I have always been active for most of my life but I have never really loved exercise. Playing in sport teams always seemed so much more appealing than going for a run or doing an hour of weight training, also I wasn't much of a long distant runner. This all change when I joint the gym last year and started my healthy lifestyle.

Training yourself to love exercise can be done, keeping motivated to do exercise can also be accomplished. No doubt exercise is important for the human body, it’s great for blood circulation, strengthening your muscles, and heart health. Whether it be hard intense interval training, going for a 5k run, an hour walk or some light yoga, any of these will make you and active human being. I wanted to share a few tips on how I learnt to love exercise and how I have stayed motivated for so long.

 1. Start of slow.
If you haven't been active in any way for a while I suggest you start off slow and build you level of exercise up. If you start off 5k run and you have never run before most likely it will not be fun.
I suggest doing some light activity like walking or running for a minute then walking for two minutes, some light weight or floor exercises like sit ups or yoga. Don't rush into anything either only spend 3 days a week for 30 minutes exercising then build it up each second week to 4 to 5 then to 6 days a week that way you are gradually easing you body in to it. 
2.Know the right form.
If exercising isn't your regular thing, get some professional advice especially if your wanting to do weight training. It wont be easy to go straight in to a workout and it definitely wont be easy if you don't know how to do it properly. Most of the time I see people doing squats incorrectly then the next day they are complaining about a sore back. My tip is to get a personal trainer for one day or a couple of days to go through the right exercises for your body and how to do them properly. This way it will benefit you, after all they do know what their doing.
If you do not have the money for a personal trainer the internet and a mirror will be your best friend. Research online, look up websites like Pinterest or Youtube to find out how to do the exercise properly then try doing it in front of a mirror.

3. Get good music
Music is such an important thing when it becomes to working out. Having music or even a great playlist will be the defining point of loving or hating a workout. For me having up beat music, especially remix tracks is what makes working out easy and fun. Running to the beat takes away the distraction of looking at the time, 3 minutes will go so fast on the treadmill. Music motivates me and keeps me pumped, some time I feel like I'm having a little dance party workout edition. Some of my favorite tracks for running are ones from David Guetta.
4. Workout with a friend
If your not much of a music fan, exercising with friends can also be a great motivator. Friends can also be a great thing for keeping you accountable for doing you exercise. Going for a hike or a walk to the beach with some girlfriends, you can catch up with on the gossip while workout. Ask a friend, co-worker, neighbor or family member to join you, so you can both reach your goals together.

 5. Exercise outside
Exercising outside is the easiest way to lose track of time, distracting yourself from everything around you. This way your workout will go past faster and you might not know how sore you might be feeling. Try changing up your routes or locations this will keep your workouts more exciting and challenging. I find changing up my terrain for my runs and walks helps the body not get used to the exercise.
7. Find out how good it is for you body. 
Now that I have a lot of information and knowledge about the benefits of healthy eating and exercise I have full understanding of how it changes my body. Any kind of exercise helps gets your heart rate up, starts to pump blood through out the body, it releases endorphin's (the happy drug), helps to sweat out toxins and builds strong muscles. Once I found out how important exercise is and how good my body was feeling after doing it, I began to love exercising on a regular bases.

8. Switch it up
Change your exercise routine regularly, I find by doing this my body doesn't get used the the exercise therefore my weight wont plateau. I tend to change up my routine every 8 to 10 weeks, this way I also don't get bored doing the same thing over and over again. It also gives me time to recoup and change my weights and exercise to work a different part of the body. I also find it great for the body splitting up my exercises to focus on a certain parts of my body, for example, arms and upper-body Monday, abs Tuesday etc.

Exercise is definitely something I have learnt to love over the past year, but then again everybody is different. I do have my days when I don't feel doing anything and that's okay you body does need to have rest days to recuperate and help build those muscles. As long as your are finding a way to keep active and healthy, your body will thank you in the long run.

 Disclaimer: All images from this post are taken off Pinterest and are not mine.