Table of Contents
Introduction
To be honest, it’s much easier to motivate ourselves to do things when someone else tells us what to do.
This is why so many people get a job with bosses instead of starting their own business. Or why else would someone pay tens of thousands of dollars to graduate instead of reading a library book?
It’s the same reason why people pay to hire a personal trainer to work out. It wasn’t because they didn’t know how to do the exercises they wanted. It was because they wanted someone to instruct them.
Of course, you also need self-discipline to go to the gym, but working out in your home gym is even more difficult. At home, you have to face the temptations that can take you off course.
So, how can you be motivated to keep exercising and trying as hard as you can, especially when there is no one to challenge you?
Below are numerous tips on how you can stay motivated to work out at home.
Prepare the Night Before
Think of all the willpower needed to wake up, get dressed, and go for a run (especially if it’s wet or cold outside), or exercise at home before the morning rush.
Eliminate the stress of making decisions by getting ready the night before. Sleep in gym wear, pack your lunch and do your best to avoid time constraints that result in missing a morning workout.
Create Your Own Space
The home gym is a great way to feel in control. Although, depending on your living situation, there may be plenty of room to get creative with your interior design, you may want to keep all of your stuff in one room. A computer can also be useful for playing exercise videos.
When your entire equipment is organized in a designated space, working out can become less of a chore and more of a reality. When the exercise mood strikes, you want to minimize the number of obstacles that get in your way.
Ditch the Electronics
Playing smartphone games, browsing the web, and following social media are all distractions when exercising.
You finish an exercise, you try to stay up-to-date on Facebook, and before you know it, you have 10 minutes of rest between workouts, your rest periods get longer, your body cools down, and you lose speed.
Until you’re done, it’s best to keep your phone and other electronic devices safely out of reach, at least with the most demanding parts of workout.
The only exception to this suggestion would be when you’re doing steady state cardio. Having an electronic device at your finger tips can help motivate you and make the time go by faster.
Create Goals
When you train alone every day, and you don’t have a trainer or coach to challenge you, it becomes even harder to find motivation. That is why you have to set goals.
Fitness goals can be small or large. Goals can be as simple as being able to perform 10 burpees in a row without stopping, or learning how to perform handstand.
Signing up for an event or race can also be a good goal and motivator. A lot of people like to challenge themselves in half marathons or marathons. Engage in whatever type of event you find enjoyable.
Goals will motivate you because you are always working for something specific, not just exercising because you know you have to.
Schedule Time to Work Out
Let’s face it, the first 5 or 10 minutes of your workout can be overwhelming, especially when you have a list of excuses in mind. To make daily training easier, set a certain amount of time to train each day.
Depending on your schedule, commitments, and flexibility for exercising at home, you can schedule a specific time to lift weights, do circuit training, run on the treadmill, or do yoga.
Find a Community
Just because you don’t belong in a gym doesn’t mean you can’t find like-minded people to keep your head in the game and hold you accountable.
Whether you meet up with others once a week, play sports with friends at the park, or partake in an online community, finding a community can bring you lots of motivation.
You can do a group workout through Google Hangouts or talk to other fitness-minded folks on Twitter – do whatever it takes to get the support you need to keep exercising.
Give Yourself Rewards
No, you shouldn’t have a candy bar every time you hit the gym (an easy way to stop or reverse progress). But, giving yourself a concrete workout reward can be a great motivator.
Try to pinpoint the few days you want to exercise and get a reward for achieving your goal. This could be a nice cookout, a new home training kit to check out, new training shoes, or something completely different.
Just make sure your reward is as motivating as you really want it to be. By the end of your desired training period, coleslaw will likely no longer work for you.
Turn Exercise into a Game
A popular downloadable fitness game with over 1 million participants and 200 missions, is Zombies, Run! This app turns a race into a survival adventure as players gather supplies to build a city, escape zombies, and explore history every mile.
For all the music lovers ou there, there is another app called RockMyRun, which offers energetic music based on a runner’s heart rate or steps per minute.
Of course, those apps aren’t the only ways to gamify exercise. Feel free to be as creative as needed to make your workouts less boring!
Pump Up The Volume
Much like wearing new training shoes, music is important to your performance. Training with the right tunes has become a common requirement.
Some recent research has shown that the connection between your feet and ears improves your productivity.
Switch Up Your Workouts
Doing the same workout over and over can get boring. If you change exercises, you may be more likely to exericse while being stuck at home.
Change your exercise routine from time to time to break the performance plateau and avoid mental boredom.
Try climbing stairs in between weight lifts to make cardio less monotonous and more interesting. On a good morning, go out and walk around your home and yard. Build stations with weights, jumpropes, exercise bands, and kettlebells.
If your body hurts at the end of the week, try yoga, Pilates, or Zumba for a special treat. It’ll help mix up your routine, while encouraging recovery.
Decorate Your Room With Motivational Posters and Photos
When decorating your exercise room, look for décor that complements and enhances your workout.
Include posters of fitness models or bodybuilders you admire. Take notes, write motivational quotes on them, and spread them everywhere. You may be surprised how motivating this can be when you consider quitting.
If you’re looking to eventually fit into a particular outfit or swimsuit, put it on display as a key motivating tool.
Wear Workout Clothes
Even though you won’t be going to the gym, keep your clothes and shoes on hand.
After you get home from work or pick up the kids from school, you can change into your workout clothes and get started.
Studies also show that what you wear can affect your exercise performance.
Enclothed cognition is a psychological phenomenon that suggests that certain clothing can induce mental changes that can have a positive effect on performance.
Play Workout Videos
Play vigorous exercise videos on your TV or computer. This can put you into a mood of hitting your workout as hard as possible with 100% motivation.
Keep a Workout Log
The importance of keeping a workout log of some sort cannot be overemphasized.
Using a book or just a running note in Evernote to track your workout progress, and measurements like weight and body fat percentage, will motivate you far more than just looking in the mirror every day.
Seeing all of your hard work in print (or on-screen) can be the motivation to keep working regularly.
Conclusion – Working Out at Home Made Easier
The best way to motivate yourself to work out at home is to find a routine that you really enjoy so your workouts at home don’t feel like work.
Then implement as many as the above tips as possible to prepare for success and make it a habit. Sure, laying on your couch is extremely tempting when you come home after a long day, but diving onto it feels so much better after you’ve finished your workout and earned it.
With the right tools, organization, settings, and music, you can earn healthy rewards from working out without leaving your home.
References
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6533109/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5156899/
https://www.vionicshoes.com/vionic-innovation-lab/juliet-kaska