If you’re like me (and the rest of the world), sometimes the motivation to work out just. isn’t. there. I don’t consider myself an extraordinarily creative person, but boy, do I get creative when creating excuses for skipping a workout! Some my best work: “My knee was hurting a little bit yesterday, so arm day at boot camp probably won’t be good for me;” or “I don’t want to work out too hard and make myself tired for that midterm later…” The sad part is that sometimes I even let myself believe those things! Regardless, the important thing is that, yes, we all have those moments of weakness (some might even call it laziness), but we simply try again later. What helps me get try again and rediscover that motivation is often times finding a new mantra or some kind of picture or quote that can be my inspiration for the week. Here are some examples that have helped us in the past….always remember that it’s ok to succumb to our lazy side every once in a while, as long as we forgive ourselves and start over tomorrow!

As a personal example, there was a Friday night where I was feeling particularly lazy. I had the house to myself and, to be honest, all I really wanted to do was order a pizza and drink champagne. Getting myself to the gym was simply NOT going to happen. It was a cool enough night, so I plugged in my portable, wireless iHome, set up my new favorite high intensity interval training app, Seconds, and got started on this 20 minute circuit workout I quickly wrote up that night.  While the champagne part did, indeed, come later, I definitely felt that I had earned it!

For an example of some exercises, check out these links:

Corkscrew Plank (my new FAV!): Fitness Magazine

Spiderman: fitbie

Military Press: exrx.et (I use dumb bells instead of a barbell)

Plie Squat: Women’s Health

Toe Touches: acefitness