How to Motivate Yourself to Exercise

Techniques to get moving

So, it’s the time you set aside to go to the gym, and you’re sitting in your living room scrolling on Instagram instead. You’re tired, and it’s been a long day. Getting sweaty and doing goblet squats is the last thing you feel like doing right now.

But here’s the problem— um, you blew off your work-out yesterday too. *And *the day before. Consequently, your butt is still droopy!

This keeps happening over and over again. You set some goals to get fit, but lose your motivation. And when you can’t reach your goals, you beat yourself up. You feel like a failure, which makes it harder to motivate yourself at all. Sound familiar?

But here are some things that you can do to identify why you lose your motivation and finally get your butt off the sofa.

#1. Tweak Your Goal

There is more than one way to get fit. Sometimes, people get hung up on the wrong fitness activity. If you’re a shy introvert who hates groups, taking a Zumba class may not be the best idea.

For some folks, the gym is their happy place, while others would rather get a root canal than go to Planet Fitness. Everyone is different. You need to find your jam. So, try out different fitness activities like running, weight lifting, pilates, yoga, even dance classes. See what resonates with you the most.

Getting fit is a long-game project, and nobody ever stuck to a fitness routine that they *hated. *Find something that you can see yourself doing for the long haul.

#2. Look at How You Demotivate Yourself

When you are stuck on your sofa in Instagramland, what is going on in your head? If you can’t motivate yourself to accomplish your goal, maybe you need to look at your thought process around fitness. Sometimes, we unconsciously de-motivate ourselves out of getting fit. Here’s an example of how this might work.

While you are sitting there on your phone, you start thinking about how tired you are; how time-consuming the workout will be; how much of a pain it is to drive to the gym…

We could go on and on. But many of your thoughts may revolve around just what a hassle the whole thing is! Naturally, you don’t want to do it.

You’re focusing on short-term pain instead of long-term gain.

Do some self-reflection about if and how you are demotivating yourself. What kind of excuses are you making to rationalize NOT doing what you set out to do?.

Humans are often motivated by the desire to avoid pain. And when it comes to your fitness journey, pain can be your friend.

How can you make fitness worth it to you? What is the long-term pain of NOT being fit? What is motivating you to even attempt this process? Do you want to look better, feel better? What are the consequences of sitting on the sofa? Do some journaling around this issue.

#3. Plan for Obstacles

Of course, sometimes there are *real *roadblocks. Life happens. This is where it helps to be flexible and compassionate with yourself. There are a lot of obstacles that can block you from getting fit, and it’s not all about laziness.

If you are working 80 hours a week, you probably don’t have the time to work out. Or you may have health challenges that require you to scale down a fitness goal.

It helps to begin where you are, set small goals that you can do, and plan for how you are going to handle obstacles. Don’t get hung up on one type of routine either. You can get fit at home as well as in a gym.

Bottom Line

Motivating yourself to exercise on a regular basis is never easy, but it can be done with the right approach. Tweaking your goals, planning for obstacles, and doing some self-reflection about your values around fitness can help you get in shape.

Most of us don’t want to get fit for only a month, we want it to last for the rest of our lives. This means that exercise should never be something you see as a punishment. It needs to realistically fit into your life. Being fit is a journey *and *a destination.