In an exercise slump? Here’s how to motivate yourself!

I hit a bit of a slump with my exercise routine a couple of weeks ago. By the time I finished work, I was feeling tired, thinking about dinner and frankly, was just feeling too lazy to go fire up my workout motivation.

But I noticed, even in just the short space of time that I stopped working out, that I was actually feeling more tired, rather than energised from resting my body. I, like so many other people, am now working from home, meaning I’m at a laptop all day and living a fairly sedentary lifestyle. I needed to get back into the routine, but once I’d stopped, it was really tough to find my way back to it. So I tried out some of the tips and tricks I’d heard to get back into the habit, and already, I’m finding myself more excited by my routine – sometimes all we need is a little switch up to get us back to where we need to be!

Little Victories

Sometimes, it feels like no matter how much we exercise, we’ll never be able to lift our goal weight, or do every move that the pilates instructor can. It can be disheartening, when we’re reaching for our goals, to think that we may never get there. But our journey to our goals are not just a straight line from beginning to point to end point. There are so many little victories along the way to that final goals that all deserve to be celebrated. Hoping to run 5 miles? You did 3.5 today before having to stop for a breather – go you! Not quite at lifting 50kg yet? You’ve worked your way up to 45kg – that’s amazing! It’s important to see yourself from the perspective of the start of your fitness journey and see how much you’ve grown, and how much potential for growth you have!

Visualisation

Another great tip is visualising yourself meeting those goals. If your aim is to get fitter, or lose weight or whatever, think of yourself enjoying the benefits of reaching that goal. You can complete that marathon you always said you’d do, you can feel confident in your body, you can keep up with the annoyingly chirpy pilates instructor! The point is to think about the feeling that that achievement will give you and to know that putting in the work will get you there.

Get excited

Of course you’re not going to want to workout if you don’t like your exercise routine! The point of exercise is to enjoy it! It boosts our energy, makes us feel good and can be a great way to feel you’ve accomplished something! There are so many online workouts that there’s simply no excuse to settle for something that doesn’t suit you. Drop that boring treadmill hour and replace it with some Zumba, some peppy pilates or a circuit workout that will really get your blood pumping! Variety is the spice of life so go have a gawk on YouTube and find something that works for you!

Make an amazing playlist

Nothing is more motivating that Britney Spear’s ‘Work B*tch’ blasting through your earphones. Music and emotions go hand in hand. So next time you find yourself slumped on the couch dreading the moment you have to get up to exercise, pop on your ready-made playlist of bangers and it will be an instant mood lift and motivator!

Write your goals

Yes, actually physically write them out somewhere – whether it’s to work out three times a week or to be able to run a marathon by next year, have it written somewhere that you will see it often. The reminder of the goal, the feeling behind it, creates accountability. You owe it to yourself and your goals to complete this challenge.

Small spurts

Not every workout has to be an hour-long sweat session. As long as you’re happy with the amount you do, it’s no one else’s business how long you ran for, or how much of the online cardio class you stuck out. Plus, there’s so many quick HIIT classes out there, that there’s no excuse not to make time in your day anymore. Quality not quantity – you could do an hour at a slow jog on a treadmill and not get as much of a workout as you would in one of Maeve Madden’s twenty minute Instagram HIIT classes – which are my new obsession btw, you should absolutely check her out, LOTS of body and fitness positivity!

Dress for the occasion

If you’re in your cosy sweats, woolly jumper and slippers, the absolute last thing you’re going to want to do is change into your workout clothes. Start your day in the clothes you want to work out in to remove that barrier when the time comes to actually do it. You’ll be in the right mindset and the right outfit!

Get social

Follow body-positive fitness Instagrammers for motivation! They’re full of ideas, post great workout content and have lots of tips and tricks for healthy eating, post-workout muscle soreness and tons more! Feeling part of the fitness community is a great way to maintain your workout schedule, as they’ll pop up on your feed reminding you to get your workout for the day in there!

What are your favourite hacks for getting motivated to do your workout? Have I missed any good ones? Comment and let us know!