When Exercise Motivation Wanes, How Can We Get Back On Track?

If you struggle to stay motivated on your fitness journey, you are not alone. We all know someone (and it could be ourselves) who has proudly joined the gym but after an intense routine in the first few weeks, has had a dwindling presence ever since. It’s easily done, but for many people it’s a difficult slump to get out of. As a personal trainer working in Didsbury, I have lots of clients who shared this same story; they had been throwing money at a disused gym membership for months and unsurprisingly, they weren’t reaching their fitness goals and that needed to change. This week, I want to give you some top tips to get you out of the rut and back into your exercise.

Make Positive Changes to Your Diet

You are what you eat - it’s a phrase which frequently pops up in relation to health and diet. Whilst I don’t believe that a strict diet is the way to achieving your fitness goals (diets are notoriously difficult to stick to and can quickly make us feel unsatisfied, frustrated or like failures when we inevitably give up), I do think that healthy eating is a fantastic way to fill your body with the right nutrients to give you bags of good energy to fuel your workout. Try adding more protein to your – you can find non-meat options in one of my previous blogs – and complex carbohydrates (things like brown rice, whole wheat bread and carrots). When we’re feeling unmotivated and with low self-esteem, binging is more likely; take a look at these tricks to stop it!

Create a Fitness Timetable

It doesn’t need to take up a whole evening, or make you wake up in the ungodly hours of the morning to drag yourself to the gym, but creating a timetable to dedicate time to your fitness can be a really good way to motivate yourself, since it is in writing. Try two or three sessions a week for an hour or 40 minutes and gradually increase it as your fitness increases – we all know that slow and steady wins the race.

Change Up Your Exercise Routine

Lots of people struggle to stay motivated because they find the gym boring – but exercise doesn’t have to be! There are plenty of options at the gym, get your music playing and pick a few machines to do 20 minute bursts on. Or mix up your exercise with classes like spinning, yoga, or Boxercise – something which my clients absolutely love. Then there’s swimming or joining a sports team; the possibilities are endless!

Try Out a Personal Trainer

As a personal trainer, I have the pleasure of seeing clients excel on their fitness journey, and being a part of it. Staying motivated with your fitness is tough. Especially with the fast pace and constant juggling of our everyday lives, it can be difficult to prioritise exercise when all you want is to stop. This is truer still if in the past you have not seen the results you hoped for. With a personal trainer you can set out your fitness goals, whether that’s weight loss, toning up, training for a particular event, or general good health. With that in mind, your personal trainer can put together a bespoke fitness plan to help you reach your targets – plus they will be there to help you every step of the way.

Feeling motivated? To learn more about my personal training services take a look at my website here; or get in touch to get back on track today!