Real Exercise Motivation: Achieving The Splits Within 6 Months

While life is busy with lots of work to do, it's important to exercise and stay healthy. I used to think it was a hassle but it's easy and free with, especially if you have real motivation. 

This article will show you ways to get motivated for exercise; my personal story about proudly doing the splits now as a young adult and how to work your exercise routine into your life with my example. But firstly, why should you read this - or rather, why should you exercise? From various research, here is why you should start exercising regularly. 

What are the benefits of exercise?

• Your body is healthy and fit with a better immune system
• It decreases stress and anxiety and improves your mood
• It helps you lose weight
• It gives you energy as it releases endorphins, the positive hormone
• It's great for being social if you do it with others
• Exercise helps your memory and cognitive thinking
• It helps you get better sleep at night
• It improves your breathing

How long should you exercise for?

You should aim to exercise for at least 30 minutes a day. When you think about it, 30 minutes is not that long. You can take a 30-minute walk or when you get home from work, why not do some exercises?

But doing it is the problem. Thus, it's clear that you need to find the motivation to exercise, which you can do at home or elsewhere. 

9 Ways to get motivated to exercise everyday:

1. Give yourself a reward

One of the most obvious yet useful ways to get motivation is to reward yourself once you exercise. This could be watching an episode of your favourite show or something else that you love. As you focus on the reward, you won't worry about the exercise and it becomes habitual.

2. Make exercise social with friends or family

If you're with others, you'll want to exercise more and find it fun. They can cheer you on and it'll be just like hanging out with your friends or family.

3. Set a realistic goal you will commit to

Firstly, your goal should be realistic so that you will actually do it. Start off with something easy and short that you are capable of wanting to do before trying more. 

4. Make exercise fun for yourself

It's especially successful if you find something that you love to do. You can find an activity you enjoy, such as bike-riding or swimming, or you can add your favourite things such as listening to music while walking. 

5. Think positively

You should think about the benefits of exercise and stay focused on why you're doing it. Don't get stressed or feel bad if you miss a day or two - simply keep going the next day with a positive spirit. 

6. Try different things

To make it more fun and interesting, try new things and changing up your routine and activities. 

7. Focus on the present and future you

Furthermore, focus on yourself instead of comparing yourself to others who might be better because you're doing great no matter what. Also, don't worry about the past if you weren't fit or couldn't do things - you're stronger now and will be more later. 

8. Keep track of your progress

Whether you write it down or use an app, keeping track of your progress is a great way to see your improvement so you feel proud and want to keep going. Similarly, you can check your weight on a scale or just reflect back instead of physically writing. 

9. Visualise your goals

Together with positive thinking, research by Hausenblas et al (1999) supports that it really helps to imagine how you'll look when you finish, how great you'll feel and how proud others might be. Another study showed that internal motivation was more effective than extrinsic motivation, and it helps positive well-being. 

How I achieved the splits within 6 months as a young adult

I've always been a lazy person, forced to do sports by my parents but when I finished high school, I was told to keep exercising. Luckily, I found a way to make it fun for me that made me want to do it. Being that I love music and dance, I now dance at home for 2 hours a day before doing a 30-minute workout listening to music. 

I started this just before I was 19 and back then, I didn't think I would be able to do the splits as almost an adult. However, I've always wanted to do the splits and thought I'd just keep trying it; so every day, I spent some time doing side and front splits in my routine.

At first, it seemed like I wasn't making progress but 3 months later, I realised I had gotten down further and it felt great. Then another 3 months later as an adult, I was shocked to see that my front splits were basically a full split with my thighs touching the ground and when I tried leaning forward, my head could touch my knee, which I later worked to touching the floor. 

Indeed, when I could start doing more workouts for longer and do the splits, I felt extremely proud and this motivated me to keep it up so I didn't lose the stamina, strength and flexibility I built. I was even surprised to see that I could do more chin-ups than before and I wanted to keep improving that. 

Therefore, you should keep going to stay fit and the inner feeling of pride and happiness works as great intrinsic motivation. The effort pays off into a good mood and healthy body. 

How to make an exercise routine

Next, making an exercise routine is helpful to stay committed. Here are helpful tips for setting up your daily exercise you can do at home. Firstly, you should make your exercise routine simple and something that you can do before you make it harder. 

Secondly, it doesn't have to be so long that you want to give up. It's important to realise that any minute counts and if you don't do 30 minutes, it's okay. Even a few minutes like 5 is better than none. Furthermore, you can break it up and take rests in between. For example, maybe take a break from studying by doing 10 pushups and 10 situps and then do some more after another half hour of work. 

Breaking it up into bits works well. As recommended by others, you can break the 30 minutes into 10 minutes of exercise that you do 3 times a day - maybe morning, afternoon and evening.

Thirdly, incorporate your routine conveniently into your daily life. You don't have to go out of your way to the gym if you don't want to. Exercise can be free and easy at home or with workout videos. You can exercise when you can if you have a bit of time. For instance, try doing squats and crunches when watching TV or while waiting for the bus, you can walk around. 

Your exercise routine can include actual sports (e.g. basketball, swimming), activities (e.g. walking, running, bike-riding), stretches (e.g. seated butterfly) or workouts such as push-ups, situps, crunches, squats, leg raises, planks, Russian twists, burpees and star jumps. 

To demonstrate, here is my nearly 30-minute workout routine that I do every late afternoon after work (and if I skip a day, I do some extra the next or I give myself a day rest). You don't have to copy it exactly or even a bit - you should do a routine that works for you that you want to do. Another key point is that you shouldn't do anything that hurts your body. 

Likewise, you should start easy and when you get comfortable, you can make it harder and do more. This is what I do now but it used to more simple when I started. These are exercises done in real yoga classes and sports training.

An example of an exercise routine:

• 20 push-ups and then 10 tricep push-ups
• 15 situps and 15 leg raises
• On the floor, touch your toes on one leg for 30 seconds and then the other leg
• Seated butterfly for 20 secs and reach out to touch your toes of both feet for 30 secs
• 15 raised leg crunches
• Side split, going down further 2 times after 20 secs
• Front split, going down further 4 times after 20 secs and then change legs
• Plank for at least 1 min - drop when you can't hold any more
• Seated butterfly for 40 secs and reach out to touch your toes of both feet for 30 secs
• 50 Russian twists
• Side split, going down further 2 times after 20 secs
• Front split, going down further 4 times after 20 secs and then change legs
• 10 push-ups and 10 tricep push-ups

How do I get motivated to exercise?

Motivating yourself is different for everyone so focus positively on yourself with realistic goals and rewards that suit you. Make it enjoyable and fun for yourself with variety or get social with your friends and family. 

In conclusion, exercise is important for your mental and physical health and working it into your everyday life can be easy if you don't think of it as a hard chore you need to do. The benefits are great so start easy and slow before doing more. Even though I used to hate exercise, I now enjoy it and feel good.