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New Year's Resolutions motivate many to make commitments to exercise. Fitness centers will be flooded with great intentions during the first week of January. Sadly, within a few short weeks after New Year's Day, fitness center visits begin to decline.

Want an easy way to stay off the fitness commitment dropout rolls? Here's a simple tip that could double your workouts this year.

Fitness Strategy for the Long-Haul

The key to long-term fitness training is to be aware that motivation levels come and go.

The one day that you decide to miss could be the last workout for a year. Long-term training is not a physical issue, it is a mental one.

I have a mental practice that I use to help me through the tough days when I do not feel like training. It's simple - I don't make the decision to miss a workout until I first change into my training clothes.

If I decide to miss a workout, that's okay (sometimes it's unavoidable), but I always make the effort to change clothes first.

Most of the time, just changing into training clothes is enough to get me started. Once started, this typically becomes the best workout of the week!

Why People Stop Exercising

Never have I met anyone who made a conscious decision to stop exercising. Everyone who has stopped exercising began by "missing once."

That one miss led to another, then another.

The key to long-term training is to understand the mental risk associated with missing "one workout."

I can't overemphasize the importance of mentally making an issue of missing "one workout."

Missing one workout will not hurt you physically. Mentally, however, missing a workout permanently breaks the habit of training - until you make the next workout.

The Take Home

When deciding to miss a workout, make a mental note that you just decided to "stop training permanently". . . until you have completed the next workout.

Have a great day!

Phil Campbell, M.S., M.A.,
Author of Ready, Set, GO! Synergy Fitness