Posted on October 15, 2015 by Jenny Cromack
For many of us staying motivated to exercise or moving past our plateaus is very hard. This is one of the main reasons there is often a waved pattern of gym attendance whereby people will commit themselves for weeks at a time then their attendance will die off. There are several ways we can help ourselves to stay motivated. This article offers my 5 top tips for staying motivated to exercise.
1.Train Around Other People
Training can be a lonely environment and some people like to be in their own little world with headphones plugged in wired for sound. This tip doesn’t necessarily mean find a training partner, I personally aren’t overly keen on training with someone. If training with someone would help you then this is a perfect opportunity to have the external drive to train if you know someone is relying on you to train with. If training partners aren’t for you what I do advise is that you do your training around other people, you can still plug yourself into your music but simply having people around us makes us feel part of something and this sense of social identity is another beneficial factor for developing motivation. As well as this we are less likely to give in on our training if we know people could be watching us.
2.Take Time Out
It is very common for things to become stale and for us to become bored with our sessions. It is often advised that training programs last 4 to 6 weeks before shaking things up and changing it. This offers us a change in stimulation and keeps us more engaged in our training. This alone doesn’t always stop people hitting a lull. To overcome this I often put in a week into my training (often at a point I usually find I become demotivated) where I have “time out” either lightening my training volume or doing completely different activities for a week. This keeps my mind fresh and keeps me stimulated, I often resume my program feeling stronger and more engaged to continue.
3.Choose Exercises You Like
There is always something that we don’t like doing, for me it is lunges. If we put a program of everything we hate doing we are definitely not going to want to get up and do it. When designing your program seek advice on alternatives for anything you really despise (there is always something else you can do). It is sometimes hard to find alternatives that work us as hard as we need to. In this case when designing your session make sure you fill the majority of these sessions with exercises you really do like to take the edge off the exercise from hell. If you work with a trainer then play an active part in the design of your sessions, offer preferences and ideas. This way you get that sense of control again but also your sessions will be more internally pleasing for you. The exercises we like are of often chosen because we are good at them. This sense of competence we have from our chosen exercises is also a key component of intrinsic motivation.
2.Block Out Your Time
One of the biggest excuses for a lack of training is not having time or being too busy. If we leave it to off the cuff planning we are more likely to let the excuses overcome our will to train. One of the ways I overcome the lack of time in a busy lifestyle is to map out my day in advance. This is very effective if you create yourself a physical copy or spreadsheet and block out your hours with everything you have to do (including training). If it is written in stone that we are training at 1pm and we can see that your other jobs are getting done elsewhere in the day this allows us to relax into our training worry free. This gives us a sense of self-control which is key for developing intrinsic motivation.
1.Set and Monitor Specific Goals
We all have an idea of what it is we want to achieve from training but we often don’t set these goals out and really pinpoint exactly what we want. Be as specific as you can with your goals right down to the fine details. Once you have done this break these goals down into manageable chunks, or short term goals. Then map these out into a timed journey so you can see your path to success and goal achievement. Throughout you should keep measuring and monitoring your progress and you can physically tick off each point on your goal map. Seeing these boxes getting ticked increases our sense of competence, it will spur us on to keep pushing forward and engaging in our training.
These are just 5 tips that I personally use to keep me motivated to train and keep my focus on my goals. They are not “gold standard” techniques but ways I have personally developed and have experienced success with. Why not try one or all of them and see if you can give yourself the boost you may need to keep active and exercising?