You ever have one of those days? No motivation and every excuse to not exercise is running through your head. That was how I felt this morning. I was freezing cold. I was tired. I had a million other things to do and I did NOT feel like working out.
I guess I was motivated by the fact that I know how good I feel when my workout is over. I love the quote “The only workout you’ll ever regret is the one you didn’t do”. I always think of that when I’m not feeling it. And believe me I have those days.
Losing motivation is normal. It happens to everyone at some point. Could be for a day, a month, a year. Maybe you lost your motivation to exercise because you set un-realistic goals. For example, saying to yourself, “I’m going to workout 6 days a week”, when realistically working out 3-4 times per week is more feasible.
Maybe you weren’t really motivated in the first place. For example, your co-workers bought a 10-pack pass to a Yoga studio. Even though you don’t like yoga, you bought it too, hoping that the group would give you the motivation to go. Or simply, like me, you just weren’t feeling it!
So, how do we get it back? Here are a few ideas:
- Start by not beating yourself up! So we lost motivation. Big deal. It happens! Lets move on.
- Re-visit WHY you are exercising in the first place. My “why” is because I know how good I feel when I’m done. Your “why” might be to decrease your blood pressure, to decrease your body fat, or to finish a 5K. It has to be something that you really want or you’ll find yourself in the same boat a few months down the road.
- Set realistic goals and WRITE THEM DOWN. For example:
- I’m going to strength train 3x this week.
- I will do 1 unassisted chin-up.
- I will take 1 new fitness class this month.
Hopefully this will give you a moment to reflect on your “whys”. Realize that it’s ok to lose to motivation once in a while, but it’s not ok to repeatedly use it as an excuse 🙂