Easy Ways to Stay Motivated to Workout

So you told yourself this would be the year you actually start going to the gym. Now, January is over, the new years energy is fading, and you can’t think of one way to help you stay motivated to workout. Don’t give up hope just yet! Here are 10 ways to help you stay motivated to workout that will help you crush all your health and fitness goals.

Figure Out Your Why

If you have no reason to get yourself to the gym, you may find it a struggle to go. Ask yourself why you want to work out. Do you want to get stronger? Do you want to run a mile in a certain amount of time? Or, maybe you want to improve your overall health. Figure out why working out is important to use and use it as a reminder everyday.

Set Specific Goals

Creating a specific fitness goal is a great way to motivate your self to go to the gym. If you don’t have a goal in mind, you may get bored quickly and forget why you even wanted to start working out in the first place.

Your goal doesn’t have to be anything crazy. Maybe you want to make it a goal to workout three days a week or run three miles without walking. Whatever it is, having something to work toward will motivate you to stay consistent.

Put a Rewards System in Place

What better way to help you stay motivated to workout than to have a reward waiting for you once your goal is met? Think about something you’ve been wanting and let yourself have in once your workout goal has been met. Some examples of rewards can be purchasing a new workout outfit, finally booking that trip you’ve been talking about for months, treating yourself to a nice dinner, etc.

Make Plans to Work Out with a Friend

This works great for two reasons. One, having a workout buddy makes going to the gym or working out way more fun. Two, if you make plans with someone to go to the gym with, you will be less likely to back out because you won’t want to leave the other person hanging. You can also help keep each other accountable and push each other to keep going.

Schedule a Workout Class

Similar to above, if you sign up for a class and commit to going, you won’t be as likely to back out because the class has already been paid for. In addition, classes are great because they are lead by an instructor who is guiding you the whole time. So if you are new to working out or don’t really know where to start, signing up for a class is a great option. In my experience, class instructors are always super motivating and encouraging and help give you the extra boost you may be needing.

Lay Out Your Clothes in Advance

Whether you work out in the morning or in the evening, having you clothes laid out and ready to go makes it that much easier to get yourself to go.

Have Some Form of Entertainment

Running on a treadmill in silence sounds like the perfect way to make yourself never want to step in a gym ever again. Instead, create a killer playlist full up upbeat songs to help motivate you. Streaming services like Spotify have a ton of pre-made playlists for you to choose from making it even easier. Watching TV is a great solution too. Maybe you can’t justify sitting on your couch for an hour catching up on your latest Netflix binge. But, you can justify watching it if you are moving your body at the same time. Use that as your motivation to get to the gym and complete your workout. Same goes for audiobooks and podcasts.

Keep Track of Your Progress

Take some notes of your workouts in your planner or in your phone. This will be a great point of reference to look back on when you’re feeling unmotivated to keep going. Keep track of things like the distance you’ve ran, or how quickly you ran, the amount of weights you benched, the number of days you’ve worked out that week, etc. I personally take a highlighter and put a dot next to every day I went to the gym in my planner. At the end of every month, I see a calendar month full of neon pink dots and it motivates to keep it up for the next month.

Find a Workout you Enjoy

If all you do it run on a treadmill every day and you hate running, nothing in the world is going to motivate you to keep it up. Find a workout activity you actually enjoy so exercising becomes more fun and less miserable. Some ideas include: Zuma, Pilates, HIIT training, strength training, yoga, etc. Don’t feel like you have to spend a ton of money on a fancy workout class. YouTube has everything you need for FREE. I personally love Whitney Simmons and Blogilates for fun and motivating workouts.

Switch it Up

Lastly, if you’ve been doing the same form of exercise for months and are losing motivation because you are bored, then switch it up! Incorporate new exercises into your routine, sign up for a new class or dedicate certain days of the week to different exercises.

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To get you started on how you can stay motivated to workout. Here’s are some cute and affordable workout clothes from Amazon to get you ready to crush it at the gym.