The Best Way to Stay Motivated to do Home Exercises
Daily in clinic, I help people who have foot or lower leg pain and instability by giving them exercises to do at home.
From my experience and the current research, it's hard to stay motivated to follow your home exercise program.
Research has found that approximately 50-65% of clients with general musculoskeletal conditions don't follow their home exercise program.
Here are 5 tips to help you stay motivated to follow your home exercise program and help you reach your goals quicker.
Stay motivated & follow your at home program
Tip 1: Setting Goals Creates Success
First and most importantly you need to have a goal.
This will be dependent on your current situation and will be different for everyone, it may be to "be able to wake up and take a step without pain" or "to feel stronger and more energetic", goal setting is linked with increased self-confidence, motivation and autonomy.
Be specific with your goal, for example: "I want to be comfortably able to do 5 more repetitions on each leg by 2 weeks today".
Write down your goals for the short term and long term, a study by psychologist Gail Matthews showed when people wrote down their goals were 33% more successful in achieving them than those who didn't write them down.
Be realistic with your goals, speak to you Podiatrist about your goals and they will be able to help you determine if they are realistic and achievable.
Tip 2: An Exercise Buddy makes you Accountable
Having an "exercise buddy" makes you more accountable, consistent, committed to following your home exercise program and makes exercising more enjoyable.
Even if your exercise buddy doesn't need to do the prescribed exercises that you may have from your Podiatrist they will still benefit from some general leg and foot muscle strengthening.
If your exercise buddy is in your household you can do your exercises in your backyard or living room.
If you plan on doing your exercises with your friend then you can organise a time for a video chat on your phone or laptop to perform your home exercises together.
A exercise buddy keeps you accountable
Tip 3: Set a Reminder on your Phone so you DONT Forget
We often lose track of time in our busy lives.
With most of the population now working from home, the lines between being at home and at work are often now blurred.
Exercise program apps such as PhysiAPP (which I use in the clinic) allow you to watch a video of your exercises and set daily reminders to complete them.
I always advise clients to set a reminder either before or after work. It may also be a benefit to set a reminder during the day to make you get up off your computer and break up the day.
Eventually, these daily reminders become habits so you automatically remember to do your exercises and in turn, allows you to reach your goals quicker.
Tip 4: Listening to Music or a Podcast Makes the Time Fly
If you don't have an exercise buddy, you can keep yourself motivated by either listening to your favourite album whether it is upbeat techno or classical music or if you prefer you can listen to an interesting podcast.
Depending on my mood I often listen to music or a podcast during my training sessions which makes the time fly and the exercises more enjoyable.
Listening to music make exercising much more enjoyable
Tip 5: Book an Online "Check-In" Appointment with your Podiatrist
Accessing essential health services is not always possible in the current climate due to COVID-19, we are currently offering all clients online Podiatry services.
Having an online appointment to check in with your Podiatrist will:
- Make sure you are performing the prescribed exercises correctly
- Allow your Podiatrist to give you advice on when and how to progress the exercises
- Make you accountable and motivate you to reach your goal
The process involved in having an online appointment is simple and easy and on booking your appointment you will receive information via email on how the process works.
If you are experiencing foot pain and are not reaching your current goals CALL US NOW or click on the links below to book an appointment to speak to us on how we can work together to help reach your health goals.
Alex Taylor
Podiatrist at Complete Podiatry