Getting involved in a fitness program is a step in the right direction for your health, no matter who you are or what you do. However, once you’re in it, you need to commit all the way through! And let’s face it, that’s very hard.
You can lose motivation in a moment, and find yourself turning up less and less to the gym or your morning runs. But can we stop this stagnation in its tracks? If you know where to find the fuel for your fitness fire, absolutely.
Come Up with Some Rewards
If you want to convince yourself to focus on fitness, you might just have to indulge your inner child for a while! After all, getting a reward for doing something is the most basic form of motivation, and that’s always going to work when everything else fails.
Pick something you’d like to do that you’re not allowed to do unless you work out, like going out to dinner or watching a new movie with your partner. If you don’t hit your fitness goals for the week, your plans will have to roll on for next time.
Workout with Someone
Working out with someone is a great way to hold yourself accountable. If you don’t turn up, you let them down! And that’s often enough to get people rolling out of bed a bit earlier and ready to hit the pavement with their trainers on for some weight loss training.
Similarly, if you don’t want to work out with a friend, you can always sign up for some PT sessions down at your local gym. Once again, if you don’t turn up you’ll be wasting their time and maybe even cause someone else to miss out.
Listen to Fun Music
Listening to music is a great way to pump yourself up and get going. A bit of rhythm can even speed up your run on the treadmill or make it easier to keep pushing when the weights get a little too much. As such, the music you listen to needs to be fun.
It needs to be something you’d enjoy moving to, much like if you were going dancing. Don’t take your playlist too seriously – if something cheesy is going to put a smile on your face through the burn, play it!
Something is Better Than Nothing
Remember, the more you do, the better you’re going to feel. And no one ever gets anywhere by beating themselves up over something. You just feel more down about it, and that makes it harder to sum up the motivation next time.
So recognise when you’re doing good for yourself. If you went for a walk today, even though you’d planned a run, that’s still a fitness based activity! You still exercised and made your muscles work, and your body will always thank you for that.
It’s true: fitness motivation can slip away every now and then. Claw it back using tips like the ones above.
