Happy Monday everyone! I've got a Motivation Monday post for you for the first time in forveverrrrrrrr. *gasp* I know, I know it's crazy. Today I wanted to share with you a really awesome method you can use to set your fitness/weight-loss goals that's both effective and super easy. The other day I was thinking about how I feel like I've kind of plateaued/fallen off the bandwagon, which I've mentioned in previous posts, and that I'd like to set new goals for myself.  I googled it and came across a ton of articles talking about the "Get Smart" method for setting goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, and Timeframe, which when broken down, totally makes sense.

After sifting through the articles, I decided I'd run back to my blog and do a post for MM where I'd walk through my own personal goals while explaining it at the same time. Kill two birds with one stone! Yay for multitasking! If you're curious to see which articles I'm basing my post on, you can check it out here and here.

So here we go!

Workout Playlist

Workout Playlist from xcarrieex on 8tracks Radio.

These are just a few of the tracks I like to listen to while I'm getting my workout on.

Motivation Monday - Find a buddy!

Happy Monday everyone! Sorry for the inconsistency with my posts the past few weeks. I've had stuff scheduled to go up because I've been on vacation and just got back last night. This morning I hit the ground running with my 8am class and work tonight. Right now I'm sitting at work making myself look busy and give me something to do to kill the time. Soooo today's post is veering somewhat from the Cosmo article I've been quoting and working off of for my last few Motivation Monday posts, although it's still on the list and it's pretty simple. Find a buddy.

I've lost count of how many times I've heard and read about how having a workout buddy motivates you to go to the gym. Since I started working out and taking cardio kickboxing classes at school with a couple friends of mine.  I ended up driving us because I was the only one with a car, so it made me accountable and I pretty had to go to class so they could go as well. If there were days when my friend didn't go, I found that I wouldn't go to class. Even now, and I need to fix this, if my friend can't go to the gym, I don't go. As you can see, having someone go with me is a huge motivator for me because it makes me accountable for someone else. For my Cardio-Kickboxing class I was the transportation and for the gym, he [my friend] can't get into the gym without me.

That being said, I would definitely recommend grabbing a friend to go workout. Here are a few reasons listed out as to why this would be beneficial to you:

• It helps the time pass quicker- you're not watching the clock when you're talking to someone.
• It makes you accountable so you don't cancel workouts - if someone is relying on you, it's not cool to cancel because you "don't feel like it." I've only had to cancel once, and that was because I hurt my back. We ended up hanging out instead.
• They can see the progress you're making that you can't see yourself - I've been told by co-workers and the friend that I workout with that they can see me slimming down.
• It's fun and makes you competitive - My friend and I silently compete against each other when we hit the stationary bikes at the end of our workouts. He gets upset when I beat him (but you didn't hear that from me).
• You'll simply be more motivated - Seeing the progress that your friend(s) is/are making will hopefully inspire you to continue doing what you're doing/change your habits. I know my friends will scold me or talk me out of eating that side of fries with dinner.

Motivation Monday - Throw some money at it

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Mine was pretty good, but it went by way too fast. Anywho, welcome to my second edition of Motivation Monday! Last week I talked about Cosmo's first suggestion, plan ahead. This week I wanted to talk about what Cosmo had for #2 which just happens to be throw some money at it. The article says that you are three times more likely to reach a goal if you put some cash on the line, which I can totally agree with. There are various ways that you can do this: join a gym, grab some sessions with a personal trainer, or a pack of classes somewhere (pole dancing anyone?). Oooor if you want to not only put money on the line, but have the opportunity to make some moola, I would highly recommend downloading PactApp (formerly known as GymPact). If you want to know my full thoughts on it or how it works, I wrote a blog post about it that you can check out riiiiiight here.

Now as for me, this was the first thing I did before I even read the article. It actually works pretty well. I'm not entirely sure what made me want to join a gym one day, but I started doing research on the gyms in my area, came across the one I eventually joined, bit the bullet, and bought my membership. Eventually I added GymPact into the mix to add that extra oomph and get my butt to the gym. Now if/when I don't make it to the gym, even if I'm sick, I hate that I'm not going and I can't help but to feel like my money is going to waste. Like I've said before, getting paid to go to the gym is also a really cool plus. I definitely think that actually going to a gym versus buying equipment to workout at home is more effective because it's not like you buy the equipment and put it away, never to be seen again. You're probably thinking "Can't I do that with my gym membership?" True. But you're paying for your gym membership every month and probably forking out a good chunk of change, which is a sickening reminder that you need to either a) cancel your membership (which is a hassle in itself) or b) go workout. Trust me, the hardest part about working out is getting yourself to the gym, but one you're there and get into the swing of things, it's smooth sailing.

Motivation Monday - Plan Ahead

Back in December (though technically in their January issue), Cosmo Magazine released an article called "Ready...Set...Motivate!" in which they lay out 14 ways to motivate yourself to go to the gym. Today I'm going to over number 1, plan ahead, what the article says, and how it's helped me.

In the article, they say that the best strategy for reaching any goal that requires a significant amount of willpower, such as exercising, is to decide in ahead of time when, where, and how you'll do it each week. They suggest that if/then scheduling is the best way to schedule your workouts because it increases your success by 300%. Whaaaaat? That's crazy, right?

This is how you'd do that:
If it's a Mon, Wed, or Fri, then I'll take a 7am kickboxing class at the gym.

So I personally do this myself, but ironically, it was before I read the article and knew it's impact.
I go to the gym Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays with one of my friends.

My if/then schedule would be:
If it's a Tuesday, then I'll workout my upper body at the gym with Steve.**
If it's a Thursday, then I'll workout my lower body at the gym with Steve.
If it's a Friday, then I'll workout my abs at the gym alone.

With my gym membership, I can take classes for free, but unfortunately, none of the classes I want to take work with my schedule. However, I think I'm going to try to make it to a class after work or on the weekends, but we'll see. Anywho, scheduling my workouts and having a set day has really helped because that way I'm not wandering around the gym wasting time while I try to figure out what to do. I usually use an app on my phone and just follow that while I workout. On days when my phone dies before I can use it, I feel incredibly lost and I do spend most of the time wandering around. I highly recommend putting yourself on a schedule and knowing what you're doing ahead of time because it works. My personal trainer friend does it when he works out, and it gets him to the gym 5-6 days a week for a good hour and a half.

**name was changed