How to Stay Motivated to Workout?
Let’s face it - even the most disciplined athletes have at one point found it challenging to stay motivated to workout. There could be many reasons the motivation to train may come down or disappear entirely. It could be a recent failure to achieve a milestone, a new place to exercise or could even be missing a regular training partner or a personal trainer. Since motivation plays a significant role in our workout, let us look at How to stay Motivated to Workout.
#1 Reassess your Goals:
Starting fresh or relooking at existing goals could be one of the ways to increase motivation to workout. First, look at your current goals carefully. It is good to have ambitious goals, but if our goals are over-ambitious or too challenging to achieve, making efforts to achieve them may be futile. Breaking down the goals into smaller and achievable milestones will help stay motivated to workout.
#2 Inspect the Changes:
Has something changed? Is it the time you workout or the place you workout that changed? Are you missing your trainer or partner who used to be a source of motivation? Have you quit taking pre-workout supplements? Or is it something else? Inspect the changes and find ways to accommodate the changes. For example, if you miss your regular training partner or a personal trainer, try experimenting with a new one.
#3 Try Something New:
Maybe you are bored of the daily gym routine. It is worth trying something new to increase the motivation to exercise. Instead of jogging on the treadmill, try going to the local garden for a jog. Instead of doing cardio workouts at the gym, go for a swim. Subtle changes like listening to new music, trying new exercise clothes, wearing new shoes will go a long way in motivation for exercising. In short, try adding some spice to the mundane routine and return to your older practice with an increased desire to workout.
#4 Use the Right Gear:
Is your workout gear the right one? Assess if you are using something uncomfortable or something that is not necessary. For example, get rid of that tight supporter. You do not need it at the gym anyway. Here are more suggestions:
Wear breathable and correct clothing for the workout you plan to do.
If you are a pro at lifting weights, try using weight lifting shoes.
For heavy pulling movements like deadlifts, bent-over rows, lat pulldowns etc. using good quality and comfortable gripping gear like Versa gripps pro will help. (Note: The link is not a sponsored link)
Use truly wireless sweatproof sport headphones that don’t fall off from the ears due to jerky movements.
#5 Try thumping Music:
Music is a significant mood changer. Most people prefer listening to thumping music to keep their motivation levels high during a workout. If you haven’t tried it yet, this is the time to give it a try. Read more on the relationship between music and exercise here: What is the relationship between Music and Exercise?
#6 Try Personal Training:
Personal training is a great way to ensure personalised attention to your workouts by a trained professional. If your workout motivation is down, personal training can help increase it. Your trainer will scientifically assess your goals, milestones and help you achieve them. Personal training will give a whole different perspective to your workouts and help you understand fitness science.
#7 Make Notes:
Analyse your workouts. Track how you have progressed through the weeks, months or probably years of training to reach the level you are on. Track how you have broken personal records to date. Does the graph move upward? If no, now is the time to make it move upward. If yes, what’s stopping you from progressing? Make notes for the future too. Set a day when you want to break your personal best records and work your way to achieve them. Penning down your goals will give you a sense of responsibility, commitment and help increase workout motivation.
#8 Reward Yourself:
What was the last time you rewarded yourself for achieving a fitness goal or a milestone? It is important to reward ourselves once we achieve our objectives. Some reward examples can be a therapeutic massage or progressing from whey protein isolate to whey protein hydrolysate. Also, plan what to reward yourself with after achieving your goals rather than thinking about it at the 11th hour.
#9 Compete:
Competition drives motivation. Winning drives motivation. You may even compete with yourself and try breaking your records. If you feel your workout motivation is going low, plan to compete with someone or try breaking your records. You may even find a challenge or join a cause to increase your sense of commitment and motivation to workout.
#10 Measure the Effort:
Try using a fitness application on your phone or a wearable device to track your workouts and uncover insights. The kind of data you discover about your body, like VO2Max, resting heart rate, maximum heart rate etc., will surely motivate you to do more. Some wearable devices also suggest ways to improve your performance, lower stress and increase motivation.
We hope the article helped to understand How to stay Motivated to Workout.
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