How to Stay on Track When You Don't Have Motivation
Is your motivation and willpower low? Use these 6 motivators to help give you the boost you need to keep pushing through on your fitness!
Using the One Fitness app is one way to stay on track and be consistent with your regular exercise routine, but regardless of having weekly goal-focused workouts planned for you by Iulia, there are certain times in life when it can be hard to stay motivated to work out!
Having strong feelings of stress, anxiety, sadness, can easily deter you from your healthy lifestyle. During times like these, it can be hard to have the same discipline and motivation to work out and eat healthily or follow a regular workout routine as we did before.
So, what do you do during these periods of low motivation and willpower?
Have a few motivators that you lean on when times get tough! Although you shouldn't rely on motivation, when times are tough it's good to have a few motivators that get your willpower, discipline, and fitness back on track. That said, here are six motivators that you can use to help you stay motivated to work out and continue hitting strides on your fitness journey!
Reflect on your goals and progress
One of the best ways to motivate yourself is to reflect on your actual progress! When you're feeling low, revisit the fitness goals you first set when starting your journey. Chances are you've already accomplished some of those goals, and if you don't remember them because you didn't write them down then reflect on your progress and celebrate every little win you've accomplished. Like losing five pounds, being able to lift heavier than before, or even starting a new workout routine... whatever progress or improvements you've made, acknowledge them, and pat yourself on the back!
Doing this will help you see how far you've come, and give you a boost in motivation thus giving you the confidence to keep pushing through! For those who have never written down their goals or tracked their progress, then it's time to start doing it! That way when you've hit that slump again you can look back at everything you've accomplished.
Pump yourself up
Pumping yourself up could be playing your favorite music playlist, or giving yourself some self-love through a pep talk! This might not seem like it would be a huge motivator, but honestly, it works! If you feel like driving right past the gym or are thinking up excuses at home as to why to skip, hype yourself up! Put on your favorite playlist, but make sure it has songs that make you happy and get you ready to crush anything that life throws at you. Self-talk is also a good motivational tool you should definitely give a try sometime! On your drive to the gym or while you're at home start talking to yourself to pump yourself up, say things like "You got this.", "Let's crush this workout.", or even list out the reasons you're working out!
These might sound silly, but they might just help give you that extra push of motivation you need to crush your workout!
Have inexpensive, but effective home workout equipment
Invest in a few home gym basics, like a yoga mat, a pair of dumbbells, or a set of resistance bands! Being semi-equipped at home will help reduce the number of excuses you have for skipping your sweat session. Sometimes actually getting to the gym or a workout class is the hardest part, and if you really don't feel like driving or dealing with a crowd, then workout at home!
Simply adding a set of resistance bands and a pair of dumbbells to your home gym can make all the difference! Not only will they help you maintain your strength at home, but you'll want to get your money's worth so they'll help motivate you to actually work out at home on the days you can't make it to the gym.
Reach out to your workout buddies
Having friends who work out is great! You can reach out to them for advice, organize to meet at the gym, share healthy recipes, etc. So if you already have workout buddies, reach out to them and be honest with them about your struggles. They will most likely give you some good advice, hype you up, and support you. If you don't feel comfortable with telling them about your struggle then just reach out to them and suggest doing a new workout together, go on a hike, play a sport, or cook a healthy meal together. That way it feels more of a social outing than a healthy one.
Add a competition element
A little bit of good, healthy competition never hurt anybody! Plus, one particular study shows that it can help push you a little bit harder! This study looked at a huge group of runners and found that the more miles the runners saw their friends logging, the more they were likely to run more miles. [1]
So, grab your workout buddy and incorporate a bit of healthy competition in your strength training or high-intensity cardio workouts. You can do this by trying to achieve a one-rep max on an agreed weight, this will help you motivate each other to be consistent and make progress on your lifts. You can also apply this to your running, or cycling buddies, try to achieve a target mile range!
Don't have any workout buddies up for some competition? No problem! Another great way to add a competition element to ramp up your motivation to work out is by taking part in a fitness challenge! Iulia has three Challenges that are available on the One Fitness app now. Iulia implements the appropriate training splits, and rest days, and gives you recommended reps and sets for every given exercise to ensure that you're training every muscle group to its best abilities for maximal results. Aside from that, the app features will allow you to...
- Track your progress for every given exercise.
- Choose alternative exercises that fit your fitness level.
- Stay on top of your diet by giving you a space to calculate and track your macros.
This will give you exactly the motivation you need to stay on top of your workouts!
At the end of the day, our emotions can get the best of us, they can appear at any time and rob us of our motivation and willpower. That's why we shouldn't just rely on those two things throughout our journey, but use certain motivators (like the ones above) to help pump you up for your workout. These motivators/strategies will help you to stay on track even when you don't feel like it, just remember, doing something is better than nothing.
And if you need a workout buddy or something that will help you stay consistent with your workouts try the One Fitness app! Aside from Challenges, you can follow Iulia's weekly goal-focused workouts and use Kitchen to track your macros and stay on top of your diet. Plus, you can explore the app for free.
Activate a 7-day free trial upon subscribing, this will give you a week to explore the app and see if One Fitness is the right fit for you – if it's not, simply cancel before the trial ends to avoid the subscription charge.