Without a doubt, from the greatest things you can do for yourself is looking after yourself; be it spiritually, mentally, nutritionally or physically. The fitness bug has caught hold of many people due to Covid-19 (pun not intended), people wanting to reduce their chances of falling ill, supercharge their gut health, reduce weight and reduce the mental strain of being at home more. So you bought new fitness clothes from JD Sports and Gym Shark. You got a box of supplements from The Protein Works and Holland & Barrett. You invested in the Foam Roller, Yoga Mat and Pull-Up bar, so what’s wrong?

Buying all you think you’ll need is good because it shows you have a desire for change but buying things won’t make the task of motivating yourself as easy as you’d think!

Motivation – Oxford definition:

a reason or reasons for acting or behaving in a particular way.

“escape can be a strong motivation for travel”

The work you need to do to gain muscle mass for example will require consistent and planned weight training. That is physical activity that conditions your body into the desired bodily adaptation. Thinking about growing won’t bring forth the goal, work will. 

Your need to attain the goal needs to exceed your desire for the ease of non-action. You need to want it! Not everyone has the money to buy a £150+ fitness membership but if you can afford that and still lack motivation you’re likely not alone. Gyms are happy to take your money and see you working out once a month because it helps keep the gym equipment in tip-top condition for the regulars to break.

In reality, I should have called this post ‘Making Motivation for Fitness Easier’ because it won’t be easy, for most of us anyway. Like learning Arabic and many other things, the beginning is hard but as you progress and count up those exercise sessions you’ll start to notice ease, growth and in the case of fitness, bodily changes that will surprise, shock and please you.

Motivation could be easier for you when implementing the following steps:

SMART goals

Write down and check-in with your goal to see how close you are to achieving it. A specific, measured, attainable, realistic and time-bound goal would be something like “I will get to a weight of 85kg by December 2020 from my current weight of 90kg, Starting Oct 2020.”

Treat yourself

When you hit milestones reward yourself for the achievement. This could be taking your wife out for a meal in that fresh shirt you wanted to fit into. Buying clothes that you have to work (exercise and eat well) to fit into is a great motivation.

Employ a Personal Trainer

Working out with a personal trainer is a fast way to gym gains as long as you stay consistent and trust in the skills of your trainer. It may cost you that bit more money but you’ll learn a lot and with time, you’ll be at your goal. A good PT will have you as their focal point throughout your training, motivating and coaching. You’re paying for the sessions so make sure they are with you, helping you, not chilling and have tea and biscuits while you train.

Set your surrounds

Bring in the equipment yes! If you like working out at home or you have your eyes on a pair of running trainers then invest. “Things” are useful but not everything. If you’d like to experiment until you find the kind of training or sport that’s suited to you then do it, no issue. If moving things around your home will help you get into the training zone and way of thinking then do it. We (my wife and I) have a workout area in our living room where we get the sweating done. The area can’t be avoided so exercise stays on our minds. Setting the surroundings could also be putting your trainers by the door at night so once the next day comes in you can get a 30-minute run in without thinking too much about where this or that is.

Know it ain’t easy

As I previously said, physical activity isn’t always easy but with time you’ll enjoy the ride. You should try keeping a fitness diary or log on your phone so you can look back to those days that really stand out as motivation for the hard times will come.

Training with a friend or family member

Like training with a PT, the aid of family and friends can keep your mind on the prize. When hard times come you’ll benefit from that like minded persons’ motivation and jump-start. 

Know what’s on the menu

Having a gym plan and healthy food plan are very helpful in that the guesswork of knowing what to do in the gym or what to eat after your session are non-issues. You can get the work done and worry about other things which is great. 

Wearing Fitness Technology

Fitness technology can be inexpensive and a great motivation as you track your progress in real-time. If 10,000 steps isn’t motivation to keep walking then set higher goals.

These are just some of the ways you can employ to stay motivated in reaching your fitness goals, there are many more you may be motivated by. At the end of the day the work needs to come from you. Take every day as an individual test to complete and don’t get overwhelmed by the tast. You can hit your goals and if you don’t get to the goal in the time you planned then take it as a lesson to learn from and not to be dissuaded by.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this post, I’m Hanif of Criterion Fitness and Nutrition. If you’d like my help to get and stay motivated, you have weight-loss goals or an Athlete with nutritional questions, give me a shout [Here].

Further Reading:

https://www.verywellfit.com/why-arent-you-motivated-to-exercise-1231389

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/545150/11-ways-motivate-yourself-go-gym