Diet & Fitness 

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The 10 secrets of exercise motivation

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8. Find an exercise partner or support group. Make two appointments per week to meet up with someone and exercise. If you have a friend relying on you to go to the gym or take a morning walk with her, you’ll be less likely to cancel. Write down any workout dates in your diary and commit to them as if they are business meetings.
   
   
9. Vary your fitness activity. ‘Cross-training is the key to a balanced fit body,’ says Luscombe. ‘If you don’t change up your workouts, your body only trains one set of muscles and you stop seeing results. To prevent this fitness plateau, make sure you incorporate a variety of strength training, flexibility and cardiovascular exercise into your routine,’ she adds. One weekly fitness plan might include swimming, running or walking briskly one night, lifting weights the next, doing yoga, cycling, and weight training or Pilates on consecutive evenings.
   
   
10. Skip a day. ‘Exercise obsession is as bad as none at all because it’s physically and mentally counterproductive,’ says Luscombe. Allowing your muscles to rest and rejuvenate is a crucial part of being healthy and achieving maximum results. And giving yourself a mental break prevents burn-out and makes you more likely to stick to a long-term exercise plan. Listen to your body and if you’re having an off-day, take it easy and rest.

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• Diet damage control
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• Get into shape with other iVillagers
• Diet & Fitness Home

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