One good way to force yourself to get into shape is to schedule an athletic event for yourself at some point in the future. There is a catch to this method, however. You cannot schedule something too far in advance or too soon. Schedule it way in the future, and you run the risk of procrastinating. If you schedule it too soon, you will only frustrate yourself if you don’t perform well.

A friend of mine, a former workout buddy, recommended this method to me recently. There are many road races near me at the beginning of spring that I have been looking at. The winter is a tough time to stay in shape, but having something like a race lined up forces me to get out of the house and go for a run—regardless of the weather. I don’t want to embarrass myself by finishing dead last, or worse, not finishing the race at all.

A road race is just one example of something you can do. Maybe you aren’t aerobically inclined. Schedule a time to go rock climbing or to go hiking. Making these group activities also adds to their ease. If you have people relying on you, you will be more likely to follow through. There are plenty of indoor rock climbing walls in the U.S., consider planning a time when a group of your friends will go. There’s no incentive like not embarrassing yourself to make you do some extra pushups, sit ups, and pull ups. Use a Yoga teacher training class to get fit. Be creative when choosing a group activity and you will have more fun.