Sticking to your workout is no easy task. There is always something else that you could be doing or not doing. A movie/TV show to watch instead. Maybe your brain is trying convince you that you had a long day or you are tired. Excuses to skip a workout are a dime a dozen. Only about 20 percent of the population engages in high levels of physical activity defined as three 20 minute workouts a week.

I am no stranger to skipping workouts. I have gone months without skipping a workout and I’ve gone months without doing a workout. It always feels good when you finish a workout plan that you set weeks in advance and know that you didn’t miss a single day. The best way I’ve found to keep from falling for that moment of weakness is to have a calendar of some sort where you cross off the days you did your workout. You cross off a day for each workout you finish.

So when your brain decides to tell you one day that you could miss this one workout, you’ll have something to see that shows your consistency. Do you really want to break that? You’ll feel bad about later when there is no X in that square. This usually works well for me. I like to see that I was perfectly consistent at the end of the plan and that is enough to overcome the urge to skip.

There are other tricks you can use too. Here is a list of 20 from Men’s Health. Another one of my favorite ways to stay consistent is to use competition–I love competition. Have a friend workout with you or make a bet with them to see who can reach a certain goal the fastest. Hanging around friends who are in shape and consistently go to the gym is also a good way to stay motivated. It is hard to avoid talking about working out or any sort of physical activity when all of you do it often. If its in frequent conversation, it’ll stay at the forefront of your mind.

I also have a personal goal or life mantra that fits in with this. I don’t particularly like mediocrity. I want to be able to know that I’m better than the average in as many aspects of life and living as I can be. The only way to be confident of that is to consistently do what the average don’t. I had a Chemistry teacher in High School who talked about rising above mediocrity. He was a good guy and I wholeheartedly believe in what he preached.

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I love watching the Summer Olympics every four years. I rarely watch the winter games–I enjoy the X Games year round. The best athletes in the world come together to compete and show the world what they’ve worked so hard to accomplish in the last several years of their lives. Olympic athletes train for hours everyday for years. Their dedication to becoming the best athlete that they can be is astounding.

The rest of us can’t afford to put our focus solely on being an athlete–let alone an Olympic caliber one. While Olympians may be superhuman, we can still take lessons from them and apply it to our lives. Here are seven fitness lessons that we can learn from the Olympics.

The discipline and mental attitude of an Olympian is what gives them their edge. Most of us can’t even stick to a workout plan or goal for more than a few weeks. They work steadily for years constantly believing in what they are doing. Results rarely come overnight. It takes a strong mind to weather the storms without getting discouraged and giving up.

If we only have one take away, it should be the strong mental attitude; to always believe that we can achieve whatever goal we set forth. It might not come instantly but, we will get there if we stay focused and keep working at it. Worthwhile goals don’t come easy or they wouldn’t be worthwhile.

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