One of the most common questions I see on the fitness side of Instagram seems to be some form of “help! how do I stay motivated?” or “I can’t seem to stay motivated, how do you do it?”
There is no cookie-cutter answer. We all face days or months of zero motivation. But we get up and do it anyway. Personally, for me, the gym is my happy place. But there are days I don’t want to go- actually yesterday was one of them. I went Monday-Friday and Saturday rolled around and I said “no.” I felt kind of guilty, because I wasn’t doing it as a rest day. I said no because I had zero motivation to go.
Motivation comes and goes. You won’t have it 24/7/365. If you actually have no desire to workout, that is fine- this isn’t about that. This is for those who want to, but find it hard to keep going when their motivation drops.
So, how do you continue with your gym routine when you lack motivation? The top answer is simple: self-discipline. You most likely go to work or school every day, and you don’t want to do that either. But you do. Just do it. Make time for it.
If you go to the gym, bring a bag with gym clothes and toss it in the car so you can hit the gym while you are out. If you work out at home, do not allow yourself to watch TV or read a book- or whatever you do at home- until after you’ve put in a workout. Heck, watch Netflix and exercise! Before I started going to the gym, I would do Alexa Jean Fitness workouts before watching TV/Netflix. On my lazy days, I would play the movie and exercise during.
If you really want to keep going forward even when you have no motivation, remind yourself of your goals.
Anyway, here’s a list.
- Self discipline
- Bring your gym bag with you
- Exercise before TV (or during) or whatever you normally do
- Buy a new workout item/outfit
- Make a schedule of your weekly routine and find downtime- fill it with your workout
- Find a new workout routine (there are tons of free ones if you don’t want to spend money)
- Write down your goals- remember them
- Write down how you feel after a workout and read those for motivation
- Reward yourself after hitting a weekly or bi-weekly or monthly (whatever) workout goal (i.e.- I want to work out 3x a week for 4 weeks). The reward can be anything.
- Find a quote that inspires and motivates you. Post it where you see it every day.
Good luck, my friends. You got this. And you are not alone.
Talks with PJ 