How To Stay Motivated With Your New Gym Equipment Purchase
Have you ever had one of ‘those days’? Those days where it takes you an eternity to get out of bed? Those days where your legs are as heavy as lead? Those days where you try to convince yourself you’ll go to the gym ‘later’ but somehow never get there? Those days where you just lack motivation? Everyone does….. Fear not! Here are 10 tips to get you back on track!
Happy Tuesday!
1 Have an accountability partner.
The only thing worse than letting yourself down is letting someone else down. There is a massive difference between talking yourself into going to the gym at 6am alone and meeting a friend there. There is a very good chance you will talk yourself out of going for a 6am session, but you’re never going to leave your friend hanging- well I would hope not!
2) Daily Journal
I bet you think you’re healthy….. What you don’t realise is that there are a number of things you are eating that you’re not actually conscious of. Keep a journal to write down everything you eat AND everything you feel during your ‘health journey’ with the focus on you feeling healthier. If you have weight to lose you will lose it- but it’s also important to be in tune with the other positives that come with a new healthier you!
3) When you fall down, get right back up and try again.
You can’t control everything, so there is no point beating yourself up about missing a session or a diet slip up. Although consistency is the key to success, it’s OK to miss a workout every now and then. Just because you miss a session doesn’t mean all your hard work comes undone- just pick yourself up quickly and continue on from where you kicked off.
Imagine you had the task of filling a room with hundreds of helium balloons until the ceiling was totally covered. Now imagine if one popped by accident. Would you walk around the room and pop ALL the remaining balloons? Definitely not. There’s no way you’d sabotage all your hard work and time spent. You might shake your head and stamp your feet, but eventually you’d just fill another balloon to replace the one that popped. Diet and exercise is the same. If you miss one training session or eat one “unhealthy” snack, there’s no use eating terrible for the next week or not training for five days. You get over it and get back on track.
4) Focus on what is going right.
Too often we get down about the things that aren’t working for us. Let me tell you now- not everything is going to go according to plan. Instead of getting worked up about it, take a moment to acknowledge the things that are going well. You can have two people in the same situation look at things very differently- how are you going to look at it?
5) Use your social network! Post it, tweet it, blog about it, whatever you like, but put it out there!
If you tell others that you have a major health and fitness goal that you are trying to achieve you will find support that keeps you accountable and keeps you on track to reach your goals. By sharing your goals online, you may also find someone else who shares your goals and can add to your support group.
6) Schedule all your gym equipment workouts at least one week ahead of time.
Creating workout “dates” and times on your calendar gives your health and fitness plan priority and structure. Make sure you have your workouts and all things ‘healthy’ plugged into your iphone, blackberry and outlook calendar.
7) Change the scenery around you.
Your current behavioural patterns are often shaped by the environment you’re in at the moment. If you find yourself going to the same restaurant every Friday night and making the same poor choices,change it and start with a cleaner meal.
8) Use YouTube for Inspiration.
Gone are the days where you have to spend thousands of dollars to be inspired by motivational speakers. You can now get them on YouTube! Why not download a few of your favourite video clips. I love Will Smith’s clip on success.
9) Stay away from bad influences.
Are there certain family members, friends or environments that ‘assist’ and lead you to making bad choices? I’ve managed to ‘eliminate’ people out of my life that I felt were pulling me back and leading me in the wrong direction. I’m constantly re assessing those I spend time with- even deciding last week to ‘drift’ away from someone I thought was holding me back! Instead, find people, places and things that will have a more positive influence on your lifestyle, and will help facilitate your goals.
10) Cross train your habits.
If you do the same routine each and every week YOU WILL GET BORED! It’s important to change up your program regularly to keep it interesting. At Ministry of Wellbeing we change our program every month BUT within that month each and every one of our clients are still moving forward with their results because we have ‘progressive overload’ meaning the same workout gets harder and harder each week!
Good luck!
By Blake Worrall-Thompson
