You might sometimes feel like breaking free from the daily routines. Those reluctant morning wake-ups, forcefully getting ready for the office, the hassle of making breakfast, followed by tiresome working hours and meetings and then managing family commitments, eventually NO time for yourself. You can change this and you must. If there’s an absence of energy and frolic in your life, then you should change the to-do list. The higher perspective of life must involve enthusiasm and freshness.
You all will agree that Time management is the key to balance. Once you’re out of the office you should strive to focus on your body and it’s functionality. Spending dedicated time working out can really lift up your spirits and lighten your mood. It’ll leave you high on energy and endurance in a better way.
Here are some ways to boost your workout motivation. These strategies will help you keep your fire for working out going strong.
1. Commit to Your Calendar
Say you want to work out 3 times a week. Look at your calendar for that week and see where those spots will fit in the best. Then, make a commitment to sticking to those times.
Make these appointments with yourself unbreakable. Maybe you can handle variety, so one day a week you might have an early morning workout. Another day that week, you might fit it in after work. Also, you can fix some rewards for yourself if you successfully stay committed to your schedule because after all, we all love keeping our eyes on the prize! There’s a big difference between luring yourself into doing something and rewarding yourself after sticking to your plan. So go for it!
2. Start Your Day with 20 Minutes for Yourself and Your Workout
You may have great intentions for working out after work or during lunch hour, but inevitably other commitments might encroach and interfere in that time. In that case, don’t fret too much. Just find a nice and easy solution to it.
If you get on up and knock out your workout first thing, you will reap the benefits all day long of that energy boost. This workout could be a morning walk or hitting the yoga mat right when you get out of bed. It can be after work too in case you’re preoccupied with responsibilities and office duties.
3. Combine Social Time with Your Friends into Your Workout
Instead of only getting together with your friends at your favorite nostalgic restaurant, cafe or drink bar, see if you can schedule a hike. You can go cycling or run or walk in the parks with them.
Some exercise research reported that competition was a key motivator for exercise, and you can use that to your advantage in one of these leagues. You can challenge your friends and colleagues to do some cool workout rep you can which you think only you could pull off or probably practiced for days to pull off! It will be fun, engaging and helpful all in one go.
4. Use Music to Inspire You
Spend some time creating a great workout playlist. Everyone has it. Now with myriads of apps, they come pre-curated for the type of workout you want to involve yourself in. Be it HIIT, warm-up exercises or dance fitness such as PartyFit it’s all there.
Think about what songs make you move. You must have your songs that pluck your “keep going” string. As soon as you hear that song, you just can’t sit still. Use them to get you up on your feet and start moving and twisting.
You can create multiple theme playlists to spark more creativity and fun in your workout. Share it with your friends, it might be that next evening you all chat over it. Who knows?
5. Update Your Gear
If you go to pull out a tee shirt for your workout, and it’s full of holes or from a college party, it’s time to re-do your workout wardrobe. Well, it should not matter what clothes you work out, but for some reason, it might be a big deal for a few fitness buffs out there. Don’t worry about it, it’s completely okay. It’s alright to think of getting new workout gear as if you’re investing in yourself.
It could be as simple as getting a new water bottle. Making sure you have supportive and properly fitting shoes is key to achieving your workout goals. And if you get a new workout tee or tights, it can make you more motivated to get moving.
6. Just like You Get Organized at Work, Get Organized for Your Workout
Set out what you need as motivation for your workout. If you are going on a morning run, lay out your workout clothes the night before. Fill your water bottle and set it on the counter. Remove the stress from the daily chaos in your life by Staying organized. It helps you to manage the overwhelm you feel because you have too much to do, and you, unfortunately, rhythm out of time and you’re clueless about where to begin.
For the after-work exercisers, pack your bag of clothes to take with you to work so you have no excuse not to go into the gym.
Some of us are fantastic at picking up a wide range of excuses to limit our capabilities from time to time. Do not rationalize your “why” you didn’t follow a specific commitment. Curb and hold them back else they will hold you back from reaching your fitness aspirations.
7. Use Alarms as Nudging Reminders
If you think getting up earlier to squeeze and hit a workout before work, is just not going to happen for you, then set an alarm for the time you need to start preparing for your workout in the afternoon/evening.
If you want to go on a walk at 6 pm, set an alarm for 5:30 pm as a reminder. When you hear the alarm, take that like a nudge saying, “it’s time to get dressed for your walk.” You don’t want to shirk on yourself. Don’t wait for the Alarm bots you see in the ads to drag you all the way up to your workout area or some park to enable you to tag along with your fitness session and start it. Just do it, stay true to yourself and your body. Remember the sweat you shed today will benefit you for sure in the years to come.
Time to Get Moving!
Life sometimes gets in the way of our best-laid plans, including our plans to work out. But by maintaining the attitude of self-love, and giving yourself the gift of time to exercise, you can use the above tips to help you stay on track with your workout regimen.
By using some organizational tricks as well as remembering the aforementioned points and tips besides your own reasons for making your workout a priority, you’ll not only find the time to fit it in but feel good about doing so. Get going, stay motivated, pamper yourself and your body, give it what it needs to function properly and effectively. Give yourself time to live, laugh and love! That’s all you need 🙂