How do you exercise and what keeps you motivated?

I do a, idk, routine of exercises everyday (30 push-ups, 75 sit-ups, and stretching; don’t worry, I started small). When I first decided to start this, I told my whole family and asked for their support, because I knew that I would forget, or be lazy and stop (it’s happened to me b4, three times). My parents thought it was a gr8 idea and told me they would try to remember to remind me if I forgot. So far, I’ve even managed to get my younger brother to start exercising. Anyway, the thing that made this time a success was my handy-dandy calendar. I have a plain old calendar, where I write everything that I did that night (as in # of exercises and which ones). I try to be consistent and when I can, I raise my expectations to, say 75 sit-ups in stead of 70. And if I miss a day, I put a big fat X on the calendar. That’s all, I hope it helps!

I’m a rower [crew is the name of the sport or some prefer rowing]

I row everyday with a little break inbetween seasons
I’m a pretty serious athlete. In the fall we usually have dry land practice as well as rowing on the river i live near [i am a part of a team]
For dry land we start with jogging 2 miles - 4 miles
sit ups, push ups, crunches, lunges, wall sits [when you sit 90 degrees to the ground] plank [your body is parrallel to the ground sustained by your elbows/forearms and toes in almost push up position] and this awesome exercise called jumpees
their basically like squats except you jump off the ground so its an exercise of all the muscles past your hip to your ankles. when you are in the squat position your arms are bent and out in frotn of your body, when you jump up you swing your arms back [it helps with the balance]

basically our practices last 2.5 hrs b/c we incorporate both rowing on the water, and land exercise

fall, spring, and summer all involve the water
winter practice we usually spend inside a warehouse packed with weights and ergs.
ergometers [ergs] are rowing machines
we usually have long/short pieces that help with our endurance/strength training

spring is our main season - most boats that race in the spring are sweep oriented [1 oar per person]

summer - most boats are sculling oriented [ 2 oars that are slightly smaller per person]

there are also speaking positions in the boats
they are called coxswains and they are usually in the fours and eights [4 or 8 ppl in the boat with 1 oar each]
they help direct the boat [steering] and also speak to the rowers esp. in practice and races [races for motivation and direction when to start powers]
powers are things lyk power 20 power 10 power 5
its just crew lingo and the powers are usually done/taken in the middle/first quarter/last quarter of the race

a power 20 would be 20 strong strokes. usually you can feel the intensity really pick up during these
power 10 = 10 strong strokes
etc

crew’s alot of fun because when you hve that perfection in the boat, whether or not its for 5 seconds out of the whole practice, or for a longer time, when you can hear all the oarlocks turn at the same exact time and everyone’s catch is at the same time [catch is the beginning of the stroke with the oar when the oar enters the water to take a stroke] and the boats set, you see that all your hard work on the erg in the grueling winter paid off.
You get really close to your teammates. its awesome –
if you need motivation, a team sport is great motivation. for example in rowing if you give up, the other 7 girls in your boat [lol im a girl] then you’re letting every single girl down. they have to pull your weight in the boat.

i use to swim for 8years, and swimming is a great endurance sport but its more isolation than crew b/c its just you and the water when it really comes down to racing. in team sports, you got each others backs.

challenges: when you don’t want to get up
-the thing is, you know that after the work out you won’t regret getting up. and you may actually enjoy yourself

-even a little exercise is better than doing nothing. the little things lyk jumping jacks while watching tv makes a difference

-the most important thing is to enjoy what you do. if you absolutely **** jogging then try rollerblading. biking? try hip hop. hip hop at your local exercise gym maybe offered

try going to one of those classes with a friend
its a GREAT workout
and its fun
and yoga [pilates] its not really my thing, but all my other friends ADORE yoga. it strengthens your core and has great health benefits

try to find some company to do it with, when you feel less motivated, they can push you, and you will feel great afterwards for completing a small goal.

good luck!!