Knowing how to motivate yourself to work out when you’re tired, feeling meh or even having to start alllll the way from the beginning can feel so hard! We have some advice that can help you get back onto the fitness wagon!
Maybe the first two or three weeks of January you had a streak going… A programme, a goal, regular workouts that you stuck to. But now, as time moves on, lockdown lingers and work picks up, that motivation can start to fade and you start missing a session here and there…
Or maybe you haven’t been able to get started this year. You haven’t found a routine or a goal or something to drive you to get up and move your body.
Either way, we are here to help!!
With the below tips and advice, we’ll show you how to motivate yourself to work out!
Accept That Motivation Doesn’t Happen Every Day
That’s right! There are days when you will have zero motivation to do anything. And that’s okay! Because there are other far more powerful tools to help you: routine and discipline. Building a routine means that even though you might not feel like exercising, you know that, say, on Thursdays you run. And the discipline to follow that routine means that on Wednesday evening you pack out your clothes, set your alarm and when you wake up in the morning, you don’t even have to think, you just go.
Get Accountability Partners
Make fitness dates with friends, family or colleagues. These do not have to be in-real-life! They could be virtual fitness dates, like committing to doing that live workout together, tracking it and comparing your calorie burn and taking sweaty selfies and sending them to each other. Commit to meeting for a socially distanced run or getting your 10 000 steps in.
The more you surround yourself with people who are into working out, the more you will do so too!
Check out some of our amazing free workouts: Mapule’s HIIT session, Amy’s HIIT energizer session or Jonathan Boynton-Lee Workout Programme.
Join a Club
While our world looks very different right now, we still need community. Join a fitness club or get a coach in your area. Joining a running club often means you often get access to running coaches and a programme, plus you now you’ll have like-minded people with you on the same journey. Even if connecting in real life isn’t possible, many of these clubs and programmes set up whatsapp groups to stay connected, share data and motivation.
You will need to share your data with your coach and this alone will motivate you and keep you accountable! And this all leads to the next point…
Pick A Goal
Picking a goal looks different to how it did before, because we don’t have as many “races” happening in real life or on the calendar, but many organisations are still doing virtual events! A good example is the Pirates 21km – Joburg’s toughest half marathon! Where you can enter and run the route any weekend in February. More info here!
Focusing on a fitness goal instead of a weight-loss goal can also be more motivating, because weight can be such a fickle thing and not always easy to see results. But if you focus on a fitness goal, like being able to run 10km without stopping or doing 10 full push-ups in a row, weight-loss and strength will be natural benefits while you feel like you’re achieving a skill.
Need some help? Check out our ClickFit downloadable programmes, free and exclusive to Medshield Members. Try the two-week basic body-weight kickstart, the four-week total transformation, the six-week HIIT workout or the eight-week total transformation programme.