Those of you who might have see-sawed through New Year health and fitness resolutions in the past would know that if it has not happened before, it is around this time that your drive will begin to slow.
You probably were crushing your workouts and cardio sessions after setting lofty fitness goals at the start of the year, but now your motivation and willpower have taken a nose dive.
It would be really nice to be able to move from point A to point B without hitting any motivation speed bumps, but in reality, maintaining high motivation over the long term is hard.
It is important that you do not give in or give up when you hit a low motivation point in your fitness drive. There are several reasons why you might no longer feel motivated to work out and these include having overly high expectations and not seeing results as quickly as you might like. Lows also stem from a lack of innovation, being tired (lack of sleep) and sometimes just becoming bored with your chosen workout space/environment.
How do you get over it?
Set out an action plan
Developing strategies where we need them most helps keep us on track toward achieving what we set out to do. When you are mindful about your habits and behaviours, you can put effective strategies in place.
Being mindful means you are aware of your thoughts, feelings, and actions. Take the time to check in with yourself so that you can better understand your needs, how you operate, and what you should do next. As you develop more self-awareness, your reminders, routines, and rewards become much clearer.
Find solutions
Do you know what time of day you have the most mental energy, or the most physical energy to train? Can you split your workouts so you’re spending less time in the gym? Can you prepare your meals in a more efficient way? Work on your time management skills to maximize your time and minimize the effort.
Are you training to maintain your physique in a sustainable way for long-term fitness and health? Are you actively committed to achieving whatever goal you set? Training can vary based on how much mental energy, flexibility, and rigidity you need to address different goals.
Recovery
Is it possible that you could you be over-trained or under recovered? If so, it may be wise to take a de-load week, and reduce your volume, intensity, or both. You should also consider prioritizing sleep and restorative movement over highly intense workouts for a period of time until you feel like getting after it again.
Expectations
Are you frequently shaming yourself, telling yourself that you’re a failure or not good enough? It could be possible that your goals and expectations are very ambitious and not quite appropriate for your current ability level, time availability, or any number of other reasons.
You might benefit from evaluating your current reality and revising those goals. Sounds crazy, but setting some attainable goals creates habits of success.
Set the bar appropriately low and meet it 90% (or more) of the time. This ensures you’re on the right track, and positively reinforces what you do well. Magic is in the mundane, and doing the little things will have big impact over time,
Spice it up
Remember that it’s much easier to stay motivated when you’ve got some variety in your training regimen. After all variety is the spice of life. If you use the same exercise and lifting routine that you’ve used for years, it becomes mundane.
If you’re in a workout slump, take the extra step and hire a coach or research some new training techniques to give your routine a jump-start. It sounds so simple, but something as little as learning 3-4 new exercises or modifications can make you feel like you have a brand new training routine under your belt.
Friends and fun
Group fitness classes certainly keep you motivated. You will look forward to seeing the other participants and instructors. The energy of the group will more than likely keep you going in the moments that you want to quit. There will be a feeling of accountability and you never want to be the person who quits or leaves early.
By nature, humans need change and variety to stay motivated. We also need to have fun even while we’re working hard.
Whether it’s a toning and sculpting class that changes choreography every week or a run that changes scenery, design your exercise routine around a variety of methods. Make sure you include activities you truly enjoy and look forward to doing. Think movement that’s more like recreation and makes you forget you’re working out — like dancing, skipping, hula hooping or playing sports with family and friends.
Remember why you started and Stay Motivated my friends!
Email questions or comments to: emmersoncampbell@gmail.com
