My top 10 ways to motivate yourself to continue exercising (+1 bonus)

So, you're a month into your new year's resolution to workout and eat right and you're finding you are loosing the momentum that you had when you started.  Now is the time you really need to pull up your socks and not be one of "those people" who drop out when the going gets tough.  

This is particularly true if you're about a month into a program like P90X as the highest drop out rate occurs at this point.

Without further ado, here are my top 10 things (in no particular order) that motivate you to continue to working out: 

1. Buy new stuff - Trying buying some new equipment like runners, weight gloves, heart rate monitor, etc. After buying a new set of runners, who doesn’t want to go out and try them out?  Same goes with a heart rate monitor, first time you get one you’ll find that you’re checking your heart rate every 2 minutes. 
2. Try supplements – A subset of buying new stuff, is to pick up some new supplements and see how they improve your workout.  One of the best for weight or resistance training is Creatine. Seeing it’s impacts on your body.  If you can handle them, even try an energy drink.  You may be surprised by the increased performance you get even if the results are psychosomatic.
3. Take your supplements before your workout – Related to trying supplements, if you’re the type of person who makes and excuse minutes before your workout, try taking your supplement such as creatine 30 minutes before your workout.  You’re less likely to renege on your workout as you don’t want to waste what you’ve just paid to consumed.
4. Competition – You know that guy on the treadmill next to you?  Try running faster than him or running longer.  Is he at the gym more often than you?  Well, keep up with him.  I may sound childish or immature but a little healthy competition can lead to motivation to some.  Just keep your abilities in check cuz if he's benching 250lbs and you're just starting out you're going to get hurt.
5. Workout partner(s) classes – This can be part of competition but doesn’t have to be.  Sometimes it is easier to let yourself down than others.  Try being each other's motivation and also try out doing one another by competing to see who can keep with the program or even sneaking in extra workouts to get on better than your buddy.
6. Documentation – Try keeping your work outs documented with workout sheets, a diary or share your experiences in a blog.  Not only will it keep track of your progress but it may serve to benefit others who are going through the same process as you.
7. Yourself – Don't let yourself down.  If you miss a day ensure you make up for it cuz if you miss 1 it’s easy to miss 2.  If I only worked out when I felt like it cuz I was feeling good and had energy, I’d likely only be working out 10% of the time.  Therefore, if you want maximum benefit, it’s the other 90% (when you don't feel like working out) that really counts to get yourself motivated.
8. Change of scenery – If you're running or walking and it's starting to get monotonous, try simply taking a different route.  A change of scenery will be a welcome change and there’s nothing that’ll kill a workout more than monotony. 
9. A schedule – You can’t workout if you can’t make the time. Schedule a regular time in your day to workout.  Make sure you get your spouse's or partner’s support so they can take care of the kids or do the chores while you're working out.  Of course, you'll have to do the same for them if they are trying to keep with a routine.  If you have a hard time doing this at home, try joining a fitness class as they are already scheduled for you.  Plus the fact that you paid money for the class may add some additional motivation to ensure that you get your money's worth.
10. Change your workout – Don’t do the same thing day in and day out.  Trying a new workout DVD or a different routine. Programs like P90X, Insanity and Power 90 have alot of variety to them to keep things changing.  It will also keep your body from adapting and eventually plateauing.
11. Get a trainer – When I say get a trainer, it doesn’t have to be a professional at $80/hr.  Use a DVD to follow along with or if you have friends who are gung ho about working out, use their experience as a coach.

Do you have some additional things that motivate you to keep working out.  Please share them by posting your ideas below.

How to get the "KICK" achievement in the iPhone Inception app

The Inception app is an augmented reality game of discovery. By performing some sort of action, you unlock dream levels that, when listened through headphones, dynamically mixes the soundtrack of the movie with sounds around you.

This tutorial instructs on how to unlock "The Kick" achievement. If you want to figure out the game on your own stop reading now as I am providing spoilers on to how to unlock "the Kick" secret feature in the iPhone/iPod Touch app.

***** SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT ******

1. You must have GameCenter installed on your iPhone to get the Kick.  It is worth 100 points
2. For maximum benefit it's recommended that you associate Inception with your Twitter and/or Facebook account to document the fact that you discovered the Kick.
3. Induce a regular dream such as the Still Dream or the Sleep Dream.  I did this with the Sleep Dream.  It cannot be in infinity mode. This can apparently be done in infinity mode too as tested in the Reward Dream. The Kick may actually work with any dream state as I've heard it worked with the Action Dream too.
4. You must sustain the regular dream for about 5 minutes  after which time the screen which normally slowly pulses red, starts to flash rapidly.  Musical horns will start to fade in and sound like a train is coming and suddenly it'll be quiet.  As soon as it becomes quiet, the Infinity sign will completely disappear for about 3 seconds.




Figure 1

5. Like in the movie, "the Kick" is triggered by the sensation of falling.  So when the infinity sign disappears, you must recreate the sensation of falling. This can be done by dropping your phone about a half a foot or higher onto a soft surface such as your blankets or a pillow.  Some say the action of jumping or "leaping" and then landing on your feet will induce the same sensation for the iPhone but I haven't had luck with that.  Remember after the horns stop and the infinity sign disappears, you only have about 3 seconds to execute the Kick before the infinity sign returns.  If you miss the window of opportunity you must wait for another 5 minutes.
6. If done correctly you'll be given a white screen as displayed to the right that says you've taken the Kick and to take a snapshot of reality (as displayed in figure 1).  There is no time limit to take the picture. If you have associated the application with Twitter or Facebook you can take your photo and publish it to either social network.  If you Tweet it and you follow the official Twitter account @inceptiontheapp, they may retweet your accomplishment.  Lastly, as an additional feature, your dream inducing buttons (which are normally red) will turn to gold.

If you got it work work, let's hear about it.  Post a comment or a link to your Kick snapshot.  Also, if you discovered a problem with these instructions or a better method, leave a comment and we'll amend the instructions..