My husband rides 30 minutes in hardcore tourist-filled traffic to get to his gym.  My girlfriend gets up at 5am to get to her 6am Yoga Class. And I either roll my mat out in my room or walk downstairs to my studio.

Every day I feel secretly blessed that I know how to stay motivated to do a body-shaping workout in 20 minutes.  Without the stress of early morning traffic, rushing to get to a scheduled class or agonising over the time constraints of my day.  And beating myself up for continually skipping my workout routine!

Many people don’t believe you when you talk about doing body-shaping 20 minute workouts.

I see the doubt on their faces.  But I’ve proven it time and time again with myself and many other women.  It’s all about the type of multiple muscle group exercises, the mix of training techniques and the consistency.

If you’ve slipped out of that consistency to workout….

First up…stop berating yourself about it.  Which I know is tough…we women seem to be wired to put ourselves down.  But that constant negative voice is not going to inspire you to get started again.  It’s just telling you how shit you are and how you don’t deserve better.  Urgh to that voice in your head!

Challenging and crappy times will never stop happening in your life…

That’s life.  It’s not a straight line.  But it’s how you choose to react and ‘be’ in those challenging times.  And without a doubt…exercising and releasing those feel-good endorphins is better than any drug, to get you through the shitty patches!

These 8 might help you to stay motivated to workout!

1. You’re going to get that voice in your head telling you “I’m bored with exercising”…

And even though I’ve designed my ZenStrength workouts NOT to be boring…if this happens to you, do something else.  Power walk, go for a bike ride, take a class, do a short stretch session, hill walk in nature….pick something to break the routine.  Then you can always circle back to your workouts.

2. Some days you’re going to feel like you just don’t want to workout…

DO IT ANYWAY.  I don’t always want to workout either!  So do 10 minutes of your workout.  Or do a 10 minute stretch sequence.  Or if you’re a ZenStrength member try the BONUS 15 Minute Muscle Booster Challenge Month.   I’ve never met anyone that didn’t feel better mentally and physically after moving their body in a muscle challenging way.

3. If you injure yourself…it’s not all over and it’s not an excuse to just give up…

It’s a lesson.  A chance to learn something about your body and yourself.  And that might sound condescendingly annoying when you’ve got an injury!  But it’s true.  It actually is a longterm learning gift and teaches you a lot.  Have an upper body injury?  Do a lower body workout.  And vice versa.  It’s not an excuse to do nothing.  You might need a few days to let things settle…then keep moving.

4. Your movement and what you can and cannot do will change the longer you train and as you age…

You might feel like some days you’re going backwards.  But you’re not.  Your body gives you a different experience each day and it feels more pronounced as we age.  But that’s ok.  Just adapt.  Tomorrow will bring something else.  Some days my balance is highly questionable.  It is what it is.  I adapt and it makes me get focused on figuring out if the right muscles in my body are firing up.

5. Schedule it, schedule it, schedule it!…

Write it down!  And trust in the process.  The women that are consistent always get the longterm body-shaping results!

6. Doing a little bit every day is far more powerful that doing 3 long training sessions a week…

Then getting discouraged down the track because you’re dreading those longer sessions.

7. If you have the room, set up a dedicated space in your home for your exercise sessions…

It’s so much easier mentally when you know you just have to walk into a room and you’re ready to get started.

8. Your body ALWAYS needs movement…

Lifelong.  And more so as we age.  So stop fighting it.  Accept and embrace it.