We all know that daily exercise is important for both your physical and mental health. Exercise has a plethora of health benefits, from boosting your mood and energy levels to helping keep health conditions and diseases at bay. But, when things get busy or motivation is lacking, it’s easy for working out to fall by the wayside.
“This is typically due to a lack of understanding of why you started exercising in the first place,” says says Tom Hose, founder, managing director and senior trainer at FoxFit Fitness For Female, which has locations in Sydney’s Redfern, Melbourne’s Cremorne and Brisbane’s Aspley.
“Motivation can be a very intermittent feeling, the key is to have a clear understanding of your ‘why’ to help with the discipline to ensure periods of low motivation.”
If you have lost your motivation to exercise and are looking to kickstart it, Hose suggests working with a personal trainer or signing up to a fitness studio aligned with your intentions and that you feel comfortable. Both can go a long way in keeping you motivated to work out in the long-term.
Ahead, though, are some other ways Hose suggests you find your motivation to exercise again.
Reassess Your Existing Habits
Hose says she doesn’t believe in reassessing your goals, if you’ve lost your motivation to work out. Instead, he says you should reassess your environment and existing habits.
“Find a fitness space that aligns with your goals and develop a community that supports you in your goal attainment,” he says. “That will keep you motivated to continually invest in healthy habits.”
Reward Yourself
Hose says he’s a firm believer in work equals reward. “Over the 10+ years of training clients from all walks of life, I have found that very few can stick to a sustained approach to fitness with complete adherence and no variation,” he says.
So, with that in mind, if you’re wanting to keep your motivation and sustained results, he says it’s important to allow yourself time to consume food and alcohol that might not fit your nutritional and wellness plan, if that’s what you’re craving.
Go Easy on Yourself
At the end of the day, Hose says, it’s important to remember your wellbeing is a life-long, ever-evolving process.
“It’s essential you enjoy the process and allow for moments that aren’t structured and deviate from your plan,” he says. “The key is to understand that one bad meal will not set you back from your goals – it’s just part of the process.”
What will set you back from your goals, however, is guilt or resentment from not fully sticking to your plan. The takeaway? Give yourself permission to be flexible with your plan and then get straight back to your program with a clear focus on sustained results.
