Exercise motivation is an important part of any fitness regimen, no matter if it’s walking, swimming, or the ultra-intense P90X workout. Without the proper motivation, it becomes all too easy to abandon a workout almost as soon as you have started it.
Aside from providing yourself with the impetus to actually begin a fitness program and the drive to continue working out, you can further boost your enthusiasm for your fitness regimen by treating yourself to post-workout rewards. This will definitely go a long way towards motivating you on your journey to stay fit and healthy.
Here are 3 awesome ideas for rewarding yourself after those challenging workout sessions…
- Get a massage. This is one of the greatest post-workout rewards you can treat your body to. A full body massage after a strenuous regimen (particularly when you’re done with a resistance training workout) is enough to knead tight, tense muscles and enhance blood circulation. A massage also gets rid of built-up toxins accrued during heavy exercises, particularly when you’ve overworked your muscles. Admittedly, a massage from experienced therapists can be quite expensive to indulge in on a regular basis, so I recommend using your persuasive powers on your partner for that magic touch.
- Indulge in a sauna or Jacuzzi. When you’re a gym member, you’ve probably concentrated so much on the fitness equipment that you’ve probably neglected the other facilities that often comes with a costly membership fee. A post-workout soak in the Jacuzzi is a soothing experience, while some time in the sauna will help you sweat out toxins and shed a few additional pounds. Make sure that you take a cool shower before entering the sauna room and don’t stay longer than your body can comfortably handle.
- Meditate. While this is a common technique to end mind-body sessions like Yoga and Pilates, meditation is something that you can also do to wrap up your cardiovascular or resistance training sessions. If you haven’t tried meditating before, it’s really simple: Just sit in a quiet spot with music or nature sounds in the background and close your eyes. Concentrate on one thing — be it a mantra (or a word or phrase that you repeat over and over), your breathing, or just a scene that you visualize in your mind. If thoughts distract you, just go back to the object of your concentration and continue. With meditation, you not only get the benefit of relaxing your body, you also get to end your workout in a calm state of mind, ready to face the challenges that life dishes out.
If you’re not currently doing anything to reward yourself post-workout, I challenge you to give these 3 things a try. If, for some reason these activities don’t appeal to you, simply substitute something that does. Perhaps a delicious Chocolate Shakeology shake or a trip to the mall for some good old-fashioned retail therapy are more to your liking? What’s most important is that you provide yourself with post-workout rewards that will do the trick in keeping you motivated to continue your future workouts.
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