THE GASOLINE OF EXERCISE

Motivation is the gasoline of exercise. What motivates people to exercise? What makes and breaks motivation? And most importantly, can you get more?

According to sports psychologists, the three most popular motivations for exercise are:
1. health
2. guilt
3. appearance.

But those motivations will get you only so far. It turns out that over the long-term; health, guilt and appearance just don’t take you the distance.

Enjoy Yourself:
Choose an activity you enjoy, says Professor Stuart Biddle, a sports psychologist at Loughbrough University, United Kingdom. If you stop enjoying it, cease, desist, and find something else. According to Biddle, many of us exercise the way we think we should, not the way we would prefer.

The best motivations are intrinsic, says Nanette Mutrie, a sports psychologist at Glasgow University in Scotland. That is, their rewards come from within and are often instantaneous. They can be as simple as enjoying what you are doing or realizing a sense of achievement.

To read full article…Beliefnet: Health and Healing