Achieve an Easier and More Effective Workout: A Seemingly Impossible Task

A Seemingly Impossible Task

Even for committed exercisers, motivation often flags, and there are days when it requires a Herculean effort just to put on our workout clothes and walk through the gym doors.

If you're lucky, the sights and sounds of exercise are all you need to motivate yourself to get moving. Other times, you still may not have the slightest urge to get started. Here are stealthy ways to get the most out of your workout.

1. Avoid the mirrors. Many fitness locations line exercise rooms with mirrors to allow you to watch your form as you work out. Yet a study of 58 women found that those who exercised in front of a mirror felt less calm and more fatigued after 30 minutes of working out than those who exercised without staring at their reflection. The national exercise chain, Curves, deliberately designs its small gyms without mirrors so women can concentrate on each other and the workout rather than on how they look. Other gyms are beginning to offer "reflection-free" zones. If yours doesn't, mention the idea -- and the study -- to the gym manager.

2. Try using aromatherapy oils known to enhance energy, such as rosemary. Mix them with water and store them in a squirt bottle in your gym bag. Give your gym clothing a few squirts before leaving the dressing room so you can smell the oil as you work out. If you're in the midst of a more meditative, slower-paced workout, such as Pilates or yoga, try lavender oil instead of rosemary.

3. Create your own personal gym-mix tapes, CDs, or digital recordings, and listen to them as you work out. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse found that people who listen to up-tempo music got significantly more out of their stationary bike workouts. They pedaled faster, produced more power, and their hearts beat faster than when they listened to slow-tempo music or sounds with no tempo. Overall, they worked between 5 and 15 percent harder while listening to the energizing beat. Although the type of music you choose is up to you, pick something with a fast beat that makes you want to break out in dance. You can custom-design your own exercise music to burn to a CD or download to an MP3 player at Internet sites such as www.mywalkingmusic.com or www.workoutmusic.com.

4. Turn off the tube when exercising. It's tempting to try to lose yourself in television programming as you slog away on the treadmill or stationary bike. Yet a 1996 study found women worked out about 5 percent harder when they weren't watching TV than when they were. Although your favorite TV show may take your mind off your workout, it also causes you to lose touch with your effort level. You unconsciously slow down or use poor form as you get caught up in what you are watching. If television sets line the workout area, get on the equipment closest to the monitor tuned to C-Span. Sure you'll glance up at the monitor from time to time, but unless you're a complete political junkie, you probably won't get sucked in.

Enter the Right State of Mind

5. Think of someone who irritates you. Then step on the treadmill, stair stepper, stationary bike, or elliptical machine and sweat out your aggression as you run, climb, or cycle. You might even imagine that you are running an imaginary race against this person. You'll get in a better workout -- and blast away anger and stress at the same time.

6. Drink a bottle of water or juice on your way to the gym. If you show up for your workout already dehydrated, you'll feel overly fatigued during your session, says Craig Horswill, Ph.D., principal scientist for the Gatorade sports science Institute in Barrington, Illinois. "Nearly half of all exercisers are starting their workouts at a real disadvantage -- by arriving at the gym already dehydrated," he says. "When you're dehydrated, you can't work as hard, you don't feel as good, and your mental function is going to be compromised. Consequently, you're not going to get as much out of your workout."

7. Think you can and you will. So simple, yet so often ignored, positive thinking can help you power your way through a workout. In a study of 41 adults ages 55 to 92, exercisers who thought positively were more likely to stay active than those whose minds often uttered those two evil words: "I can't." Whenever you find yourself making excuses, mentally put those self-defeating thoughts in a locked cabinet in your brain and replace them with positive messages such as, "I feel great" or "Bring it on."

8. Work out with a friend. If you're feeling stale and are thinking of skipping your gym workouts, ask a friend to meet you for a gym date. As you walk or run on the treadmill, you can share stories of your day. Thirty minutes will go by before you know it. You can also encourage each other to work a bit harder. Your friend can also help you find the courage to approach unfamiliar gym equipment, as it's easier to laugh off your foibles when you have a trusted companion nearby.

9. Set a short-term workout goal. We all know that goals help motivate you to work harder, and that the best exercise programs include measurable goals to achieve weeks or months down the road. Sometimes, though, when your motivation is drooping, a goal for what to achieve over the next 30 minutes is really what you need. So pick something achievable: Maintain a sweat for 20 minutes, or cover two miles on the treadmill, or give just your arms a really good strength workout. A target like that gives you focus to get through on even the tough days.

10. Whenever you feel like you're just spinning your wheels, hire a trainer. In just one session a trainer can open your eyes to a whole new world of workouts, helping you to squeeze just a little more motivation and juice out of yourself.

Enhance Your motivation

11. Work out during the least crowded hours. You'll squeeze in a more effective workout in less time if you hit the gym during the slowest period of the day, often midafternoon. You won't want to wait on line for equipment or feel hassled in the locker room.

12. Change your routine every 3 to 4 weeks. This will keep your body guessing -- improving your results -- and fuel your motivation. In the weight room, alternate exercises and modify the way you lift weights. If you usually do two sets of 15 reps, complete one set of about 15 reps, then increase the weight for another set of 8 reps. On cardio equipment, switch from the treadmill to the stair stepper or the stair stepper to the elliptical trainer. Mix up your exercise classes as well, switching around from Pilates to aerobic dance to yoga to kickboxing.

13. Slow down. In one study of 147 people completed at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Massachusetts, participants who lifted slowly -- taking at least 14 seconds to complete one repetition -- gained more strength than participants who lifted at a rate of 7 seconds per repetition. Slower lifting may help increase strength because it prevents you from using momentum or cheating with improper technique.

14. Put your mind behind every move. Rather than daydreaming through your workouts, put as much mental emphasis on what you do at the gym as you do at work -- or at least should do at work. For example, when doing a strength exercise, feel the muscle contract as you lift. This inner focus will help you to tune in to your technique. You'll fatigue your muscles faster because you'll make every movement count.

15. Invent a competition with the person on the next treadmill. So you're on the treadmill and you're bored and underachieving. Glance at the display on someone else's nearby treadmill. If you're walking at 3.5 miles per hour and he's chugging away at 4, see if you can increase your speed and catch him, as if it were a race. Although the man or woman on the nearby treadmill has no idea you're racing, he or she can still provide the motivation needed to boost your pace.

16. Wear the right shoes for the right class. When it comes to workout gear, you might get away with skimping on your clothing, but resist the urge to wear those ratty old sneakers you found in the back of your closet. Various fitness disciplines require specific types of footwear. Wearing the wrong shoes will not only make your workout feel harder, it could get you injured. Wear running shoes for running, walking shoes for walking, aerobics or cross-training shoes for Aerobics, and hard-bottomed cycling shoes for spinning.

17. Watch an inspiring movie. If you just don't feel like working out, pop a movie like Rocky into your VCR or DVD. Watching your hero working hard to succeed can inspire you to apply that intense feeling during your next workout.