Staying motivated may be the hardest thing to do when forming new habits. Remember all of those great resolutions for the new year that have fallen by the wayside. One method I’ve used is to find a training partner: the idea is that you’re accountable to your training partner to show up on schedule. Skipping a work out becomes a social liability, “Hey, why did you flake on our running date at the last minute?”.Since I can never seem to find a training partner that has a schedule or commitment like mine, I often turn to books to keep myself honest and my motivation up. Ultimate Fitness: The Quest for Truth about Health and Exercise by Gina Kolata is a great book that examines many of the myths of fitness and claims made by those selling exercise routines, diets, equipment, etc. Kolata is a science reporter at the New York Times, which in my opinion gives her better than average credibility and means that she can explain things in English as you and I understand it.
Speaking of motivation, it was reading Ultimate Fitness the first time a couple years ago that really got me to push myself in my exercise regime. It seems that it’s time for a reread, so look for a full fledged review in a couple of weeks.
