How Do I Stay Motivated To Train Now January’s Over?
Ok, so it’s February and you’ve been training religiously for nearly 6 weeks, but you’re no longer feeling the love. What to do? Well, here are my top tips for keeping your fitness mojo;
Take a selfie
Monitoring your progress with pictures is a great way to keep you focussed! Take a ‘before’ selfie and then another every couple of weeks and save them so you end up with your own photo diary. Now you can see for yourself how your body is changing and how far you’ve come.
Get the app!
There are thousands of fitness apps and many of them are free! Map my run, and Couch to 5km will help log your activity so you can see your progression and compete with yourself to do better each time. Lifesum and Freeletics offer recipes and workout ideas, and Myfitnesspal allows you to enter your meal and exercise choices to count your calorie expenditure.
Treat yourself!
Nothing can be more motivating than knowing you look good! New gear, whether it’s trainers, a pair of the latest leggings, or a shiny new gym bag will give you the extra push you need to get out there and show them off!
Pat yourself on the back!
Scales can be misleading, especially when you first start a fitness programme, so congratulate yourself on the things that can’t be disputed – the muscle you glimpsed in the mirror the other day, the extra hundred metres you managed, or the exercise you bossed in class that you couldn’t do before. That’s real progress!
Do what you like!
Motivation is hard enough without having to slog away at an exercise you dread . Ditch the machine you hate and replace it with something else. It’s much easier to make yourself do something you enjoy!
Push the tempo!
It only takes about 6 weeks before your body gets used to what you’re doing, and no longer needs to adapt to take the strain. Changing your programme by using different machines, trying different classes or changing the weights you use will keep up the challenge and keep you achieving your goals!
Strength in numbers!
Training with others really helps keep you going. Find a running, rowing or cycling club near you and join up! Parkrun (www.parkrun.org.uk) organise free timed 5km runs all over the UK and are for all abilities. Check social media for fitness groups, or even better – get a Personal Trainer!
