Do you find it hard to stay motivated to workout on a daily basis?
If so no worries, I use to be where you are years ago, and if I’m being honest, I struggle with this from time to time. However, over the past year I have discover tips and trick to keep me going, especially on days when I’m struggling to find the motivation to workout.
We’ll dive deeper into these tricks in a little bit, but first I want to talk about the importance of working out daily.
Working out in general is so good for your health.
Exercising consistently can help to boost your energy, improve muscle strength, improve your endurance, strengthen your cardiovascular system, as well as your heart and lung health. When your body and all the important organs are functioning as they should be, you not only extend your life years, but you’re setting yourself up to be in the best shape of your life for many years to come.
These are things that we all ultimately want for ourselves. To live longer and be as healthy as we possibly can be. Which means we have to work hard in order to achieve those results. For some this may be simply changing your diet and eating habits, for others this may mean adopting a consistent workout schedule. But how do we stay motivated to exercise daily in order to obtain all these health benefits? Continue reading to learn how.
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Set a specific time to workout
The one thing that I have found that makes exercising on a daily basis so much easier is setting a specific time to do so every day. I personally prefer to workout at home, super early in the morning, so I create a workout routine around this desire. What helps me reach this goal every day is setting an alarm on my phone 15 minutes before my desired workout time.
So, if I want to work out at 6am I set my alarm to wake me up at 5:45am. This gives me enough time to wake up, get dressed, stretch, and get myself in the right frame of mind to crush a workout.
It’s also important to know the type of workout you are going to do for the day, as well as how long you are planning on working out. For example, if you know you want to do a total body workout, you should know how you are going to go about it. Are you going to put together some of your favorite workout moves, follow a YouTube video, or attend a class at the gym? This is the first step to scheduling in your workout for the day.
Next you are going to want to determine how long you will work out. Will this be for 30 minutes or an hour? Knowing this information will not only help you create a cleaner and more organized schedule, but it will also help you hold yourself accountable to get that workout done for the day. The best part is that once you commit to scheduling in your workouts daily anywhere from a week to a month, it starts to become a habit for you and something that will automatically be on your list of things to do for the day.
So, take the time to schedule in your daily workouts and actually commit to following through with it.
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Create health-focused goals
The most important thing to do when you are embarking on a health, wellness, or fitness journey is to create health-focused goals. Health-focused goals are goals that you create in order to better your overall health. These can be goals such as strengthening your core, building muscle, or improving your endurance. These goals will help you stay focused on what you are striving to achieve in the long run.
When creating your goals, it’s important to make sure that these are goals that have meaning to you. You don’t want to create goals that others want you to achieve, or goals that you feel desired to achieve because they are representative of someone that you would like to look like. You have to be intrinsically motivated to work towards these goals on a daily basis, so that when you reach them, you know you did it for yourself.
This is the only way that you are going to be able to achieve all your health-focused goals.
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Switch up your workouts
One way to stay motivated to exercise daily is to switch up your workout routines. This basically means to have something new that you are doing at least once a week so that you don’t get bored. For example, if you’ve spent the past three days working on your abs, maybe take a day or two to focus on another area or your body. Or better yet, focus on different areas of your body every day, and create a routine out of doing so.
This is something that I like to do. I find it not only fun, but a super easy way for me to work towards all my health-focused goals. When I spend too much time working on one specific area of my body I feel as though I’m not moving forward. The best way to break free of this feeling so that your motivation doesn’t go away is to constantly change up your workout routines.
This could be something as simple as going to a dance studio once a month for a total body workout. Or maybe instead of working out at the gym, one day out of the week you choose to workout at home. You could even get your cardio in for the day by going on a long distance walk instead of walking the treadmill for an hour.
There are a ton of ways that you can switch up your workout routine to stay motivated to reach all your health goals. All you have to do is open your mind to the endless possibilities.
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Create a stable support system
Something you are going to want to ensure that you have as you move along on your health journey is a support system that is going to support you along the way. This group of people will also hold you accountable to reach all your goals. This support system will also be a great source of support when you want to try physical activities that are outside of the box, or want to create other health-focused goals to work towards.
They essentially will be the safety net and the extrinsic motivation to keep you going, especially on days when you may want to give up.
