Introduction

According to Bharat Bhise, regular gym-goers know that they need to work out at home during the month of January to avoid the crowd of New Year resolutions. While fitness is a common goal, most people fail to muster up daily workout motivation. Let’s change that by looking at powerful methods to motivate yourself to exercise constantly.

The Motivation

  1. Gift yourself tangible regards – People often set vague goals like weight loss or improved health for working out. While that works out for some folks, those vague intangible goals aren’t a strong motivation for most people. Instead, you need to gift yourself concrete and tangible rewards and create a habit loop.

It can be anything from an episode of your favorite show to a delicious, yet healthy smoothie. Make sure to keep the reward after the routine and create a real incentive for yourself to work out. Eventually, the habit becomes an intrinsic nature since your brain associates pain and sweat with endorphins, even without the smoothie.

  1. Be accountable – You can make New Year resolutions to yourself and promise yourself all sorts of things throughout the year. However, you’re less likely to follow through with your pledges when there’s no accountability. Instead of making those pledges to yourself, make the pledge with a friend.

You can also increase the stakes so that you get the motivation when it’s necessary. Instead of making empty promises, put money on the line. Sign a contract with your friend where you pay him or her $10 every day you skip your workout. With a legally binding contract, your friend gets to keep $10 every time you don’t work-out or bear witness to your fitness journey without putting anything on the line. It’s a win-win for both of you. 

  1. Positive thinking – While positive thinking sounds vague, it really isn’t and can have great psychological effects. Try to visualize the benefits of daily workouts to motivate yourself. Every time you think about skipping the morning jog, think about how you’ll miss the feeling of the morning sun on your face and won’t be able to breathe the fresh misty morning air.

However, that’s not the end of it. After you visualize the outcome of the workout routine, try to figure out what’s stopping you from achieving that. Once you can successfully identify what’s holding you back, you can adopt methods to overcome those boundaries and strategize to completely remove those obstacles the next time.

  1. Get your fitness buddies – Communities have always helped individuals to grow and achieve a common goal and you need the same for your fitness goals. While keeping your money to a friend for not going to the gym is a strong motivation, the high fives, encouraging words, and laughs from your fitness buddies at the gym are a stronger source of motivation.

Conclusion

Bharat Bhise suggests that you adopt these methods to keep yourself motivated and go on a run or visit the gym regularly. Reward yourself, make commitments and do whatever’s necessary to stick to your workout routine.