Losing Motivation in your Fitness Journey?
Usually when starting a fitness journey, an individual is highly motivated to work towards their personal goal(s). Whether that is a weight loss goal, strength building goal, or general health goal. In the beginning, that person will come into the gym excited to see what they can do and how quickly they can reach that goal. But what happens when that person starts to lose that motivation? We can’t solely rely on motivation to keep ourselves consistent. In the following, I’m going to touch on some strategies you can use when that motivation is starting to fail.
First, I want to talk about the difference between motivation and discipline.
Motivation tends to be a more day to day feeling. One day you can feel like you want to conquer everything you’ve dreamed of but then the next day you might completely lose that spark. This is where discipline comes in. Building good habits and not allowing yourself to create excuses is the key to results and lasting success. Excuses are easy to come by. Consistency required discipline. Building off that consistency will turn into habit. It is up to you to fight through those low-motivation days and SHOW UP FOR YOURSELF! Unfortunately no one else can do it for you.
One strong way we teach clients that are having problems with motivation is to remember their “why?”. Don’t underestimate how strong your “why” power can be!
There was a reason that you wanted to start this journey in the first place. Whether it is that you want to be able to play and keep up with your children or loved ones, or reduce your risk of health concerns, thinking back to those reasons and looking back at how hard you have worked to get where you are can reignite that fire within you! It can be really easy to forget our “why” on days when life happens and a million interferences occur. Finding ways to keep it in the forefront of your awareness can be really helpful. Try keeping a journal, or writing it down on a post it on your dashboard, bathroom mirror, or fridge. It sound corny, we know, but it works!
Following up on the portion about looking back at how hard you have worked to get where you are, another way to break the funk is to keep track of your workouts. Whether you have tracked from the beginning or not, you can start now and have tangible evidence of the progress you show! It also give you a more realistic awareness of how frequently and how much work you are truly contributing towards your goal(s). And remember, motivation is a byproduct of action. So taking the step to not only complete, but also record your workout statistics, is just another tangible piece to the big picture!
Setting specific, measurable, and realistic goals is important as well. A person can lose interest quickly if they don’t see the results they are looking for in a timely manner. Instead of looking at the big picture and overall outcome, look to break that overall goal into small pieces. It will make your journey more enjoyable because you will be hitting smaller goals and taking steps towards that big goal. Those victories will add up. (If you are unsure in how to break up that overall goal, reach out to us at Success and we’d be oh so happy to help!)
Celebrate those small victories! Reward yourself, you’ve earned it! Whether it is treating yourself to a new workout outfit, a massage, etc. If you’re on social media, share what you did with your friends. People do care and want to see you be successful! Every victory is a steppingstone towards your goal so again, celebrate getting to there, but don’t get satisfied, start chasing that next steppingstone and embrace the joy of the process!!
Another option that can be considered is having a training companion. Though you may not have the same goals, having somebody there to help keep you accountable can be very helpful. You may not even have to workout with that person but having them meet you or go with you to the gym can be a game changer. Remember the toughest part about going to the gym is showing up, you don’t want to let your gym buddy down!
Lastly, it is important to not be too hard on yourself. No fitness journey is linear. There will be hiccups along the way as with anything worth working for. It can be challenging to stick to a program that takes often years to accomplish. It’s natural to have setbacks. But don’t let these setbacks discourage you. Instead of letting them discourage you, take these as opportunities to learn and grow from them. Remember, the journey is not the destination, it’s about the person you have become along the way.
So, if you start feeling like you’re losing the will to continue on in your fitness journey, give some of these strategies a chance. Don’t forget why you started, and don’t be too hard on yourself when setbacks occur, you can bounce back and continue on.
LET’S GROW!!!