It’s the age old problem. You want to get stronger and fitter, but you lack the motivation or find it hard to stick with it. Well, here are a few things that help me stay motivated and stick to the habit.
Working out with friends
Having people to do your workouts with can be a huge motivation. As you may have seen from my social media, I have quite a few friends who are willing to workout with me and I consider myself very lucky to have them.
Whether it’s a full hour with a variety of workouts, a 5k run outside, a walk around the neighborhood, or a chill and stretchy yoga session, there are plenty of options to fit your friends’ needs.
Not only can friends keep you company, they can help hold you accountable. I know it can seem like they’re guilt tripping you into working out with them, but you could be the person doing the same for them (holding them accountable).
It can also be a way to beat gym-intimidation because you have a buddy with you who can spot you when lifting, check your form to make sure you’re doing the moves right, and motivate you to try harder.
Here’s a personal example. While I became comfortable with functional strength training for a couple of years with dumbbells, I’d never thought about traditional strength training at a squat rack with a barbell. My friend Zach offered to take me to the gym with him and coach me on how to do it. It’s something I’m still grateful for to this day.
A few months later I was invited to do deadlifts with the boys (see the black and white pic) and while I hadn’t done it before, my friends made sure I had good form and added weight that would challenge me slowly over time.
Plan your workouts ahead of time
Planning your workouts ahead of time can take the burden out of doing it when you wake up or after you get done with work. Whether it’s just dedicating an hour to do some kind of cardio, a bit of lifting, and some stretching, or you want to be more specific with the times and your workouts, it can definitely help you stick to a habit.
There are also services out there that will plan your workouts for you, if you tell it what you’re hoping to achieve. Apple Fitness + has the custom plans feature that will either give you a pre-prepared plan based on wanting to stay consistent with workouts you like already, or push yourself further by suggesting more or tougher workouts.
If neither of those peak your interest, you can do a completely custom plan where you choose the workout types you’re interested in, the days of the week you want to do them on, the total time you want to workout on each day, and the length of the program (a minimum 2 weeks and a maximum of 8 weeks). You can also select the trainers and music types you prefer to keep you motivated.
There are also programs you can do on Apple Fitness + like:
- Make Your Fitness Comeback
- Build a Yoga Habit in 4 weeks
- Back-to-Back Strength and HIIT
- Strength Basics in 3 Weeks
- 3 Perfect Weeks of Strength
- Yoga Peak Poses
- Yoga for Every Runner
- Strength, Endurance, and Agility for Pickleball
- Get Ready for Snow Season
- Strength, Core, and Yoga for Golfers
- Staying Active During Pregnancy
- Workouts for Older Adults
Mix up your routine and workout types
There’s a reason why variety is the spice of life. I know from experience that doing the same thing over and over can get really boring, fast. So to fight this, I try to do a little bit of everything each day. I go for some kind of cardio, strength, and yoga/stretching daily.
To keep things interesting, I resist the urge to run every day and swap it out with other cardio types like cycling, HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), dancing, and walking. I also change up the amount of time I spend doing each workout type.
Only do what you feel like doing
We all have those days where we don’t want to get out of bed or just aren’t feeling in the mood to workout. When this hits me, I tell myself I will do at least 10 minutes of something (cardio, strength training, or yoga). Nine times out of ten, this is enough to put me in the mood to do more workouts.
Also, be honest with yourself and fair. If you’ve had a tough week or you’re feeling tired, chances are you need the rest. Something that may seem rare is I have found it hard to allow myself to relax and have days off from working out when I’m feeling tired. It’s something I have had to learn and I still remind myself to this day that I won’t lose all my gains and progress because I took the weekend off or I went on vacation and took it easy.
Share your progress
This part is highly voluntary, but I do feel that sharing your progress can be very useful. It allows you to not only keep a record of how far you have come but I’m sure your friends and family will notice the difference too. I know mine have and it definitely makes me feel a lot better about myself and the work I have put in.
It can also inspire other people. I can honestly say my day to day sharing on a whim has inspired more people than I thought it would. This isn’t to say you should workout for the attention. If you’re doing it for that I feel it’s for the wrong reason, but I don’t think I need to tell you that.
Disclaimer: While I am an avid Apple Fitness + user, I am not endorsed or paid by them to mention their product. I am also not paid to promote any of the products mentioned in this blog post. I’m simply using my experience to help others learn and grow.
JordyJournoFit 