When the holidays roll around, it’s all too easy to get out of tune with your fitness routine. The shopping, cooking, and traveling takes up a lot of your time and can get in the way of your health goals. Even one missed workout can disrupt your rhythm. Once you lose that momentum, it’s difficult to get it back. Therefore, we’ve compiled 4 steps to get motivated for your workout and take action towards reaching your fitness goals.
4-Step Process to Get Motivated
Every choice has a price, but when we are motivated, it is easier to overcome and perform the action than bear the pain of remaining the same. Somehow we cross a mental threshold—usually after weeks of procrastination and in the face of an impending deadline—and it becomes more painful to not do the work than to actually do it. Here are some steps to help you get motivated:
Step 1: Create a Schedule
Setting a schedule for yourself seems simple, right? But it puts your decision-making on autopilot by giving your goals a time and place to live.
- Schedule the times when you plan to exercise. Whether it’s going to spin class or doing some yoga and stretches at home, write it down.
- Stick to these times like a meeting with your boss – your boss wouldn’t cancel on you unless it was extremely important, so start treating these times the same.
It makes it more likely that you will follow through regardless of your motivation levels.
Step 2: Build a Pre-Workout Ritual
Now that you scheduled time to work on your goals, you need to set up a pre-workout ritual. A good pre–workout routine starts with something so easy that you can’t say no to it.
Here are some examples of things that can kick off your pre-workout ritual:
- Putting on your workout clothing/shoes/headphones
- Making a pre-workout snack/fuel
- Listen to workout music to get yourself in the mood
- Power down by turning off distractions such as email, cell phone, computer, etc.
- Give yourself 3 affirmations before starting
Find what’s going to motivate you, whether it’s a good song, a motivational quote, or listening to an inspirational podcast, to reinforce a positive habit.
Step 3: Keep Working Toward Your Goals
A lack of mental motivation is often linked to a lack of physical movement.
Imagine your physical state when you’re feeling depressed, bored, or unmotivated. You’re not moving very much. Maybe you’re slumped over like a blob, slowly melting into the couch.
The opposite is also true. If you’re physically moving and engaged, then it’s far more likely that you’ll feel mentally engaged and energized. For example, it’s almost impossible to not feel vibrant, awake, and energized when you’re dancing. Keep your fitness goals always top of mind and strive to meet them. Even a little progress is still progress and you’ll hunger to reach them in the end.
Step 4: Keep Your Pattern Consistent
The primary purpose of your pre–game routine is to create a series of events that you always perform before doing a specific task.
Your pre–game routine tells your mind, “This is what happens before I do _____.”
Eventually, this routine becomes so tied to your performance that by simply doing the routine, you are pulled into a mental state that is primed to perform. You don’t need to know how to find motivation, you just need to start your routine.
As always if you need to update your program or want to reassess your fitness level, schedule an appointment to get ready to maintain and not gain over the holiday season!
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Written by Kailyn Danhouser, EP-C; Personal Trainer at Elite Sports Club – River Glen & North Shore
Kailyn graduated from the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse with a B.S. in Exercise and Sports Science. She is an American College of Sports Medicine: Certified Exercise Physiologist (EP-C), AAAI/ISMA: Certified Pilates Instructor, and Certified Diabetes Prevention Lifestyle Coach. Kailyn specializes in Functional Training, Group training, Special Populations, Weight Management, and HIIT. “I want to inspire people to find exercises that they enjoy doing every day. There are many opportunities all around us to move our bodies, we have to look for them. The exercises you do are better than the ones you don’t do.”