With the weather getting colder and the days even shorter, it can be harder to make yourself get out of bed earlier in the morning to work out before work, or go to the gym on your way home.
With the mind and body so importantly intertwined, if you’re struggling with motivation, then you simply won’t achieve your best results, or worse; you won’t work out at all.
If you’re finding it hard to meet your three times a week target, or wrestling with the decision to take the first step towards a new, healthier you, you might need to practice working on your motivation before you work on your body.
Stop yourself from sleeping for another hour instead of exercising, by trying out these simple tips.
Set Realistic Goals
Keeping yourself motivated is all about setting small, manageable goals that you can reach, achieve, celebrate and then focus on the next. Breaking your long term fitness plan into small bite-sized chunks is a far better way of keeping yourself motivated to continue.
Make sure that they’re specific though, as setting vague targets like “I want to be healthier” or “I want to lose weight” is simply not quantifiable enough to keep yourself going.
Try “next month I want to be able to do 15 bench presses instead of 10”, or “this week I want to drink at least 2 litres of water each day” – something that will challenge yourself without being too daunting.
Give Yourself a Reward
You might not think it, but giving yourself a pat on the back, a reward, or something to look forward to after you’ve accomplished a goal is a great motivator. If you make this a regular practice then your brain will actually begin to convert this behaviour into “normal”.
Like when you get up to go to work each day, your brain will create a neurological “habit loop,” which could involve you getting into your trainers as soon as you get out of bed. And once your brain links this behaviour with a reward, it’s far more likely to consider it worthwhile and convert it into a habit. The motivation will become intrinsic over time.
Make a commitment
Often actually physically making a commitment by signing a contract or making a pact with friends can be a great way to motivate yourself, as you don’t want to let yourself or other people down.
The DVCC offers great group programmes and in our modified lactic training classes, all members are there to support each other. We can make promises to ourselves all day long, but we’re much more likely to keep them when we make them in front of friends.
No matter what works best for your when it comes to training your motivation, a sure fire way of knowing you’ve succeeded is when you can’t imagine a day where you skip your workout.
Whether it’s because you’ve become addicted to exercise, or seeing results and meeting targets, the important thing is that you’re regularly working on a better version of yourself – congratulations!
