Bummed because summer is ending, and you didn’t make exercise a habit? No judgment here! Fun fact, there’s no perfect time to start, the goal is to start. At Levante, we’re changing the way you think about exercise. We want the world to prioritize exercise just as you prioritize brushing your teeth or having dinner, it’s not a habit but a necessity.
We’re here to support you no matter what part of your exercise journey you’re at. We want to share our top 5 tips to motivate you so you can introduce exercise into your daily life, with the end goal of making it a habit. If you already exercise, amazing! You can also use these tips to help you stay on track. Exercise doesn’t have to be going to the gym and doing a vigorous 4-hour workout, exercise can be whatever bodily movement will help you reach your fitness & exercise goals.
We all have our own personal reasons to push ourselves to exercise, here are a few of our client's personal reasons (that they’ve let us share):
“I want to be able to lift heavy weights so I can be strong and feel my best”
“I want to be able to play with my kids and not run out of breath in the first two minutes”
Whatever your personal reasons are, we’re here to support you on those days when you just don’t know where to start or those reasons are just not enough.
1. Write down your goals (Set yourself up for success)
When we set goals and achieve them, we always feel this joy within us. Whether it’s because you checked off all the items on your grocery list or your entire list of to-dos, we want you to feel the same joy when it comes to your fitness goals. The number one reason why people don’t stay on track is because they don’t have a goal set in place or a goal to keep them accountable for their progress.
We recommend making one big goal and mini goals to help you get there (like a checklist). For example, if your goal is to lift 50-pound dumbbells, you’re not going to lift them the first day you start, you want to set yourself up for success. For your first week, you could start with 5 pounds, then when you’re comfortable with 5 pounds, you would move on to 10 pounds, and so on, until you meet your big goal of 50 pounds. Once you start to achieve your small goals you’ll reach your big goal, whatever it is.
2. Begin with short workouts (slow and steady wins the race)
No one is telling you to run 10k from one day to the next, but short workouts to get started will definitely help you reach that 10k one day! So, what exactly is a short workout? A short workout is a workout anywhere between 10 to 45 minutes that gets your heart pumping or blood flowing.
Short workouts have so many benefits! It improves your health, they’re easier to fit into your day, reduces the stress & intimidation of working out, and can boost your mood just to name a few. Make sure you know your schedule for the day and week so you can plan ahead to allot time for these workouts and what exercise you want to do.
3. Don’t compare yourself to others 
Not only do we have to overcome physical hurdles to stay on track but also mental ones. We’ve all been in a situation whether at the gym or in an exercise setting where we are constantly filling our minds with negative thoughts and comparing ourselves to others.
“Stop right now, thank you very much” As a wise British girl band would state, one thing we need you to understand is that everyone is on their own fitness journey, and comparing yourself and/or progress to others around you will not help you succeed. As easy as it is to compare ourselves and our situations to others, try to avoid it as much as possible. If this does happen, ask yourself why you got started and reflect on your journey so far. The only competition we need is within ourselves.
4. Mindful Movement (Moving with Intent)
Contrary to popular belief, mindful movement is not just yoga and Pilates. Mindful movement is to bring your full attention to the present moment and mindfully move your body while staying aware of what you're doing and thinking. This is also what sets us apart from others in the fitness industry, it’s not just about doing 10 reps and moving on to the next set, but it’s about how we do each of those 10 reps.
Adding The Focus to your workout allows you to really connect the mind to the muscle (to see the benefits of adding The Focus to your workout click here). When our mind wanders about what we must do tomorrow and other life stressors, we’re not really paying attention to our workout. The Focus will bring your attention back to the exercise and make sure you always have a mindful workout where your mind and body are connected.
5. Workout with accountable company 
Now, this tip is not for everyone as some people prefer to exercise alone, but if you’re just getting started, working out with a trusted friend or family member can help you stay on track with your fitness journey. The key word in this tip is accountable, make sure that the person you’ve chosen to exercise with, is just as motivated and engaged in their own and your fitness goals. There are several benefits to working out with a company, to start it’s safer to exercise with someone, your company may have new exercise ideas that will keep your workout engaging, and generally, you’ll work harder with someone around. This can also strengthen the bond between you and your company.
6. Habit Stacking 
Last but not least, we recommend habit stacking. Habits and behavior expert James Clear, best-selling author of Atomic Habits and creator of the Habit Journal, is another huge advocate and teacher of this method. What is habit stacking you ask?
In simple terms, you are “stacking” a new habit onto a pre-existing one or the new behavior you're trying to adopt onto a current behavior to help you remember to do it and/or perform it with less mental effort. For example, you want to start taking your vitamins to improve your health but have a hard time adding them to your schedule and remembering to take them. To add taking your vitamins as a stacking habit, after every first meal of the day you would take your vitamins with a large glass of water. After a while, your brain will correlate the ending of your first meal of the day with taking your vitamins and will establish that habit.
Now that we’ve shared these tips, all that’s left for you to do is to get started or keep at it! Subscribe for a monthly dose of fitness, plus the latest promos, launches, and events.
We’d love to hear your feedback! Email us at support@levantestrength.com.
Written by Connie Pérez