Getting motivated to work out isn’t easy, particularly when you’re just beginning to incorporate exercise into your routine. Fortunately, you are not alone in this struggle. Many people have had to find ways to improve their motivation and get into the right zone for exercise. As a result, there are a tonne of resources online to assist you on your journey, as well as many tried-and-tested strategies for boosting motivation. By making some simple adjustments to your mindset and routine, you can become the kind of person who finds joy in regular exercise.
Change Your Self-Talk
The way in which we talk to ourselves has a huge impact on our attitudes and behaviours. This is why it is so important to pay attention to how you talk to yourself about exercise and your own fitness abilities. If you constantly tell yourself that exercise is something you’re bad at, you’re going to struggle with motivation. Make an effort to transform negative thoughts into positive ones, and you should have an easier time getting in the zone. For example, instead of thinking “I didn’t jog everyday last week, I ruined my streak,” try saying to yourself “I went on three jogs last week, and some exercise is a lot better than none”. Try to congratulate yourself on every win, and if you slip up, move on swiftly.
Start Your Day With Exercise
Scheduling some morning exercise is a great way to encourage motivation. Starting your day with exercise will put you in a good mood, and means that you won’t have to think about it for the rest of the day. It is also easier to turn behaviours into habits when you practise them in the morning. Additionally, mornings are a time when most of us are not yet affected by the decision fatigue that hits us at the end of a long day. Decision fatigue, as well as general exhaustion, can make it easy for us to skip our afternoon workouts.
Practise a Pre-Workout Routine
When we’re getting ready to do exercise, our brains can sometimes allow us to get distracted with other things. We might start thinking about all the things we’d rather be doing, or the things we feel we should be doing, such as chores. A pre-workout routine can help quell those distracting thoughts. Establish a unique and specific sequence of events to help get your mind and body in the zone. For example, you could listen to a particular hype-up song while changing into exercise gear, and then complete a series of stretches. As long as you keep the pre-workout routine consistent and complete it often, it’ll help you transition into exercise mode.
Join a Community
A lot of sports and specific forms of exercise have enthusiastic and supportive communities built around them. When an individual joins these communities, it can make a huge difference in terms of keeping them motivated. A community can help you stay accountable to your goals, and push you to go further. Having friends to exercise with can also make the experience more fun and rewarding. If you can’t find people to exercise with in person, there are many online communities to join. These include Facebook groups that involve an exchanging of workout videos and updates, or groups that complete simultaneous exercise over zoom. If you are a competitive person, you can even harness people within these communities to create friendly competitions.
Mix It Up
While routine is important, it is also useful to incorporate variety into your workout routines. If you complete the exact same exercises everyday, you may eventually get bored and lose motivation to workout at all. To avoid this issue, make a list of different exercises you’d like to try. You can then refer to the list whenever you feel bored and use it to keep your workouts fresh and interesting. If you’re struggling to find new exercises, Youtube is a great resource, and many gyms also put useful exercise content online. You might find your new favourite exercises in the process, and these can then be reserved for the days when you’re in most need of motivation.
Set Realistic But Challenging Goals
Everyone knows that setting goals can help with motivation. The problem, however, is that many of us make the mistake of setting unrealistic goals. When we set these kinds of goals, we fail to achieve them, and then start to subscribe to the narrative that we can’t and won’t improve our fitness levels. This is why it is so crucial that we set specific, easily measured, actionable and realistic goals. It makes it even easier if we put a definitive time frame on it. An example of this kind of goal could be to complete 20 push-ups in a row by the end of a specific month. These goals, which are often called SMART goals, help keep us focused, motivated and feeling positive. It also helps to write these goals down on paper and keep them somewhere nearby so you can be reminded of them often.
Remember That You’ve Got This!
From time restraints to depleted energy levels, there are many reasons why exercise is challenging. You might feel like working out on a regular basis is something that isn’t achievable for you, or something that you could never enjoy. It is perfectly natural to feel that way—but you should also remember that ultimately, it isn’t true! Even if it takes time, you can find and maintain an exercise routine that you enjoy. If a healthier and happier lifestyle is something you want, you have the power to achieve it!