Extreme Makeover Trainer Chris Powell's Tips For Fitness Motivation

Thanksgiving is over and that means no more excuses to break your diet or workout regimen. At least, not until Christmas. Ha!
If you’re hoping to make a dent in your weight loss goals throughout the rest of the holiday season, motivation will be the KEY to your success! Unfortunately, with the daylight dimming, temperatures dropping and lots of distracting holiday shopping, it’s entirely to avoid getting the exercise your body needs.
Chris Powell, a celebrity personal trainer who regularly changes people’s lives on Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition, wants you to drop the excuses and start dropping pounds. Here are his top 5 tips for keeping yourself motivated in order to meet your fitness goals:
1. Make Promises You Can Keep:

“A lot of people will make promises to themselves they can’t keep. They’ll say, ‘I’ll do 45 minutes of cardio today,’ and then they don’t. When you shrink it down to something that’s more manageable for you, say 10 or 15 minutes of cardio, you gain integrity and momentum, and you’ll be more encouraged to keep going.”

2. Confess Your Fitness Sins:

If you manage to a miss a workout, get it off your chest then move on. “No man is an island,” Powell explains. “If you have a person you can go to, just tell them, ‘Hey, I skipped a workout and this is how I’m feeling, and it’s been really bothering me.'”

3. Start With Small, Manageable Goals:

“If you commit to something small, like working out every day for 10 minutes, you’ll find after a month goes by that you can’t imagine not working out and you won’t want to skip your workout.”

4. Find Your Support Group:

Whether it’s friends, family or a workout buddy at the gym, Powell says that a great support group will encourage great results. If your friends or family don’t share your healthy interests, he recommends finding a support group online or joining some kind of a fitness group to meet likeminded individuals.

5. Remind Yourself WHY You’re Working Out:

The best way to motivate yourself is to remind yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing in the first place. “My first approach with contestants on the show when life gets in the way is to tell them to try and remember why they’re on the show in the first place.”

[Image via WENN.]