When not feeling motivated to exercise, is it better to force yourself to do a shorter, halfhearted routine, or to wait until you feel up to doing what you normally do?

As I know myself, putting my daily full routine off because of motivation will produce a high risk of me not doing anything. Then, I usually go for a smaller, less demanding session. 20 minutes of stretching or yoga can be enough on a stressful 12h day. Being kind to myself not only by celebrating my achievements but also by avoiding overachiever expectations directed towards myself will eventually keep me on track in the long run, I hope.

I've found it's more important for me to maintain the habit of daily exercise, so I have a few favourite easy yoga routines that I do on days when I can't manage my normal workout.

Do a half hearted one, pushing it to do the next breaks your spirit. Believe me you'll be happier doing something then nothing at all. It keeps the ball rolling.

I just start moving, once I get going activation energy gets me the rest of the way through and I feel really proud of myself afterward for powering through. The hardest part is starting.

Unless you’re actually ill or injured, it’s always worth forcing yourself to at least put on your exercise gear and start even a mini routine. Chances are once you get moving you’ll feel invigorated and want to do more – and if you don’t that’s ok, you tried!

Force yourself. I find it better to exercise in the afternoon, but I cut a bargain with myself if I skip the morning, I have to force myself to do anything, even ten minutes, exercise wise in the afternoon.

I used to wait until I felt like it which caused me to skip ome days. Now I opt to do a shorter routine which at least keeps me regular and cumulatively totals to more exercise time per week

My first suggestion would be to pick an excercise that you love with all your hearth, in my case I picked cycling

But when I find my self struggling about some excercise then I do it in a short amount of time, and limited to that time, therefore I can say to my self “it’s only 10 minutes, let’s go”

Also, if you come from more than a week of doing excercise and you feel you don’t want to, it’s probably fatigue, in such case, I would skip that day and continue the next

I struggle with this so much and what I've found is that if I just force myself to do a quick pinterest workout or something that's not my regular workout, I'm way more likely to do it. And any exercise is better than none. So definitely just do the small ones, quick ones, half assed ones, until it becomes a habit and then when you're ready, you can do your scheduled ones.

I think it's better to do something. As General Powell said "Agood plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week." While this is an exaggeration, it suggests that something now is now ideal than something great later. I believe in this philosophy as I have seen it work for me when I follow it and the opposite is true. If I wait too long the effects are more detrimental.

I think it's definetly better to do something, even if shorter and lighter than what you usually do. If you just "wait up" to be in the right mood or get motivation, you might never get it. And then you skip that day, and maybe the next day you're not feeling it either, and once you notice you've gone through a month not being able to build a routine. It's definetly better to do something no matter how small than nothing at all. You might even notice after the shorter routine that you're feeling more energised and motivated and can go through your usual routine, or maybe just go a little farther. And that's fine, sometimes we need those baby steps. And more often than not it's important that we can be our own source of motivation instead of hoping we'll miracously get struck by it. Just work with what feels right to you, and don't get discouraged! Rome wasn't built in one day

For me, if I wait to exercise when I'm unmotivated, 9 times out of 10 I won't exercise at all. And by the end of the night I feel totally guilty and frustrated with myself (which is even more demotivating!) Even if I can only make myself do like one of the 10 min workouts or stretching routines on the Fabulous app, I do try to force myself to do it first thing in the morning. Then often later on I feel more energized and do my regular workout anyways.

When I feel down and out of it, I usually do what I can to at least start a small routine, and that is usually enough to get me to hold myself up to going through a full set. Just remember that even if you need to take it easier for a day or two, you are still doing better than those who do nothing.

Yes like drinking water in morning and eating breakfast and dancing or walking up your house stairs or walking around your downstairs.

No brainer. I run as many miles as I do because of the one mile rule. I really do t like the act of running but it makes the rest of my life much better so I do it. How? Almost ever day after work I change right out of my work clothes into my running cloths. I plan to run a mile. Just get started. Many days I end up running more because it is easy to keep going.

I know I sound great right now. I hate the cold and rain. Let me define cold. Sub zero. I really have to pressure myself to run in the winter when it is that cold out. I often fail and do something else instead.

Rain is the same winter or summer. It always stops winter runs. I can talk myself into it many times in the summer. Like everything else, if you miss a day just begin again. It is better to do something lighter easier shorter than to do nothing.

ALWAYS do the excersize instead of skipping mix it up and find something new! A routine is great but sometimes its good to mix things up, instead of running try yoga, sick of yoga? Try something more high intensity. Point is switch it up get your blood flowing and push through your mind block!

I usually wait, but I will say that I always feel better when I’ve pushed myself to do something, even if I’m not really up to it