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As good as exercising is for our health, it can be a challenge to convince yourself to get up and do it regularly. We are so consumed with all the technology surrounding us, it has made us increasingly lazy.
We even control the light switch by voice command now, gradually eliminating the need for physical activity. However, a sedentary lifestyle isn’t good for anyone and it’s super important to work out regularly to keep ourselves mentally and physically fit.
21 Ways to Stay Motivated
Here are some ways that can help you stay motivated in the long term:
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Remind Yourself Why You Started
In order to stay motivated long term, it’s important to be clear about your goals from the beginning.
Ask yourself what it is that you hope to achieve by working out. Do you want to lose excess body fat? Is it toning and sculpting your body? Or is it just to improve stamina in order to feel more physically fit? Your goals can be anything that you want them to be, just be clear on them.
Once you know why you’re doing something, it becomes easier to stay committed.
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Put On Your Workout Clothes
Your clothes play an important role in setting the mood for any task.
As much as you tell yourself otherwise, working out in your pajamas is not a good idea. Wearing those clothes mentally puts you in a place of comfort and lousiness.
Instead, get yourself some proper sports gear, maybe in your favorite design or color. Not only will they make it easier for you to work out, but as soon as you put them on, you’ll mentally prepare yourself to get up and going!
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Pretend There’s A Crowd And Give It Your All
We all tend to perform better when we know someone is watching us.
Similarly, imagine yourself working out with a crowd and imagine them watching you. This will make it much harder for you to give up. Instead, you’ll push yourself as much as you can to finish a challenge.
To make things easier, you can work out to one of those group exercise videos or even partake in an online workout session to motivate yourself even more.
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Surround Yourself With Motivational Pictures And Messages
As cheesy as it sounds, motivational posters and frames can play a crucial role in helping you get up every single day to work out.
Surround yourself with motivational quotes from your favorite celebrities or sports players, and use those to fuel your energy. These will come in especially handy when you really don’t feel like getting up from the couch. One look at these motivational posters might just convince you otherwise.
Remember to place them strategically in places where you tend to lounge often, so they work as a daily reminder to do better.
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Make Realistic Goals
If you’re only just starting out and struggling to commit to working out regularly, there is no point in setting up big challenges. Chances are you might be incapable of handling it.
Unrealistically big goals will only overwhelm you and halt your progress.
Instead, start by making realistic goals you can easily achieve, and then build onto them by setting bigger goals. For example, don’t expect yourself to do 100 pushups every single day from the beginning. Give yourself time to train, start with maybe 15 pushups every day, and add to that every week.
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Give Yourself Small Challenges
No doubt overcoming challenges gives you a sense of accomplishment and might motivate you further. But the right way to do that is by setting small, achievable challenges for yourself.
For example, a good challenge, to begin with, could be walking or running for 15mins every other day for a week. It’s a relatively short-term challenge, might need a bit of discipline, but is definitely doable if you set your mind to it.
These micro-challenges make it easier for you to prepare for bigger challenges. This way you’ll know what it will take for you to achieve them.
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Give Yourself Long Term Challenges
While starting out with small and realistic challenges is important, setting out long-term goals is equally important in keeping yourself motivated for the future.
A long-term challenge could be anything that personally drives you. It could be shedding a certain amount of weight by the end of the month, building stamina to run a marathon, or simply, completing a certain distance during your runs.
This way, you can make every day count towards achieving your end goal, and then you can stay committed to achieving it at last.
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Create A Workout Music Playlist
Music can be super important when it comes to working out. The right kind of music helps set the mood and gets you moving.
To do this, make a workout playlist of all your favorite power tunes that encourage you to move, and listen to them while working out to keep you going.
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Listen To Your Favorite Audiobook Or Podcast
If you don’t have a knack for music, you can always tune into your favorite podcast or listen to your favorite ebook while working out.
These things do a good job at distracting you from the seconds left in your plank or from the sound of you panting. They’re also great at keeping your mind occupied while you run or walk, so you can go further without realizing it.
