Staying with your exercise is not as hard as you think.

When you get underway with your exercise programme you are full of enthusiasm and eager to see results. Three months down the track your enthusiasm has dropped off and even though you're feeling fitter, the miracle hasn't quite happened. You are in a prime position to become the next exercise dropout.

Maintaining interest

Learning and mastering new skills at the beginning of an exercise programme makes it interesting and challenging. Variety keeps your mind and body challenged and the likelihood of you becoming bored is decreased. For example, instead of going to the gym each day or doing an aerobics class, you could go for a walk or jog or maybe even a swim or play a game of tennis. If you are unable to vary the activity try changing the intensity, frequency or duration of your exercise sessions.

Lack of Time

Fitting in your exercise should be a priority but if work pressure is building up and your family and friends need more of your time, maybe it is getting too hard to get to the gym. Lack of time is a reality for many of us. However, with a little re-organisation this can be overcome. Maybe you should reassess your original goals. With a little re-working your goals could adapt more easily to your new schedule. A few simple time management tips such as taking your gym clothes with you to work, keeping check of a daily list of things to do and enlisting the assistance of family and colleagues to complete your tasks, can give you more flexibility with your time.

Lack of Support

If you are able to exercise every day on your own and without the guidance of an instructor or trainer, you are one of the lucky ones. Most of us need the support provided by a friend or trainer to help us to keep to our task. Choosing activities with in-built support is one way to avoid becoming unstuck. Support provided by your coach, instructor, exercise partner or team mates can be in many forms; maybe you need personalised performance feedback on your progress that can only be provided by technical support, or maybe all you require to keep yourself focused is simple praise and encouragement. Whatever the level of support you need, make sure you get it.

Exercise Programmes

We all consider that we could be exercising much more than we do. However, rigid and excessive exercise programmes are generally the ones from which individuals frequently dropout. Therefore, when selecting an exercise programme, ensure that you are able to have input and that you are in control of the decisions made regarding its overall design and content.

Staying with it

Identifying what can cause you to lose direction with your exercise programme and taking the best action for staying with it will not be as hard as you first thought.

Ten hot tips to help you stay with your exercise programme

1. Train with a friend.

2. Vary your workouts by incorporating at least one different activity each session.

3. Choose activities that you enjoy doing.

4. Set yourself short and long term goals that are measurable, realistic and positive. Write and display them in a place where they will be visible on a daily basis.

5. Once a week train somewhere different. Instead of going to the same gym each day, go to another or train outdoors.

6. Keep your programme short (30-60 minutes is all you need).

7. Be patient and remember that Rome wasn't built in a day and your body won't be either.

8. Consistently re-evaluate your programme (at least every two months) to determine if you are on target to reach your goals.

9. Train at a facility where you feel comfortable. Do not train somewhere simply because it is fashionable to be seen there.

10. Be yourself, be positive, do what YOU enjoy doing and have fun.