Fitness: How To Stay Motivated

Over the past couple of weeks I had been finding it increasingly more difficult to fit in my workouts and I also felt pretty unmotivated due to a few different things that have been going on. I just felt like I needed to reboot everything, make a new fresh plan going forward and get back into the right mindset. I think we all hit bumps in the road and the most important thing is to regroup and keep moving in the right direction. So today I thought I’d go through all the things that help to keep me motivated and hopefully it will help you guys to do the same.

Get it over with - Exercise and keeping active really is something you have to work on every single day. It’s easy to start a new regime, but it’s not as easy to maintain it. So before any commitments, exercise either in the early morning before work or immediately after work. Even though I work from home, I still have a set schedule every day. Every morning, I take the dogs for a long walk with Conor strapped to me. He weighs about 23lbs now and I always walk at least 3 miles. Then when I get home I do a session on the rowing machine which can be anything from 3,000 to 5,000m. I go on another walk after dinner at about 6pm and then any strength training or weights are done when I get home from that. I find that if I have specific times to do each type of exercise then I’m much more likely to stick to it.

Pump It Up - I’ve always found that I have a better workout when I have the right music on my iPod. Music is an amazing motivator and it can get you through the burn of a hard cardio session, as well as lifting your mood. So make a playlist of all your favourite feel good tunes and get moving!

Make A Goal - Write down your goal and put it up in your bedroom, on your fridge, on your desk at work or make a poster of it. Look at this EVERYDAY. Remind yourself why it’s important to stay motivated at all times even on those days when you really can’t be bothered and the couch seems like a much more tempting option. I love using my Daily Greatness Fitness Journal to track my progress, set new goals and look back at what I’ve achieved.

Make It Fun – If you choose to keep fit doing something you enjoy then you’re much more likely to stick with it. So whether that’s meeting with other mums in the park for fitness classes, dance classes, getting on your bike or doing something more intense like crossfit – time will pass quicker if you’re having fun.

Push On Through - Even when you do not feel like exercising, DO IT! You have to be stronger than your strongest excuse. By training hard, your fitness levels and confidence in yourself will grow. You will sharpen your mental toughness by pushing your fitness levels each week. Don’t try to push through serious illness, but when you start to push through the “don’t feel like it” line, you build mental toughness that day. Think about how you’ll feel tomorrow if you don’t do it.

Push Yourself – By pushing your body you will get that sense of achievement and in turn this will be one of your biggest motivators. Pushing through physical and mental barriers makes you feel powerful and in control. So when you feel like you can’t do anymore, push through the pain and discomfort and achieve something new. You’ll feel amazing afterwards. For example, I was exhausted yesterday after doing 4,000m on the rowing machine but I decided to do 1,000m more just to challenge myself. I must admit I felt physically sick after doing it but that’s a sure sign you’ve really pushed yourself.

Change it up - Don’t keep doing the same old workout week after week. You will quickly get bored with it and your body will stop responding to it as before. Our bodies have a way of adapting to physical challenges so make sure you change up your cardio and weights routines every couple of weeks to keep it guessing. Change it up by adding weights, calisthenics, new exercises, new cardio options etc.

Never give up - It doesn’t matter how many times you fall off the wagon and have a dip in your exercise regime. Just make sure you pick yourself back up, reevaluate and start again. You know what they say; “If you’re tired of starting over, then stop giving up”. Everyone has bad days, or even bad weeks but try to keep your goals in the forefront of your mind and remember why they are so important to you.