As a fitness trainer, I get to meet a lot of people who are out of shape and when I try to encourage them to start off on the fit path, many of them respond: ‘I used to keep fit, but I lost my motivation’; and to such people I usually respond ‘find your motivation and keep it safe.’
Motivation is as important in fitness as it is in every other facet of life, once you lose your motivation, it is almost impossible to continue on the fit path. Therefore, it is important that you renew your motivation regularly to keep it from burning out.
Presented below are six ways to renew and keep your motivation for fitness;
1.Create/Revisit your Motive: Motive is the reason why we do the things we do, every action we take is backed by a motive. If you are new to the fit life, a simple way to know your motive is by answering these questions: Why am I staying fit? What do I intend to achieve by doing this? Why do I have a Gym membership? The stronger your motive, the greater motivation you will get from it.
2.Take it one step at a time: The reason a lot of people give up on their fitness journey is because they rush into it. They want to fall into shape immediately, possess the perfect body over night or start lifting heavy on their first day in the gym and if they do not see these results as soon as they expect, their motivation drains. It doesn’t work that way, a better approach is to take it one step at a time; set an easy goal, follow through and squash it, then set another goal and repeat, as you continue in this manner, your motivation will grow and so will your endurance and strength. Also be easy on yourself- there will be days that you just can’t get yourself to workout try as you may, on such days don’t beat yourself up, accept this as human nature, promise yourself to make it up with extra work next time and then make sure to follow up on your promise. Remember fitness is a life long journey and your goal should be to set a pace that you can keep up with.
3.Join a workout group: A workout group is a great way to stay motivated because it encourages accountability and teamwork. It’s also fun and exciting to workout in groups. Be sure to join a group that has members with the same set of fitness goals as you do.
4.Use music to motivate yourself: Whether you are going for a run, lifting weights or doing cardio, music is a great way to add excitement to your workout. It gives rhythm to your exercises and takes your mind away from the hard work you are doing, the trick is to listen to your preferred genre of music- songs that inspire and motivate you and you can listen to over and over again, create a playlist exclusively for work out and always go to the gym with your earphone and music device. Don’t forget to update your playlist or create new ones regularly.
5.Reward yourself regularly: It is important that you create a reward system for yourself, every time you reach a fitness goal, reward yourself. Your reward doesn’t have to be expensive or demanding, it should only be something you appreciate. Every time you reward yourself it means you appreciate your efforts and that goes a long way in keeping you motivated.
6.Encourage someone to start keeping fit: This is another great way to stay motivated and accountable, because to preach fitness, you must practice fitness. As you encourage people to start up on the fit life you become motivated to stay the course.
Even if you are new to the fit life or you lost your motivation along the way, the six formulas outlined above will help you regain your fitness motivation and keep it burning.
The more you feed your motivation by applying any or all of the steps outlined in this post, the stronger your motivation will be. I encourage you to continue staying fit-whatever the cost. Remember that health is wealth.
Cheers to the fit life.
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