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Lay out your workout clothes the night before
This is probably one of the simplest things that you can do to help you stay motivated to exercise daily. Every night before you go to bed set out your workout clothes. This not only gets your mind to start thinking about the workout you will complete the next day, but it will inspire you to put more energy and focus into completing your workout for the day.
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Find a workout buddy
This is not a one size fits all. However, I have come to learn that when you have people in your life who are supportive of you reaching your goals, who support you bettering your health, and genuinely want to do whatever they can to help you reach those goals, working out with a buddy can be all the more fun.
This is because you know that the person who is right by your side working out with you is not there to judge you or push you to do things that you don’t want to do, but instead are there to encourage you. This also can eliminate the pressure of feeling like you are working out for a very specific reason.
Although you do want to make sure that your goals are clear and specific, you don’t want to exercise just to reach your goals. Your decision to exercise consistently should be the result of wanting to improve your overall health. Having a workout buddy right by your side will remind you to enjoy the process and to not put so much pressure on yourself to achieve your goals.
This is also a great way to inspire and motivate others in your life to improve their overall health as well.
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Create a health/fitness/wellness vision board
I have found this to be one of the most inspiring things ever. Vision boards are essentially a collection of pictures that represent what you envision your life to be. This can include pictures of the type of home you would like to live in, your dream car, or a celebrity whose career you really respect, etc.
A wellness vision board is the same thing except that it has an emphasis on your health-focused goals. While I don’t personally have a wellness board, I do have a collection of pictures of things that inspire me to reach all my goals. This includes pictures of fitness coaches who I personally believe embody body positivity, pictures of models who look like me and live a healthy lifestyle, and pictures of unique things that I find to be helpful for workouts that I’d like to include in my health and wellness business someday.
Wellness vision boards allow you to have a visual of things that you envision for your health and wellness, and to find a way to use that as motivation to work towards all your goals.
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Set up fun challenges for yourself
Create fun challenges for yourself to complete in addition to your daily workout. This can include challenges such as walking a certain number of miles a day, or maybe completing a specific number of crunches or squats for the day. One way I like to challenge myself with my workouts is by participating in challenges created by Blogilates every couple of months.
What I like about challenges is that they are a little something extra to add to your daily workout routine, that isn’t a part of your workout routine, that will give you something to look forward to during your workout session. Challenges are great because they are simple activities to look forward to in the day that are going to help you get one step closer to your goals.
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Participate in various physical activities
Much like switching up your workout routine don’t get hung up on having to physically exercise in order to complete a workout for the day. While it’s important to create a consistent routine of exercising daily, it’s also important to allow yourself to have rest days. On these days instead of working out the traditional way, find other ways to get in a good workout.
Again, this can be anything from going on a long walk, to going rock climbing, maybe going hiking, or even taking part in a water aerobics class. Whatever it is you choose to do just make sure it isn’t an intentional workout. These activities should be things that you don’t do regularly, things that bring you joy, and something that you genuinely enjoy doing.
This will not only motivate you to move your body in some way, but you will also get a rest day while still doing the littlest of things to work towards all your goals.
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Remember why you started
Finally, just remember why you started. I think the biggest mistake a lot of people make on their health journey is that they lose sight of why they started to begin with. This can be challenging because as you progress on your journey you will discover new workout routines, new diets, new fitness coaches, and much more, that can make you feel as though you need to start moving in a specific direction in order to reach your goals.
However, you have to keep in mind that your health journey is not a race. It’s something that you are doing to improve your health overall and there are no shortcuts to doing so. Yes, there will be lifestyle changes that you will make that will result in faster results at various points in your life. But ultimately, it’s a long run that you are going to have to pace yourself with.
Conclusion
So, remember that while it may be hard to find the motivation to exercise daily, it’s all a mind game. Find the little things that will motivate you intrinsically to keep going, and stick with them. Create little tricks, develop solid habits, and you will be good to go. There will always be moments when we struggle with motivation to exercise daily, but there are always things you can do to stay motivated. Discover what that motivation looks like to you and keep going. You’ve got this.
What do you do to stay motivated to exercise daily?
-Xo
Kimora
Amy Thompson says
To answer the question you asked right off the bat – yes, I do often find it difficult to stay motivated to exercise daily! These are great tips 🙂
Kimora Chanel says
I can totally relate! I’m so happy that you found these tips to be helpful!