It’s hard to keep yourself motivated during this time of year. The shorter days, and wanting to just stay in is definitely a much preferred option. Owner of Flow Athletic, Ben Lucas shares his 5 tips to keep yourself motivated this winter and how to stay on track with your health and fitness.

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Sign up to a fun run

There are over 400 running events Australia-wide with some of the best ones taking place in August and September. This means that you need to start training in June in order to prepare for a good event.

Having a specific goal in mind is a great way to maintain motivation to keep active as you must accomplish your goals by a certain date.

Sign up with your friends, join a run club or get a program made for you and stick to it. You will feel so accomplished once you complete the big event and motivated to work towards it.

Try a New Workout

If you do the same workout day in and day out of course you are going to get bored. Therefore provided you are not training for a specific purpose, why not consider changing up your workouts, or adding something new and fun in seasonally?

Why not try a barre class, aerial yoga, dancing, Metcon, there are so many ways to train that you have no reason to be bored!

Get into Podcasts

If you are not in a class environment i.e you are walking, running, working out independently then why not get stuck into a podcast or audio book. There’s no reason why you can’t expand your knowledge while you are doing good for your health and body.

Some good audio books to try include Jock Willink and Laif Babin’s ‘Extreme Ownership’ or ‘When’ by Daniel Pink.

Have a back up plan

There is no doubt that the cooler, darker mornings can be a struggle sometimes so I suggest having a back up plan. If you miss your morning workout, have something else in mind that you can do at lunchtime or after work. Alternatively have a go- to workout that you can do from the comfort of your own home.

Be mindful of your stress levels

A 2015 survey found that 35% of Australians report having significant levels of distress in their lives, while 26% report above normal levels of anxiety symptoms. These results were found to be significantly higher than during the last survey conducted in 2011.

It’s fair to say that stress is a part of everyday life for many people, however being too stressed can cause a host of problems with regards to sleep, fatigue, cravings, weight issues, anxiety, hormone imbalances, poor gut health and even depression.

If you find that in winter you forgo a balanced diet, exercise, fresh air and your social life in favour of work and sitting around on the couch, you may start to experience some of the above issues

Beware of this and make sure that you take a step back, speak to a health professional and put a strategy into if needed

It’s one thing to work hard during the hibernation months, but your health is so important. Without it, what do you have?

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