Seven ways to stick to your gym routine

ABOUT half of people give up exercise after six months: here are some golden rules on how to beat the stats.

IF YOU’RE like most people, chances are you’ve experienced “The Vision”, that flash of inspiration when you see your ideal physical self. “That’s it,” you say. “I’m going to get the stomach of Gisele Bündchen, the butt of Jessica Biel, and the legs of Blake Lively.

So you load up on the fabulous stretchy training gear and take to the gym/treadmill/exercise bike like a Duracell Bunny that’s swallowed a car battery.

And then it all starts to seem too hard. The shine has come off. You’d rather stay on the sofa and watch My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding.

If this sounds like you, you’re in good company. Research shows that about 50 per cent of people who start to exercise give up after six months. But don’t despair. You only need a handful of strategies to get back in the groove.

Get personal

Burning calories may be the name of the game but think about the reasons why you’re exercising in the first place because the more meaningful your goal is, the better. According to personal trainer Andreas Lundin, your goals should be inspirational to you, rather than being what you think other people expect of you. “I trained a woman who’d had twins,” Lundin says. “All she wanted was to get the same feeling she’d had before the pregnancy. It didn’t matter for her what the scales said, or what someone else said. When she achieved her goal she felt elated because it meant something.”

Change it up

Bored? Not enjoying it anymore? You need to find a workout that has “meaning” to you. “Recent research suggests that the reason the dropout figure for exercise is so high is that the activities prescribed to people often lack meaning and purpose,” Sandy Gordon, professor of Exercise, Health and Sport Psychology at The University of Western Australia, says. “Stair-climbing, treadmill walking or running, stationary bike riding and rowing machine work are often regarded as non-purposeful. Translation: boring.”

The exercise you choose doesn’t have to be your typical running or weight training, either; dancing, walking the dog, or paddleboard yoga (yes, it exists) — it all counts, as long as it raises your heart rate.

Make a record

Once you’ve found an activity you like, log it. “Research shows that when you monitor your own behaviour it has a significant impact [on your commitment to exercise],” University of Western Sydney sport psychologist Patsy Tremayne says.

Pedometers are nothing new but when used correctly, they can be enough to spur you on.

Have a back-up

It’s rainy, your workout buddy has cancelled, the gym’s closed on Anzac Day, there will inevitably be times when that 10km run just isn’t going to happen. It’s OK, though, because you have a back-up plan: a stash of fitness DVDs ready for a quick loungeroom workout, resistance bands for muscle toning, or your iPod for a personal high-intensity dance class.

Hit the play button

Keep your playlists updated. A study by Brunel University’s School of Sport and Education in London found that listening to upbeat music while working out can reduce the perception of effort and increase endurance by 15 per cent.

Wake up your muscles

Too tired to exercise, as in the-baby’s-been-up-all-night kind of tired? You deserve a rest. But before you do, try Movement Prep. This simple practice involves squeezing your muscles in a series of dynamic movements to increase your heart rate, energising you enough for a quick walk or some yoga. A full session involves several exercises, but the Moving Knee Hug is a good start: From a standing position, squat down a few inches and grab below your right knee with your hands. Rise up, pulling your right knee towards your chest while contracting your left glute. Hold for a few seconds. Step forwards and repeat with the other leg. Do six repetitions on each leg.

Find your inner boot camper

“I’m just not one of those ‘exercise types’,” you say, waving a dismissive hand in the direction of the barbarian hordes doing boot camp in the rain at 6am. But you can become that which you fear. “If you start being self-disciplined, it changes the neural networks of the brain,” Tremayne says. “When we have bad habits we tend to mentally switch between the amygdala, which is involved in emotions, and the prefrontal cortex [which concerns planning and reasoning]. You ruminate a lot. By being self-disciplined, it cuts down on the ruminations, it dampens the emotional aspect of, ‘Gee I can’t do this, maybe I don’t want to...’ You just do it.”