Workout Motivation for Solo Exercisers

We all know we need to workout, but the distractions are so tempting -- a few extra minutes of sleep in the morning or a glass of wine after a long day of work.

Getting people to forgo their extra shuteye or skip the happy hour might seem nearly impossible, but there's a growing body of research that shows that a little positive encouragement can help.

A Stanford University study showed that a small amount of social support can make a big difference in whether people exercise. During the year-long study, participants were divided into three groups. The members of one group were contacted by a health educator every three weeks to check on his or her progress. In other groups, the members were either contacted by a computer or did not receive calls.

Both the computerized voice and the health educator asked similar questions, like which exercises they performed and how often. They were also asked how they saw themselves improving in the coming weeks. When exercisers had lapses in their workout routines, the caller encouraged them to resume their workout as soon as possible.

The results leave little room for debate. After a year, those who received calls exercised about one half-hour more than the recommended 30 minutes per day, five days per week. Those who received calls from the computerized improved their fitness levels by exercising for just more than the weekly recommendations. The others worked out far less, falling more than 30 minutes short of the national recommendations.

"It appears from a lot of research that stating your goals public provides a certain amount of perceived accountability," said Abby King, a Stanford professor of medicine and health research and policy who conducted the study. "It helps them stay on course because when they are going to skip a workout, they think back to what they told someone else. Public commitments have been used a lot to motivate people -- whether they're trying to exercise, quit smoking or stop drinking -- and they really do seem to help. When they say it out loud, it makes it real. You don't want to let yourself down or disappoint others."

If you love working out solo because it gives you the time to think through work or personal problems, don't stress. You can still incorporate the accountability factor without getting a permanent exercise buddy.

Here are some tips to get you motivated:

1. Hire a personal trainer. Once you pay for your sessions, you're much less likely to skip out on your gym time. You're also much more likely to keep exercising if you have someone to create innovative workouts that target your trouble zones and promise results.

2. Sign up for a new class. Even if you swear that solo workouts are the way to go, certain group classes, especially cycling and mind-body classes during which you'll have your own space without the risk of an uncoordinated dancer kicking into you, might be worth a try. You will have classmates who you'll grow to recognize and become friendly with. If anything, having a friendly instructor can be a bonus when you're feeling unmotivated. Most gyms will let you try out classes if they're not included in your membership before you join them. Good group instructors, King said, will remember the class participants names and faces. They'll also tell them they were missed when they weren't in class whether via an email check in or when they see them the next week.

3. Set a phone or calendar reminder. Add your favorite class to your calendar, then set up a weekly reminder. Depending on your schedule, King said, you can also set your phone alarm for the time when you're most likely to skip the gym. If you know that you're going to choose between going straight home from work or hitting the gym, you can program your phone to sound 10 minutes before you leave work. That way, you're not tempted to work too late or find a work-related happy hour to use as an excuse.

4. Find a "workout" buddy. Even if you don't want to sweat with someone else, you can find a co-worker or friend who will ask you about your workout. If you have another friend who's trying to lose weight, you can also send text message reminders back and forth. You can also start an email chain with a group of friends. Chances are you already have an email chain that's dedicated to the latest great or awful thing your boyfriend/husband/roommate/kids/mother did. King likes this idea because it takes people "less than 10 seconds to shoot a text message to a friend."

5) Use social networking to keep you responsible. According to Time magazine, marathon running has surged in popularity thanks to Facebook. You can post status updates about your goals or challenge yourself to complete a 5K, announce it on Facebook and feel like a champion when your friends start asking you how the event went. Some Twitter users, who are much more willing to disclose their weights than I'll ever be, tweet their weight loss results.

6. Make a card that lists why you started working out. There are many people who start program to lose weight, but they have to have a reason why losing weight is important to stick to their goals. Those who are losing weight because of personal reasons like being able to play with their children or avoiding their family history of heart disease tend to have more success, said Paul Estabrooks, associate professor of Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise at Virginia Tech.

7) Connect with people on message boards. There are few people who better understand the commitment and struggles with reaching a fitness goal than those who are in the same situation. If you don't have friends who are willing to support you, you can find message boards dedicated to weight loss and exercise. Some programs, like Weight Watchers have plans attached to them, but there are sites without programs that people can use.

Still not ready to start working out, check out our Success Stories. You could be one of them!