Let’s face it, there’s going to be some days you just don’t feel like getting your workout in. But that is usually something you can work through. You can suck it up for a day and get it done.
But what about when you find yourself lacking motivation for weeks at a time?
Here are a few things you can try the next time you find yourself in a fitness rut:
Get a training partner
It’s easy to walk out on a workout when it’s just yourself, but MUCH harder when you know someone else will be waiting for you. A great training partner is there to help push you to your best and keep you accountable to someone other than yourself.
Set a new goal
What separates random workouts from training is purpose. Getting workouts in here and there is amazing, but pretty soon you’ll feel like you’re spinning your wheels and going nowhere.
Usually a cardio person? Let’s pick a strength goal to get after.
Have you been doing nothing but lifting weights for the last 6 months? Sign up for a 5 or 10k in a few months to give your training some direction.
As soon as there is a goal, there is purpose
Hire a coach
Having someone else take the reins of your training can be a HUGE weight off of your shoulders. So many people spend too much mental energy trying to decide what they should do that day, second guessing themselves, and then ultimately getting a mediocre workout in. Hiring someone whose only job is to make sure they deliver a program that gets results and that you enjoy is liberating. All you need to do is show up and put the effort into your workouts.
Audit Stress
I think this is what I see most commonly with a bunch of my clients. The people you see on Instagram are in their 20’s and 30’s. They don’t have kids, high stress jobs, and older members of their family to care for.
I’m not here to make excuses for anyone. We’re all responsible for our own health and fitness regardless of situations. But you need to take into account your total stress. If you have two kids under two, aren’t’ getting much sleep, and are working on a huge project at work it’s probably not the best time to try and train 5x a week with super intense workouts.
Stress is stress. Your body doesn’t differentiate between tough days at home, work, or the gym. As stress goes up elsewhere it makes it more difficult to maintain high levels of it in your training and and some point something has to give.
To put it short, you can’t train like the 25 year old whose only job is to make training videos for instagram. I spend a good amount of time convincing clients that the best way to keep making progress towards their goals is to back off their training intensity for awhile so they can recover enough to continue to improve.