Have More Energy Every Day

3 Ways to Stay Motivated

"When I talk to my nonrunning friends about my workouts, their eyes tend to glaze over, so I joined a local track club," says Lisa Smith, 43, of Brooklyn. "It's great to share stories with them, and the social aspect keeps me com­ing back and working harder." In addition to the camaraderie and support, group training fosters a healthy sense of guilt, Martin Ginis says: You don't want to let down the team by blowing off a workout. "Talking to your friends can also distract you when you're exhausted and tempted to quit," Smith says. Find a gang to pass the miles with at the Road Runners Club of America's website at rrca.org. If you have kids, check out seemommyrun.com, which has more than 5,400 jogging groups throughout the United States.

Turns out, getting more zzz's could put a little pep in your step. In one Stanford University study, when basketball players logged 10 hours or more in bed a night for five to seven weeks, they sprinted faster, made more accurate shots, and felt less fatigued. Con­sistently going to bed 30 or 45 minutes earlier instead of watching TV or surfing the Web may well pay off at the gym.

Lindsey Vonn, the Olympic champion downhill skier, psychs herself up with boom­ing bass and rocking rhymes. "Listening to rap -- Lil Wayne, Drake, Jay-Z -- in the morning before my races gets me fired up to go 90 miles per hour," she explains. She's onto something. According to research at Brunel University in England, listening to music can increase your endurance by 15 percent because your brain gets distracted by the songs and may miss the "I'm tired" signal. Plus the emotional connection to beloved tunes can give you a sense of euphoria that keeps you going. Maximize your musical motivation with apps that sync your playlist to your pace, like Lolo BeatBurn for the treadmill and elliptical trainer ($4 each, iTunes store) and RecordBeater ($5, Android Market).

Originally published in FITNESS magazine, September 2012.