One of the many struggles of fitness enthusiasts is staying motivated throughout their journey. Physical exercise isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do, and there will be times that you will feel unmotivated and uninspired. Keeping your motivation and maintaining your focus on your fitness goals come with the very idea of being fit. Struggling with it is part of the territory, and it’s a perfectly valid concern.
To better manage times when you feel unmotivated, here are some steps you can follow:
Be Disciplined Instead of Motivated
First, and perhaps the most important aspect of staying motivated to exercise is to stop focusing on “motivation”. Instead, approach it from another angle, that of discipline. When treating it not as a matter of “inspiration” or “motivation” but as a matter of a requirement, you’ll feel more compelled to do it. While that in itself is difficult, changing your mindset to one that is of discipline will help you exercise more consistently.
Integrate Fitness Into Your Daily Routine
As mentioned before, discipline plays a large part in staying motivated. But it’s not just a matter of forcing yourself out of discipline. Instead of using sheer willpower, make it easier for yourself by integrating fitness into your daily life. Exercise at a consistent schedule, to the point that it becomes a normal part of your everyday routine. Soon you’ll find yourself moving on your own since it’s your daily routine. It will take a while, yes, but with consistency and discipline, you can make exercising a normal part of your life.
Have Short Term Goals
The first thing that motivates most people to start working out is an ultimate goal, or what they want to truly achieve through exercise. But long-term goals can be overwhelming sometimes, especially if you still have quite a ways to go. Therefore, having short-term goals is a viable solution. This is why workout challenges have a charm for many people. Try copying One Punch Man’s workout routine and see how it affects your body, or try to create your own unique challenges too.
Another type of short-term goal is to cross-train and learn other physical activities. Calisthenics is one way to still work out, or if you’re up for it, try your hand at parkour. Parkour is a good example of an activity that involves the full body. Challenging yourself to learn a new activity for your body can remind you of your ultimate goal and even help you get there faster.
Reward Yourself and Celebrate When You Succeed
Everyone rsquo;s fitness journey will be filled with ups and downs, so why not focus on the ups instead? Acknowledge when you succeed and celebrate it! You can opt to memorialize milestones and achievements, reminding yourself that you’re constantly progressing and that plateaus are just a phase, not permanent. Get a custom-designed belt buckle that celebrates how much weight you’ve lost. Or even frame your larger-sized shirts as a constant self-reminder that you’ve gone far, and to continue with your improvement. Far too often we fail to acknowledge our own success in fear of judgment or lack of believing in ourselves. It’s about time we start recognizing our own successes and celebrate them.
Create Interesting Twists in Your Routine
What rsquo;s interesting about physical fitness is that no one workout is the one and only go-to for targeting muscle groups. You can get creative in hitting certain muscles, and you can switch up your routine based on your body’s condition. This is especially useful if you are feeling burnt out with your usual routine, or if you have an injury that limits your capacity. If you can’t fully work your legs due to a pulled calf muscle, you can work on your upper body and cardio for the time being. There are plenty of push-up variations that you can also learn, so it’s never boring.
It should be mentioned though, that all the types and variations of exercises need to be performed in proper form, and with the advice of your trainer. There are levels to different workout exercises, and your coach should advise which ones your body can perform without risking injury. Being creative is great, as long as you do not set yourself back, or even worse, hurt yourself from overexertion.
Whatever you try to do to motivate yourself in fitness, keep in mind that discipline is still a crucial factor. Motivation could end up impeding your progress if you constantly wait for it to come. Instead of constantly looking for ways to motivate yourself, maintain a good level of discipline so you can keep showing up at the gym and consistently gain progress.
