4 Ways to Increase your Motivation to Exercise

You are dead serious about running three times a week at 6 am! You’ve thought about how you can increase your motivation to exercise so you have added it to your Google calendar and you’ve set an alarm on your Fitbit!

‘buzzzzzz’, buzzzzz’, buzzzz’, ‘buzzzzzz’

Nah, no way! It’s can’t be 6am!

I’ll start tomorrow!

Sound familiar, no doubt it does, it’s something I have done myself. Motivation to do something requires large amounts of willpower, especially if you are attempting to adopt a new habit. And especially if that new habit requires ‘effort’.

Increase your Motivation to Exercise

Getting out of the front door is absolutely the hardest part of any workout or group exercise session, however, once out of the front door you are halfway. The getting out of the door part is often a major psychological barrier, it’s often the reason why you might not workout today or give the exercise session a miss. 

The solution is to create some accountability.

Create accountability to increase your motivation to exercise

In order to increase exercise adherence, you need to create some form of accountability. If no one cares that you are going to work out or going to an exercise session. There are no consequences, no feedback and therefore, no accountability.

Reasons for not going might include:

• I don’t have time
• I’m tired
• I have something else to do
• etc etc etc

Truth is, these are not reasons, they are excuses!

Creating accountability to increase exercise adherence, keep us motivated and move towards a lifestyle activity rather than something we have to do to lose weight, get fit, feel healthy etc can be done by;

1. Train with a friend

Taking a friend along, making an arrangement to pick them up and training together creates accountability and responsibility, this makes you less likely to back down, more likely to achieve your goals. Instead of a barrier to going we’ve created a barrier for not going which wasn’t there before, a consequence to our actions.

Arrange to meet a friend at a session, at the gym or just to go for a run will focus you towards the activity, make you accountable and make it more enjoyable and an experience that can be shared.

2. Join a regular class or group

If you are attending a group exercise session, BOOK IT! Why because you create consequences for not going, it will focus you towards that session and it’s now clearly allocated within your diary. Now you are thinking I AM GOING not I COULD GO. 

Likewise, if you want to run with other people, join a local running group or go with a group of friends or colleagues.

3. Share your goal with friends & family

Share your goal with friends and family, if they know what you are wanting to achieve they can help you along the journey and provide motivation when you most need it. 

Ask them to check in with you on how you are getting along, schedule a regular call or coffee catch up.

4. Hire a Personal Trainer

Personal trainers provide many of the benefits outlined above and much more, real accountability with long term planning, goal tracking and constant progression and motivation. I mentioned getting out the door is the hardest part, well when you hire a personal trainer you often don’t need to get to that point as the trainer comes to you with all the equipment needed. Aside from saving you bags of time, its convenient and highly effective. 

If you struggle to motivate yourself, employ some of the tactics above and hire a personal trainer. Stop making excuses and start making reasons to workout that will lead you to a lifestyle habit.

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change

If you want to take control of your habits then this is an excellent book. I listened to it on Audible but whichever works best for you.

Have a read or a listen and let me know what you think.