For a better workout, trick your brain

WE ALL know exercise is good for us, but its benefits don’t always motivate us to set an alarm and lace up our running shoes. According to the United States’ National Centre for Health Statistics, 75 per cent of Americans don’t meet the recommended guidelines for aerobic and strengthening exercise.

Many experts say the key to better and more regular workouts is not in the body, but in the mind. As anyone deciding between a Netflix binge and an evening run can understand, the body may be willing, but the spirit occasionally needs a kick-start.

However, there are a few tools that can trick our reluctant brains into finding the motivation to head back to the gym or set out on that bike trail.