Don't feel motivated to start exercising and eating better? You are not alone, neither do I most of the time and I'm a Personal Trainer of 11 years and have done some form of exercise for all of my life!
So what's the secret to being consistent if you are not motivated all the time? Do It Anyway! Just start, give yourself an out, if after 10 minutes you still feel awful, then stop/go home!
The hardest part of starting is Taking Action!
One of my favourite sayings is "Feelings Don't Dictate Outcomes".
The stories we tell ourselves sometimes just get in the way of taking action. If you are ill/injured then this isn't the message for you. If you are wondering what happened after the initial honeymoon of being excited to go to the gym, nothing happened, it's just that the novelty has worn off.
When the novelty has worn off, you need to know why you are doing it so that you can take action on the real reason you wanted to get fitter and stronger.
Always remember we want exercise to be a part of out life, forever!
Things like:
- A strong body that will mean you can live a full, independent and hopefully long life
- Be able to walk/run/cycle/swim to have a strong heart and muscles and get out in nature
- Prevent recurring injuries so you can enjoy your sport more
- Know that you are taking care of your health
- To mitigate the chances of serious illness as we age
Yes aesthetic goals like wearing a certain size clothes or weighing a certain amount can be motivating (for a while) but honestly if you can find a deeper meaning then it's much easier to see that this is something you want to do for the rest of your life.
What does taking action look like?
It means going to the gym or doing the class/walk/run/bike/yoga even when you don't feel like it. Accept that on your journey through life long exercise you will have many days when you don't feel motivated and that's okay!
You will also start to see that on those days you couldn't be bothered you are glad you took action because you feel better after! The After is a very powerful motivator.
I went to the gym today not feeling the love. I reasoned with myself, that I didn't sleep well last night so my energy level feels lower, that's okay.
I went to the gym because today's session is for my legs primarily and my return to run post surgery is going really well and a huge part of that has been my commitment to developing much stronger legs.
When I feel like this I tell myself that something is better than nothing. If it had felt horrendous I would have had no problem calling it a day and going home. BUT after I warmed up I felt fine and I had a very good session.
If I didn't go and tomorrow's run isn't so good I would be annoyed. Not because missing one gyms session makes a difference because I know that my knee likes me to have done some loading work the day before I run. My motivation today was my knee will thank me!
I don't always go to the gym/run/swim and feel woohoo yeah about it! I have days when I've slept really well, I've eaten really well and usually after a rest day but they can be rare.
You have to try "doing it anyway" to see what happens. It's pretty magical when you go to do your workout not feeling amazing and then have a great time, it's like a lightbulb moment of "huh, even when I don't feel great I can still have a bit of fun and get a great session done".
So next time you don't feel motivated to get started, don't panic. Just Do It Anyway and see how you feel after!
It's this action that will bring more motivation to try next time x
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