Everyone can experience their motivation slip away when it comes to exercising regularly. A few motivational tricks can make all the difference! If you have ever felt your commitment waver when it comes to exercise, then these five tips will help you pull trough the crisis and turn your workout routine into a succes.
1. Focus on short-term goals
You do yourself a huge favor by setting short-term goals that you can easily track and evaluate. It takes time to reach the end goal – becoming pain-free – so if you focus too much on the long-term perspective, the process can seem daunting and near-impossible.
By setting goals that are too large, like “I’ll be painless in three months”, you likely won’t be able to reach your end-goal and enjoy the satisfaction that comes with reaching it for a very long period. At the same time, you put unnecessary pressure on yourself, and the three months of exercising can easily seem wasted if you don’t succeed.
Instead, start with a clear goal, such as “I’m going to train at least twice this week”. It gives you a better opportunity to achieve quick successes that will fuel your motivation to carry on.
2. Engage your family and friends in your training
Telling your friends and family about your goals can be a good way to increase your sense of responsibility and commitment to your training. It’s always easier to come up with “good excuses” for not exercising when you are the only person around to keep yourself committed.
Be open about your training goal to others and tell your friends and family about them. An even better option is to exercise with a group of other people as this will give you a stronger sense of commitment and a source of support if your motivation begins to slip.
3. Turn your exercise into a habit
One trick that can have a very helpful effect in the long term is turning your workouts into a daily routine. For example, try exercising just before going to bed at night or right after getting out of bed in the morning.
Personally, I have had positive experiences with exercising for 20 minutes about an hour before I go to bed. To help yourself make a habit of your workouts, try setting reminders on your phone so you won’t forget. After a while, the exercise sessions will feel like second nature.
4. Combine your workouts with your hobbies and guilty pleasures
Do you have a favorite TV or Netflix show you watch every night? Is there a special snack you crave regularly? Or are you crazy about playing Candycrush on facebook? Then use your hobbies as a reward for training!
Whatever you like to do, combining your hobbies and guilty pleasures with your workouts can have positive effects. For example, you can decide for yourself that you are only allowed to see an episode of your favorite TV show after completing your workout.
5. Praise yourself!
When you reach your goals, don’t forget to praise yourself and don’t be afraid to be explicit about it! Say “I’m proud of myself”, and say it out loud! This may seem like a corny thing to do, but actively declaring that you have completed your training successfully will help make you feel even more satisfied and fired up to continue your workouts. Remember to be proud when you complete a lot of workouts and when you successfully reach your goals!
This concludes our article on how to stay motivated during your training process. I hope you find these tips useful and that they will come in handy when you feel your motivation slip away.
