Ways to Find Fitness Motivation

If you are struggling to find the motivation to stick to a workout routine, be assured, you’re not alone. No matter who you are – a student, a service holder or a young mother, the truth is motivation is easily lost when life gets tough or you don’t work at it on a regular basis.
Here are some ways to find the fitness motivation you need to get you back on track.

1. Link Exercise to Pleasure

When you hear the word exercise, your mind is most likely going to label it as a painful experience. More so, if you engage in it irregularly.
As you put your body through the stress of exercise, therefore, you’ll be quick to label it as a painful experience, more so if you don’t make it a habit or set any underlying purpose behind your exercise regime.
Luckily, however, your mind can choose what you derive pleasure from and it all boils down to tying your goal to a purpose and positive emotion.
All you have to do is set yourself and maintain a strong underlying positive purpose behind your exercise routine and your mind will start to register the positive feelings of your vision every time you workout.
Just like any habit, the more you feel the positive feelings of the goal you want to achieve, the more results you will see. Every time you exercise, your mind will mask out the pain as it brings your fitness goal to the forefront, making exercise a more pleasurable experience.
So clearly set, define and feel your ultimate fitness purpose and your mind itself will motivate you as you program it to reach your goal.

2. Find What You Like

You may have the idea that exercise is all about running on a treadmill for 30 minutes to an hour, three times a week, until you’re covered and dripping in sweat.
Let’s face it, the treadmill isn’t exactly the most ecstatic of exercises. It’s important that you like what you’re doing if you want to find the fitness motivation to really get going.
Your problem may be that you’re simply not aware of the different ways your body can exercise. Exercise should be fun to begin with. If it isn’t, then you are limiting yourself to the wrong activity.
There are literally hundreds of different sports and exercises to choose from. Try exploring different fitness avenues until you find a few activities you best love doing.

3. Seek an Accountability Partner

It’s easy to miss or skip a workout when the only person you report to is yourself. Chances are you’re not so likely to get up at 6am on a cold rainy day to train if you’re nicely snuggled in bed and prone to laziness.
When you are committed to showing up and have someone waiting for you, you won’t want the embarrassment of having to say sorry for having slept in.

4. Find a Role Model

Fitness can be tough to maintain over a longer stretch of time, though many people successfully manage to do so.
Whether you’re a beginner who’s intimidated to get started or a regular who’s struggling to keep consistent, looking up to a role model can be your key to fitness motivation.
In life, If there’s a goal you really want to achieve, then chances are, it means somebody has successfully accomplished that goal before you. Not exclusively, but most of the time.
Modelling someone in the fitness space, therefore, ticking all the goal boxes you wish to achieve can drive you to keep showing up day in/day out. By adopting their successful daily habits and routines and applying them directly into your daily schedule, you may find the success formula to keep you motivated and see the results you want to see.
Modelling the right person and strategy and seeing consistent results on a regular basis, will almost certainly boost your morale and keep you committed to working out.

5. Brush up Your Diet

When you don’t feel great in your own body, your self-esteem and energy levels usually take a dip to suboptimal levels. The result will be lower to a complete loss of fitness motivation. Adding plenty of clean healthy foods to your diet, therefore, will help signal to the mitochondria in each one of your cells to produce more energy.
The result will be a healthier, more vibrant you. As you feel greater and lighter in your body and mind, you will find fitness motivation much easier to come by.

6. Mix it Up

If you find yourself bored, therefore, or unmotivated, it’s most likely due to the lack of change in your exercise schedule. So try to mix up your weekly exercise habits. Once you’ve found those activities you love doing, start incorporating a few of those into your week.
For example, if you’re used to simply jogging everyday for 30 minutes, try to cut it down to 3 times a week and on the other days fit in activities such as weight training, swimming, to name a few.
If after a few months that too gets stale, mix the routine up again. Either change the order and frequency of your exercise schedule or change the schedule and exercises altogether. Choose whatever triggers your mind to experience change and something new in your routine.
So there you have it, these 6 tools will boost your confidence and fitness motivation to generate consistent results.
Based on the article by Mathieu Ganado