One of the things that I am asked most often is how I stay so motivated to workout day after day. I regularly workout 5 days a week in the gym and try to get in one day on the treadmill at home on the weekend. The secret is simple. I make working out a priority in my schedule. The times that I set aside for working out are set in stone barring an injury, illness (me or the kids) or an emergency. My kids are used to tagging along to the gym with me, so school holidays don’t affect my routine. In all honesty, I kind of treat going to the gym like a job. I know when I have to be there and when I’ll be done and all my fun has to be scheduled around my hours. While this means I’ve missed some chances to go out to breakfast with friends, it’s also the reason I’ve been going to the gym regularly for 10+years.

In that time, I’ve learned what constitutes being sick from just feeling a little under the weather. While a good workout can help me feel better when I’m just feeling a little off, it can make an illness much worse. This is one reason I tend to workout more towards mid-morning than first thing when I wake up. The extra couple of hours allows me to assess just how sick I might be. This week, I woke up feeling sort of nauseous and dizzy which did not get better after eating or relaxing on the couch. So I made the decision to miss my weekly XIT workout. I’m glad I did as I felt icky all day until I woke up the next morning. The next day I had the opportunity to get in 2/3 of the workout I had missed the previous day in addition to my normal workout. I always try to makeup a workout when I can, which also helps to keep me on track. It’s also a great feeling when you get a much higher than normal calorie burn.