As you probably know, one of the hardest parts about exercising and working out isn’t actually the activity itself. No, the toughest part is often finding the mental energy and motivation to go and train. Everybody has an off day from time to time, and everybody finds themselves feeling tired and run down, no matter how much rest they’ve had. If this is a regular occurrence, though, you’ll find that it severely hinders your mental stamina and you’ll struggle to find the motivation to get off of the couch and go train. If your get up and go has gotten up and left, here are a few simple ways to boost exercise motivation.
Change up your routine
If you find that you’re just not looking forward to exercising anymore, try and ask yourself what went wrong. If nothing instantly springs to mind, it could simply be that you’re now bored of following the same routine, or that you’re just not enjoying it anymore. The great thing about exercise, though, is the fact that there are so many different types to choose from. If you hate the gym, stop exercising at the gym and find somewhere else to train instead. If you aren’t enjoying your current routine, again, just try something different instead. No matter what your fitness goal is, changing your routine every few weeks is not only important for your motivation, but for your health too. Changing up your exercise routine every so often helps break through weight-loss plateaus and can prevent overuse injuries. A fellow gym goer, Mark, performed a similar workout routine for weeks which resulted in his left elbow getting dislocated. After talking with Mark about his experience we found that this repetitive routine was the cause.
Monitor and log your progress
One of the best ways of increasing your motivation when it comes to exercising is to track and log your progress. Take before and after pictures, take measurements at the start and throughout your fitness journey, and weigh yourself weekly and track your weight. When your motivation is low, stop and look at your progress and see just how far you’ve come. Seeing everything in black and white, as it were, will surely give you the metaphorical kick up the backside that you need to get yourself in gear and get things moving. This is an important factor when working with my clients. By monitoring and logging their progress it helps us work out what we are doing right or wrong, set goals and mark achievements – Before and after photos are highly motivational and I wouldn’t take on new clients without having these done!
Commit to a calendar!
Another very useful way of boosting your motivation when exercising is to commit to the calendar, as it were, and to actually commit to set days each week. Don’t just adopt a ‘wait and see’ approach to exercise because on days when motivation is low, you’ll likely postpone your workout until the next day in the hopes that your motivation is higher. If you know for a fact that you are supposed to train on a specific day, you will be mentally prepared in advance, and you’ll be more likely to go and workout, and give it your all. Having a personal trainer is the best way to commit – You have set appointments with regular communication with your trainer in between. If you have a personal trainer, ensure they keep up good communication with you via Facebook or Instagram. I’m always sending words of encouragement to my clients when they hit goals (big or small) in the form of text, voice, photos or videos! For my clients this ultimately reinforces commitment to their exercise sessions.
Checkout Top Instagram Accounts
There is an endless supply of impressive athletes, trainers, fitness models and influencers on Instagram serving up content that really motivates you to do more! Content ranges from them showing off their physique to them performing workouts and offering diet ideas and advice. I recommended checking out therock, judinesaintgerard, thehealthyhustle, athleanx, primal.swoledier, kaisafit and getfitwithgiddy.
Listen to your favourite music
Music is one of the best motivators when it comes to working out. The problem with commercial gyms is that they have to cater for everybody and so they likely will just play generic music or radio stations. If you don’t like the music they play and you don’t have earphones, you’re out of luck. If you create a playlist of your favourite music, though, and throw in your headphones, you can enjoy a workout whilst listening to music that fires you up and motivates you.
Join a Group
Group exercise can also help improve your motivation levels! Fellow personal trainer Lia makes it a part of her fitness program with her clients – She gets most of them involved (all ages) in a very specific and focused group exercise session. This is also a reason for the growing popularity in CrossFit across the world as it involves multiple people that are ultimately encouraging each other! What’s my biggest exercise motivation you ask? It has to be my gym partner (and wife) Jennifer. Thinking about her, our life and our dreams is what motivates me when pushing that last bicep pump!
What’s your biggest exercise motivation? Let us know in the comments below or message me via profile link.
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