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Have Friendly Competitions With Your Friends
Having workout competitions with your friends can be a fun way to encourage yourself to be more active. You can have little contests between a group of friends on who ran the most distance or who worked out the longest.
Even if you can’t physically do it together, use a social media app to track each other’s progress, declare winners, etc.
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Track Your Progress
Keeping a track of your daily exercise is super important when it comes to working out long term.
You can simply mark the calendar on days you worked out or keep a workout journal to record more details of your daily sessions. Some smartphone applications can help you do this too.
By keeping a track of your daily activity, you can see how far you have come and it might encourage you to keep going. Some days you might just push yourself to work out just so you can cross off another day on the calendar.
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Get Rid Of Guilt
If you’re using guilt as a motivating factor, you need to stop. Working out should be a positive experience.
If you fuel it with negative connotations, your mind will automatically want to run away from it. No one is perfect from day one, and it’s okay for you to make mistakes.
Stop beating yourself up, accept what happened, leave it behind and move on. Guilt won’t help you either way.
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Focus On Yourself
While a certain amount of competition can be healthy, over-doing is always a bad idea. Stop looking at other people’s progress and comparing it to your own.
Everyone’s body is built differently, so naturally, everyone’s progress will differ. There’s no need to constantly compare yourself to others and feel bad if you fall short.
Instead, focus on yourself, on your own progress, and how far you’ve come. And be proud of that.
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Get A Cheering Squad
Sometimes, we can all use a little bit of external motivation. Talk to your friends, partner, or your family about your struggle with working out, and let them help you feel motivated.
This way you can build your own little cheering squad and use the motivation when you need it.
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Positive Thinking
Like we said above, if you’re using negative thoughts to keep yourself going, it will only take you so far.
Instead, build a positive mindset about the whole idea of working out. Remind yourself about why doing this can be good for you and your overall health. Then, use those positive affirmations to keep going.
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Pick A Cause
A lot of fitness competitions are designed to support an important cause. Find one that you like personally and then you can work out for the sake of it. There are competitions that work on several causes such as cancer research, mental illness awareness, down syndrome awareness, and much more.
Being a part of something noble can really be a huge motivator!
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Break It Up
If you can’t keep up with a 60-minute workout session in one go, you can easily break it up into small increments throughout the day.
Do a 30-minute session in the morning, take a break and then do the remaining 30 minutes in the evening when you feel up to it.
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Make It Convenient
Working out can be a challenge in itself, there is no reason why you should make it needlessly difficult.
Instead, make it convenient for yourself to work out. For example, if you can’t work out in the morning, then set a time later in the day that suits you. Or, if going to the gym isn’t as easy for you, invest in some basic home equipment and work out at home instead.
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Reward Yourself
Celebrate little victories on your journey by rewarding yourself every time you overcome a challenge or finish a goal.
This reward can be anything, a rest day, a cheat meal, or even an hour of watching your favorite show. By doing this, you’re mentally training yourself to work out more often, even if it’s just to seek these rewards again.
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Watch Your Favorite Show And Workout
The minutes on the treadmill can be exceedingly slow. Try watching your favorite TV show while you’re on the treadmill and see the minutes fly by!
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Use A Fitness App
Fitness apps are super convenient and you should get one ASAP!
They have so many features you can benefit from. Most of the apps have a step counter, a calorie counter to log in to your meals, and an exercise tracker.
The exercise trackers have a variety of workouts to choose from, including cardio, pilates, cycling and so much more. Based on their average intensity, the apps monitor the duration of your workout and help calculate the calories you burnt.
Other convenient features some fitness apps might have include:
- A virtual cross trainer
- Sleep tracker
- Water intake counter
- Fitness tips
Conclusion
While it can be a challenge to motivate yourself to get moving, there’s no comparison of how great you feel after a good workout session.
We hope these tips help you overcome the internal obstacles that keep you from getting healthier and happier!
Remember, it’s always you against you!
