When you start your fitness journey, your resolve to exercise is set and you get through workouts with sheer determination. As the months go by, however, you might find that drive slowly decline. There suddenly seem to be a million reasons not to move for the day. Don’t give in, however! Sustain your fitness with these 6 motivation tips to keep exercising.
This is the 6th part of my Exercise for Beginners series! If you haven’t read the first few parts, check the rest out especially if you’re an exercise newbie like me!
1. Remember how good it feels post-workout
Finally the hard work is done and all that’s left is a cooldown and stretch. That feeling right there is one of the best feelings in the world.
Those sore muscles might hurt but they remind you that you just survived that brutal HIIT routine. You might be sweating like hell, but the fact that you got through another day of pushing yourself and making your health a priority sure feels good. Plus, the fact that you were able to overcome that laziness and load of excuses is no small feat.
Recalling all these positive feelings is one of the simple, yet effective motivation tips to keep exercising.
To boost that relaxing feeling, play some relaxing music while cooling down and meditate for a few minutes afterwards. It’ll become a reward or treat that you can look forward to after working out!
Motivation tips to keep exercising 2: Add variety
If you keep doing the same thing again and again, you’re bound to get bored. It’s not doing any good for your body either. Working the same muscles straight day after day increases the risk of getting an injury.
Tailor the variety of your workouts according to what you want to achieve. If you want to build muscle, make sure you do different workouts that target all body parts evenly (don’t skip leg day!). If you simply want overall fitness, then add some strength, yoga, and cardio in your weekly routine.
Mixing it up can also be as simple as rotating different fitness channels on Youtube or changing your route (if you run). The key is to find ways to spice it up so there’s often something new in your exercises. And if you want to make it easier to add variety regularly, create an exercise routine!
3. Remind yourself why
Another motivation tip to keep exercising is to remind yourself why you started. Is it because you want to take care of your health and well-being? Is it because you want to prove something? Whatever your reason is, remind yourself about it whenever you feel like quitting your exercise journey.
If you feel like giving up mid-exercise, do the same. Recall all your “whys” to spur you to keep going. Make it your mindset to think that if you overcome this, you will be able to overcome anything!
Exercise isn’t just a physical activity, but a mental one as well. Try reading inspirational quotes or post them on your wall to keep you motivated.
If you don’t already know, exercise can slow aging! Add that to your list of whys!
4. Track your journey
This is another step that you wouldn’t want to overlook. Track your journey so you can see your progress. You can use an app like this one from Nike that has various types of training routines and can monitor your workout frequency and streaks. There are also all sorts of wearable devices that can give you a rundown of your health from the number of steps you take to your resting calories.
Other alternatives would be to simply take photos, make notes of your exercise activity, or keep a journal recording all your personal bests, what workouts you liked, etc. No matter what method you choose, the important thing is that you record how you’ve improved over time, which can really boost your morale! Review these whenever you feel like what you’re doing is pointless.
Motivation tips to keep exercising 5: Set goals
One of the most important motivation tips to keep exercising is to set goals. Having concrete targets allows you to keep your eyes on the prize. It fuels you to keep going so you can achieve them. Moreover, goal setting allows you to challenge yourself so you’re always improving.
As mentioned in this article in the Encyclopedia of Sports Medicine and Science, “The purpose of physical training is to stress systematically the body so it improves its capacity to exercise. Physical training is beneficial only as long as it forces the body to adapt to the stress of physical effort. If the stress is not sufficient to overload the body, then no adaptation occurs.”
Set both long-term and short and specific goals that challenge you. Your long-term goals can be to reach your ideal weight or to become an expert in a certain exercise. Specific goals can be to maintain a pose for a longer amount of time, being able to lift heavier weights, or completing a certain workout without feeling like you’re dying.
Related: The 5 Basic Fitness Goals Everyone Should Have
6. Reward yourself
This is one of my favorite motivation tips to keep exercising! Committing to a lifelong fitness journey is not an easy decision. Even though all logic and practicality tells us that it is something we must all do (check graphic in tip 3), not everyone pushes through. As such, it’s important to reward yourself for the challenges you overcome. Celebrate all wins—big or small.
Of course, you don’t want to reward yourself everyday by undoing all the benefits you gained, but treating yourself to some chips or 2 cookies (not the whole pack, please) every now and then will keep your spirits up. You can also take a nap or read a book as an incentive for working out.
Follow these motivation tips to keep exercising!
Fitness isn’t a short-term thing. It’s a lifelong commitment to stay healthy. On some days it will be easy, on others it will be hard to keep that promise to yourself. Hopefully with these simple motivation tips, you will keep exercising even on those tough days! If you find yourself making excuses, learn how to overcome each one of them here.
Let’s keep going! Stay healthy and fit!
