How To Get Motivated To Workout

Image by Lorenzo Bevilaqua

If you think exercise is a chore, I’m here to debunk that. I’m a big subscriber to discovering what you love to live an active lifestyle. Building structure around your purpose will keep you motivated effortlessly.

How can you get motivated to work out? Exercise is more than physical activity when you realize it’s a lifestyle achieved through a shift in mindset.

  1. Practice Positive Thinking
  2. Find A Fitness Community
  3. Find An Activity That You Enjoy
  4. Set Goals
  5. Have A Plan To Execute On Habits
  6. Embrace Failure & Keep Learning

Here are six actionable steps you can take to explore your purpose and maintain an active lifestyle.

#1. Practice Positive Thinking

Exercising appears to be physical, but it’s mental to a great extent. One of the beauties of exercise is the mindset that it trains. The first step is understanding that you are capable without limit. As cliche as it sounds, the only thing holding you back is yourself.

How can you practice positive thinking?

  • Identify areas to change and check yourself. The first step is becoming self-aware of negative thinking patterns of yourself and others. How can you take small steps to think more positively? If you find that you have negative thoughts throughout the day, try to put a positive spin on it.
  • Stop caring about what others think. It’s a waste of energy to dwell on negative thoughts. The weight room is often daunting for women because it’s filled with grunting men pumping iron. Are you going to let them stop you?
  • Practice being more thankful. The key to happiness is gratitude towards all things in life. When times get tough, the key is to stay grateful. Things are never as bad as they seem. It’s a privilege to have the ability to exercise.

#2. Find A Fitness Community

Communities allow us to support one another, interact, and share experiences. This bond builds valuable relationships and a sense of belonging.

Where’s the right fitness community?

a. Start with your network.

  • Reach out to supportive friends who have connections to fitness communities.

b. Do research.

  • Search the internet for meet-ups.
  • Join a Facebook group for the activity. Passionate people are very willing to share information. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.

c. Stay connected.

#3. Find An Activity That You Enjoy

If you’re lost, try new things with an open mind. Continue pushing outside your comfort zone until you discover an activity that you love. Once you find it, it’ll feel like an outlet for mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual growth.

#4. Set Goals

Most motivational articles start with goal setting. It’s so far down this list because a healthy environment will build the structure and bring clarity to goals. Determine a direction that will stick by aligning your goals with your intent.

#5. Have A Plan To Execute On Habits

The plan to achieve said goal needs to be explicit and actionable but flexible for different scenarios. The action plan should contain small and simple steps. Organize these thoughts by creating a schedule for when to complete each step.

#6. Embrace Failure & Keep Learning

We need to shake the stigma attached to failure. Failure often elicits a variety of emotions; disappointment, anger, and shame. Instead, we need to accept and embrace mistakes because we grow more from failure than success.

Related Questions

How do you find the motivation to work out when you’re alone, tired, or busy? There will always come a time when your friends aren’t there to work out with you, or you feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day for exercise. Self-discipline and prioritization of your health is the only thing you can rely on to be consistent. Hopefully, the framework above was helpful. Otherwise, there are millions of other ways to implement habits.

Stacy

Hi, I'm Stacy! I started dragon boating in 2013, then branched out to train and compete in outrigger canoe and powerlifting. I built Home Strength Toolbox because every moment of my active lifestyle has looked after me, and I want to help others get going with their fitness journey.

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