Staying Motivated
The most popular day to exercise is “tomorrow.” Motivating yourself to go to the gym or workout can be a real struggle and we can always come up with a good enough reason not to go. Sometimes you’re tired, sick or simply not in the mood. And once the clocks change next month, getting yourself into the gym or heading out for a run on cold dark mornings and evenings takes a lot more motivation than it might do right now.
It’s often said that getting fit and staying healthy is all in the mind: it’s a matter of motivation. But overcoming this is actually quite simple. Below are 5 key tips from the experts:
- Research from Brunel University School of Sport and Education shown that listening to music whilst exercising can increase your endurance by up to 15 per cent. It also has the ability to motivate us to start exercising.
- “None of us are lazy in doing things we want to,” says Carl Wilson of The Third Space gym. “The gym is uninteresting for lots of people, but feeling good while moving is something everyone can appreciate. Physicality is a state, not a trait.”
- Variety is the key. “Your body needs to do different things – cross train as much as you can and include strength, cardio, flexibility and something like yoga to balance the nervous system,” says Nahid de Belgeonne from Good Vibes studios.
- Grab yourself a coffee to go! A study conducted by Coventry University explains that the caffeine from coffee can help improve endurance and allow you to stay motivated by improving your mood and reducing the build-up of adenosine in a person’s muscles. Adenosine is the chemical responsible for making it harder for our muscles to exert force, making us feel weak when we exercise.
- We ‘fail’ one target to get fit, give up, then throw ourselves into another more punishing regime to make up for it, losing confidence and enthusiasm along the way. “Try the 80/20 rule,” says Tim Weeks, ex-Olympic athlete and coach who is programme director for London indoor cycling studio Psycle. “Be more compassionate and understand that relaxation is as important as the action, so keep on track 80% of the time and for the other 20%, relax.”