The motivation to workout inevitably waxes and wanes for everyone, sometimes you can’t keep away from the gym and other times it’s the last thing you want to do. We’ve all had one of those days (weeks or months) when training can seem like an absolute chore, so to help you stay on track we’ve put together tips on how to motivate yourself to exercise in 5 simple steps;
1. Remember the feeling of a good workout
There’s no better feeling than the post workout high!
To help stay consistent through the hard times and easy times, always keep in mind the physical and mental rewards that exercise brings you. It’s a great motivator remembering how good you will feel to get the blood pumping and get a sweat on.
2. Always set goals – big and small
Setting goals and having measurable markers of progress is vital to stay motivated and enjoy your workouts.
Don’t set wildly optimistic or unrealistic goals like losing 50lbs in 30 days, this will set yourself up for failure, and with that comes feelings of disappointment and demotivation.
Don’t set fuzzy goals like ‘I want to lose weight’ either.
Instead, set a ‘SMART’ goal that is a goal that is Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound.
So, instead of saying ‘I want to lose some weight’, a better goal would be ‘I want to lose 10lbs (specific) of body weight in 10 weeks (measurable, achievable, time-bound) so I can look great for my holiday.
3. Track your progress
Not seeing results after all your hard work in the gym can be really demotivating. But if you are not tracking and monitoring your progress or performance in the gym, how do you know if you’re actually progressing?
Keeping track of the basics like workouts, daily step count, run times, logging a food diary and taking weekly progress photos all give you valuable data that demonstrates progress and nothing is more motivating than seeing results.
4. Set mini-goals along the way
Big goals can feel far away and hard to achieve, and that can be really demotivating.
It’s important to break your big goals into ‘bite-sized’ pieces and get yourself into a proper routine so it’s easier to plan them in.
Setting smaller ‘mini-goals along the way such as performance goals like achieving a pull up or hitting bench press PBs, can keep training fresh, fun and interesting, as well as giving you motivating little ‘wins’ regularly to keep you progressing.
5. Make yourself accountable to your goals
Accountability is one of the key ingredients to success, any PT or Fitness expert will recommend regular check-in’s. This accountability is invaluable for staying on track, not missing sessions and achieving your goals, especially when motivation starts to wane.
If you don’t have a personal trainer, you can easily recreate this by getting a training partner (or even an Instagram connection) with similar goals to you so you both keep each other on track.
If you struggle with healthy eating, recruit a ‘diet partner’ – either a friend who wants to diet alongside you too, or a family member who is willing to keep you accountable.
Keep track goals such as:
- Daily step count e.g. did you each reach your 10k target
- Your training summary e.g. muscles trained in a 7 day period
- Your itemised food diary e.g. Screenshots from MyFitnessPal
- PB’s reached
