Cheer Fitness Tips: How To Stay Self-Motivated

As a cheerleader, you have to support your cheer squad to achieve their own, and the team’s, fitness goals, and you also have to motivate yourself to reach yours! Your mood and motivational level will change each day, but you can use these tips to find ways to keep your self-motivating tactics fresh and effective: Think Positively While fitness involves getting your body moving, it is also a head game! Use the most motivating phrases from your cheers, like “Let’s Go!”, to pump yourself up! Picture the crowd cheering – for you! Keep all of your thoughts positive with words that describe how you want to be – strong, fast and healthy – instead of using competitive terms like “win’. You don’t want to focus on team performance; you want to focus on personal goals. One Step At A Time If you find yourself dreading the whole process of getting up and getting ready to work out, you’ll probably notice that you aren’t getting excited about working out either. Instead of thinking about everything and feeling overwhelmed, take one step at a time. Convince yourself to get out of bed. Since you are already out of bed, you might as well get dressed and get your gear. Now that you’ve put in all that effort, you might as well start your workout or get into the car to go to the gym. You’ll find that you’ll rarely back out once you get going. Even better – you’re actually disciplining yourself to get into the routine of working out! Soon, the whole process of working out will become a habit and just another part of your day. You can also keep a log of your workouts to remind yourself what is working and what isn’t. Write down what you tried and how you felt about it. Are there some things you think you can modify to make the workout better for you? Change It Up Are you always working out in the same place, or doing the same routine? Change it up! Give yourself new scenery by moving indoors or outdoors. Change your activity to accommodate your new scene. Workouts don’t always have to be “work’ either – they can (and should!) be fun! Take a scenic bike ride, race a friend on land or in the water or go on a hike. These are great options for anyone that feels like they are in a fitness or cheerleading rut because the result is a great workout and a mental break! You should also remember to try new things and challenge yourself! Don’t rule out activities until you have tried them at least once! Be Accountable Use social media and other communication tools the day/night before a workout to share your plan. If you know that people are going to ask you follow up questions about your workout, you’ll be more likely to stick to your plan. Another great way to stay motivated is to work out with a buddy. This makes you accountable for their schedule through your actions, and it is less likely that you’ll cancel a workout. Working out with a friend can also make working out seem more fun, and you’ll find yourself pushing beyond your normal limits.