How To Find The Motivation To Exercise
Working out can be time-consuming and very tiring. After a long, hard day at work, most people don’t find the motivation to exercise and just want to collapse on the couch and have watch some telly.
Even though the warmer weather is nearly upon us, it can seem hard to overcome this fatigue and get down to that gym for a workout. Well, luckily for you, this article will help get you motivated.
Find The Motivation To Exercise In 8 Steps
Staying fit and healthy is imperative – not only will you live longer, but you’ll reduce stress and improve self-esteem. So, if you’re struggling to pick up those dumbbells and step on that treadmill, have a read of the following advice to help get your mojo back. Best of luck!
1. Get Dressed For The Occasion
Look, how long do you spend choosing your outfit for a night out? Be honest. If you put half as much effort into your gym clothes, you’d be more inclined to get out there and start exercising quickly.
Changing into some tracksuit bottoms or shorts can tell you and your body that it’s time to go – so get out of that onesie!
2. Get Your Body Ready
Your body may need a kick-start, so give it one. Just like that cup of coffee in the morning before a hard day, a burst of energy right before a workout can leave you feeling ready.
Using some pre-workout can give your body a shot of adrenaline that will carry you all the way through to the end of your workout, without fail.
Additionally, warming up and stretching will cut the risk of injury, ensuring you can carry on going even when the workout gets intense.
3. Call Your Friend Over
It’s much easier to go to the gym if you have a friend with you, and the benefits are numerous. Firstly, and most obviously, you’ll be able to catch up with a friend and will have company in an otherwise lonely setting.
Secondly, you’ll have a spotter and some help for any exercises you find hard. You can share tips and advice with one another to further increase your fitness knowledge.
4. Picture Your Goals
When you’re struggling to move out of bed and to the gym, just picture the end result. You’ll be sat on a beach somewhere in Spain, and everyone who walks by will subject you to envious stares.
To motivate yourself, imagine how you’ll feel when you reach your goal and conquer your obstacles. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, so let that light fill you up and consume you.
5. Start Strong!
When you do finally get to the gym, go all in. Attack the weights and the machines with all the ferocity you can muster. Like any great sports player, you have to start strongly to set the tone and scare your competition. Only here, your competition is your laziness.
6. Make It Fun
Whether you go to the gym or run 3k every morning, you need to enjoy your activity if you want to stick with it for a long time. To keep you involved and interested, you need to experiment a bit and switch workouts until you find something you really enjoy.
7. Vary Your Routine
Here are a few tips you can use to vary your routine and adjust your body to the new challenges:
- Try to add something new to your workout every single day; be it a new song, new socks or new weights, just make it seem like you’ve never did that before.
- If you run, change the path every couple of days.
- Increasing speed, repetitions, sets or duration can also challenge your muscles.
- Watch some full body workouts on YouTube and try to reproduce what you see.
- Get some new gym clothes or equipments such as a pair of dumbbells, a new mat, an exercise band or a more comfortable pair of running shoes.
- Update your workout playlist with new and exciting songs.
8. Turn Motivation Into Habit
One thing you need to remember:
Motivation is ephemeral, habit is forever.
There will be days where you’ll be very motivated and an hour at the gym will seem like a minute. But there will inevitably be days where going to the gym is the last thing you want to do.
Since you cannot and should not rely on motivation alone, habit is the next and the last stop. Turn your motivation into habit through discipline. Here’s how to do it:
- Make a workout calendar and schedule 3-4 days per week for your workouts.
- Never skip a workout, no matter what. NEVER!
- When it comes to your workout, you’ll always have time to finish it. Cancel any other plans and set your workout as your first priority.
This is how you should discipline yourself, find the motivation to exercise and turn it into habit. This is what it takes to be successful.
When you’ve finally found that motivation to exercise, you’ll need some workouts to go along with it. Check our guide to exercising each muscle group properly.
