The 3 Most Common Excuses for not Prioritizing Fitness AND How to Overcome Them
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Have you ever said to yourself.. “I just don’t have enough time to workout” OR “I’m not motivated”. I get it! Before I found my secret sauce to consistent fitness, I had all the excuses too. It took for me to have a baby and feel so uncomfortable in my skin to finally find something I could stick to and actually see results with.
If you need a tough love.. here it is. The truth is – you DO have time, you’re just not prioritizing fitness. You won’t always feel motivated and that’s okay because you’re human. The secret is making working out a habit, a part of your day that’s scheduled in. The secret is making fitness simple and having a community of like-minded women to do it with. That’s where I can help! If you’re interested in learning more about my monthly wellness community, read here!
Now, let’s talk about the 3 most common excuses for not prioritizing fitness!
1. “I have no time.”
I heard someone say this one time and it really stuck with me.. Whenever you tell yourself you don’t have time for something, instead say “that’s not a priority for me” and see how that feels. The truth is, we’re ALL busy. Our lives are crazy. We’re juggling all the things all the time. It can feel like we truly don’t have time but there’s always something we CAN do.
Can you do a 20 minute workout instead of an hour?
Can you workout from home so there’s no commute or childcare needed?
What if you woke up 30 minutes earlier and got your workout in then?
Could you workout on your lunch break? While dinner is in the oven?
Get creative to find yourself that time. If it’s important to you (and I truly believe it should be) you can find that time.
2. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
One of the other common excuses for not prioritizing fitness is not knowing what to do. This was me! I used to go to the gym, do the elliptical because I could do that and watch a show on my phone and then do one or two machines that I didn’t have to read the instructions for. I had NO idea what to do at the gym. This left me feeling uncomfortable and insecure. The worst part of it was because I didn’t know what to do, I never saw or felt any results. Truly just a waste of time.
How cool is it that we live in a time where there are SO many resources for us to use online? In fact, it can get a little overwhelming with how many resources we have and can choose from, so let me help!
When you join my virtual monthly wellness community, you get access to my entire library of workout videos with trainers you can just press play and follow along with. My workouts range from 20-60 minutes and include TONS of workout styles. Plus, you get access to an online community of other women doing these programs too, checking in, being in community and cheering each other on!
If you’re interested in learning more or getting started, fill out this form.
3. “I can’t stay consistent.”
Maybe your story is that you start working out, get on a good routine and then something happens and it’s lost. You tell yourself you just can’t stay consistent. This is another common excuse I hear for not prioritizing fitness. There are two things I’ve found that help with consistency: what you’re actually doing for fitness and community.
It matters that you enjoy what you’re doing for fitness and your mindset around it. If you go into your workout telling yourself this is a punishment for what you ate or you “have” to do this, it’s not going to feel as good as if you go into it telling yourself you’re doing this for energy, to feel strong and you “GET” to do this. The actual style of workout matters too! If you dread what you’re doing, it’s going to be harder to stay consistent. SO if you’re not loving what you’re doing, try out a different style.
Some of the styles in my community library:
– Strength training
– Running
– Barre
– Pilates
– Yoga
– Cycling
– Kickboxing
– Dance
There are SO many ways you can work out, if one isn’t exciting you, do something else!
The other secret to staying consistent is community. When you’re surrounded by like-minded women doing the same thing, it’s a lot easier to be consistent yourself. Do you have someone who could be your workout buddy? Who you could check in with daily after you get your workout in? If you want lots of those someones and me as your mentor supporting, encouraging and helping you along this journey, I’d love to invite you to join my community! Just fill out this form and I’ll be in touch!
Bonus excuse I hear a lot: “I’m not motivated.”
One of the most common excuses I hear for not prioritizing fitness is “I’m not motivated”. Sure, being motivated feels better than not being motivated BUT if you really want to prioritize your fitness, you can’t rely on motivation. Motivation comes and goes. You WON’T always feel motivated and that’s okay.
So.. what can you do to overcome not feeling motivated? Make your fitness a habit.
Set your fitness schedule and stick to it regardless of if you feel motivated or not. Get up and get going ANYWAY. Once you’ve made the decision to make fitness a habit, it will just be apart of who you are and you won’t need to rely on motivation.
Other things that help me:
– My favorite pre-workout
– Checking in with my community to get inspired
– Playing some pump up songs
– Thinking about the kind of person I want to be and asking myself “what would she do?”
– Counting down from 3
What helps you when you’re not feeling motivated?
Want support in your fitness journey?
If this is helpful, let’s connect on social media @daniellemgodfrey. I share lots on this topic on my page. I’d also love to have you join in with my virtual monthly wellness community! Send me a message on instagram or fill out my form here!