5 ways to stay motivated with your workouts
When you set a goal early in the year to shed a few pounds, you do it knowing it will be hard. After all it has been statistically proven that keeping up with those routines and goals is not something that happens with ease. Gym memberships sky rocket in the new year but dwindle as the year goes by is a good case in point. Keeping up with your “New Year, New Me” resolution might get tough come mid-February when the Valentine’s Day box of chocolates come out to tempt your desires. Unless you are training for a bodybuilding competition, finding motivation when everything points to skipping the gym is hard. We get it. Motivation does not come easy. So, if you are the type of person that finds it hard to stay motivated during grueling workouts, these 5 tips may help you push through and keep going:
- Find a Workout Partner
The best thing about a workout partner is accountability. You can keep both of each other on track and on schedule. On a day when you aren’t feeling it, your workout partner is there to keep you going and vice versa. Having a workout partner can also turn into somewhat of a competition by tracking each other’s progress and determining a winner after each week. Workout partners can be great but its best you pick one that you know won’t be swayed by your pitch to go get pizza.
- Join a Fitness Class
Fitness classes are a great way to stick to something. Having a regular class on your schedule means you don’t necessarily have to be a self-starter to kick yourself into gear when you are feeling sluggish. The fitness instructor controls the pace and motivates along the way. Along with the fitness instructor keeping the pace up, you also have a full class filled with other participants that can help with accountability and competition.
- Set Small Goals
Nothing is worse than setting a goal of losing 30 pounds and stopping at 15. Set small and more obtainable goals to meet along the way to your much larger goal. After each goal is met give yourself a little reward and reminder of the main goal you are trying to reach. Smaller goals take less time to reach and give that extra push when we feel like things aren’t progressing.
- Hire a Personal Trainer
Personal trainers combine the best of both worlds when it comes to having a workout partner and joining a fitness class. Usually personal trainers aren’t your best friend so they won’t be swayed by your grumblings to skip a session. After all they want to get paid! And instead of being 1 of 10 in a fitness class, you are 1 of 1 and have a personal lesson tailored for you. The downside is that personal trainers can get costly but they are your best bet when needing to find that personal motivation.
- Switch Up Your Routine
Nothing kills progress like doing the same thing over and over again. Things get bored and we move on. Your workout got stale and so you quit. Instead of becoming complacent, switch up your workout to keep things fresh and exciting. Join a class, workout with a friend etc…. do anything to get your mind from entering the doldrums where you will end up quitting. When you have a new workout to look forward to, you are more likely to stick to it.