fitness (ploymetrics, cardio, and kickboxing), she would stay motivated and on track for imroved wellness.
So how do you get motivated to work out?  Do you prefer to work out with a buddy?  Write a fitness journal?  I’d love to hear your tips for staying motivated!

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