Convincing yourself to work out is hard. After all, it’s a lot easier to search for ways to lose weight at home without putting in any extra physical labor. Perhaps, it’s your schedule that keeps you tied up or the fact that you have a very busy social life. Regardless, a good workout is supremely beneficial in many ways, which is why boosting your motivation for it is vital. Now, there are several ways to boost your motivation. This guide should help you determine what works best for you.
Sort out your priorities
Many people often tend to gloss over the fact that fitness heavily impacts the quality of one’s life. You could be busy at work, or dealing with social situations, but if you’re not fully fathoming how important a healthy lifestyle truly is, you’re not seeing the bigger picture.
When you work on your health, you’re essentially investing in yourself and your future. That 30-minute workout may seem like it’s burning you up inside, but throw in consistency, and you’re actually making things easier for yourself today and in the long run. Prioritize your workouts, because they’re going to be key determinants in what your health looks like a few years down the line.
Discipline is key
As redundant as this may seem, your mind is capable of a lot more than that for which you may give it credit. As hard as inculcating discipline in your life may sound, you have to remember that nothing will happen overnight. Breaking things down into small steps – with discipline – is going to make the whole process digestible.
Remember: you don’t have to have a good workout every day. You just need to get yourself to work out, to begin with. There will be good days and bad days. Don’t let this bog you down.
Rewire your thinking
If you think your workout is a chore, that’s exactly how you will treat it. However, by simply convincing yourself that this is a fun activity for you to enjoy, you’ll find yourself far better motivated than simply getting the job done because you have to. A positive mindset can go a long way.
Start small, and work your way up
You don’t have to go all-in on day one, or even during the first month. Different body types react differently to exercise. Start small, set achievable, measurable goals, and work your way up. When you feel like you’re ready to challenge yourself, kick things up a notch. Even then, don’t forget to have patience and empathy for yourself. You’re most likely not going to do a handstand within the first month of your workout, but with consistency and practice, you’re definitely going to get there.
Get in your workout earlier in the day
Scheduling your workout during the initial hours of the day (preferably morning time) will help. Not only will this fix your sleep cycle, getting you to wake up early, but it will also allow you to set the tone for the rest of the day. Moreover, you can tick off your workout from your list of things to do quite early, making it seem far less daunting, as opposed to letting it linger like an obligation while you carry out routine tasks throughout the day.
Don’t start comparing
Your friend started going to the gym a week before you and can already deadlift 60kg? Good for them. However, you’re you. Your progress is measurable against your last best workout – not your friend’s, not your trainer’s, not even the YouTuber whose workout you may be following. Your journey is specific to you. Don’t demotivate yourself by drawing comparisons.
Use social media wisely
Do you follow extremely fit influencers who look nothing like you, but make you feel like you should look like them? Hit that unfollow button. Social media is curated to put forth a certain lifestyle. You’re better off finding people sharing posts of them in the process of bettering their health, instead of people who have already achieved their ideal weight or body type. Use social media to motivate yourself, instead of being disheartened by the bevy of ridiculously good-looking people who seem to have it all.
The reward system
According to journalist and author, Charles Duhigg, who penned, ‘The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business,’ you can set up a reward system that creates a neurological “habit loop.” If you’ve managed to complete your workout for the day, go ahead and treat yourself to your favorite guilt watch. As long as you’re keeping up with the Kardashians after your workout as a reward, you’re doing great.
However, when it comes to habit loops, you have to ensure that you’re not setting up something unhealthy as a reward. For example, a sundae sounds divine after a workout, but if you make a habit out of it, you may develop negative patterns of behavior that do you more harm than good. Switching between rewards should help you circumvent this.
Share this journey with a friend
If you feel like you can’t commit to this without support, get a friend (or friend group) to join you. You can hold each other accountable in this way, and can lend or borrow motivation as and when needed.
Know when to be strict
If you feel like you’re slacking off, understand when you have to be a little sterner. Decide how you’re holding yourself accountable. Let’s say that you skip three workouts in a row. Put small fines in place that ensure you’re staying true to your schedule. For example, if you skip two scheduled workouts in a row, you have to pay a certain amount of money to a friend. When this starts impacting your wallet, you’ll be more careful about slacking off.
Document your journey
Many people find that documenting their journey can be a strong motivating factor. Record yourself failing to do a single push-up so that you can bask in the glory of when you manage to do three in a row. Small doses of your transformation will make you want to keep going, hitting that next milestone for you to celebrate.
Switch your view
Tired of waking up every day and working out at home? You know it’s working, but you keep wishing there was more to it. Easy: change your setting. Go for a jog in the park instead, or try to go for a swim. If you’re near the beach, go work out under the sun in front of a body of water. If you’re a part of a gym, and you’re tired of the gray walls staring back at you, don’t be afraid to have your trainer send you your workout to do someplace else. Avoid monotony to keep your motivation boosted.
Find an app that works best for you
Finding a good, multi-faceted application will help in countless ways. For example, the Healthi app tracks your progress based on all your meals and snacks, counts your calories for you, lets you log in a wide variety of activities to measure progress, and even performs health checks. You can keep tabs on your weight loss journey using the app as well.
Moreover, you can find custom meal plans, fun, healthy recipes that you can try, and a community of people who double as your digital family, with whom you can share your progress. Additionally, you can make notes and log in your feelings to track exactly how you feel after a meal or workout. It’s like carrying motivation in your pocket.
To sum up, there are many ways in which you can boost your motivation to work out. Test various methods, see what works best for you, and try to mix it up so that you don’t find your routine mundane. Before you know it, your workout will be seamlessly integrated into your daily routine.
