5 Ways to Always be Motivated to Exercise

Motivation is one of your biggest allies to getting fit and staying consistent. I've got 5 hacks to always keep yourself motivated to exercise

Over my 5 years as a trainer I've heard hundreds of clients say to me that they aren't motivated to exercise

Motivation is a weird one. It can come and go like the flick of a switch

It's something that needs to be topped up regularly but can plummet in the blink of an eye

These 5 simple hacks are designed to break-through your unmotivated barrier until you can become your own motivation

You see, that's the key. Your results becoming the reason you want to exercise

1. Fall In Love With Exercise

This is a super important tip

When I say the word "exercise", what do you naturally think of?

Probably the same thing as all January resolutioners

A cross-trainer in a gym

But do you even enjoy that? I know I don't

I've been going to the gym now for 9 years and If I was told to go on a cross-trainer, I reckon I could last 11 minutes before extreme boredom sank in and I called it day

I have a friend who's recently really got into those spartan assault courses

Weight dropped off him like you wouldn't believe!

He didn't sign up to lose weight. He signed up because he wanted to be out doors more and get muddy

He's genuinely having to up his food intake just to stop him self loosing anymore weight!

If your goal is to lose weight and become fitter. Imagine if that was you. Imagine if you were loosing weight by accident because you were so into your sport or activity

(Tomorrow I'm going to write a post listing "100 ways to move more" - you can use this guide to help find an activity)

2. Do It For The Post Workout Endorphins

I used to have a 1:1 client who suffered from anxiety and depression

She VERY wisely decided one day she wanted to cut back on her prescribed pills and get into exercise

When she turned up for our sessions, I could always see she was rigid and anxious

To this day it still completely blows my mind how different she was walking out of that gym

She would literally be standing a foot taller, her face beaming and happy-energy pouring through her very being

It was absolutely amazing to see

You see, when we exercise our bodies releases chemicals called endorphins

These endorphins react with the receptors in our brains which reduce our perception of pain and also trigger positive feelings through the body

It's also worth me mentioned our sessions weren't the most productive by any means

My focus of the session was just to get her moving, if she found it too hard I'd pull back straight away

My goal was to ease her into enjoying exercise, not turn her into an athlete

If I could get her to laugh and move I'd done my job. The endorphins would take care of the rest

I love that story, and I wanted to share it with you, but don't feel it only applies if you've got depression or anxiety

We could all do with a mental boost a few times a week, so even if it's not your best effort, by just moving and focusing on the good things to come you're far more likely to exercise

3. Think About How You're Sticking It To You Doubters

When I handed in the towel as a 1:1 personal trainer in April to become a full time online coach I received a lot of negative feedback from various people

Mostly strangers funnily enough (?!) but not all