I received a free outfit from Fabletics in exchange for this post. As always, all thoughts and opinions are completely my own. I appreciate your support of this blog.
It’s that time of year when everyone is trying to get back into their healthy lifestyle. While I may not always love fighting for time on the treadmill at a busier than normal gym, I fully support someone’s desire to change their health and be more active. But as we all know, for many the point comes when they start to get bored with the time at the gym, they don’t enjoy what they’re doing, or they feel frustrated because they’re not seeing progress as quickly as they may have hoped. If this is you (or sounds like someone in your life), instead of giving up, I thought I would share a few of my top tips to stay motivated in my fitness goals. What’s even better is that these tips remain true regardless of the time of year:
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Get an accountability partner
I am pretty self motivated when it comes to my health and fitness but if you have ever heard of the 4 tendencies, then you’ll understand that the majority of the population are obligers (myself included). This means that we seek outward accountability and when we have it, we are more likely to stick with the task and goal at hand (like regularly showing up to the gym or completing a big task at work).
If this sounds like you, I would suggest finding a friend who could check in on you to see if you made it to the gym that day or who meets you for your morning spin class. Even better, you guys could get together to meal plan and prep with each other to make sure you’re eating clean and healthy meals too!
Follow a new program or challenge
While I may be working towards my yoga teaching certificate and received my personal training certificate several years ago, I love when someone else plans my workouts for me. Sure, it can be fun to come up with them for other people and at times for myself too, but it’s really nice when I don’t have to think about what I’m doing at the gym that day and just show up to do the work.
If deciding what to do each day overwhelms you then find a program to follow. There are a lot of great programs out there that are free or very inexpensive, and that you can do at home or at a gym. Regardless of your goals, there is a program out there. There are also a several with built in accountability from the community they’ve made around the program.
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Try a new fitness class
Along the same lines as finding a new program, you can always try a new class. Not only is this great to keep yourself motivated and engaged, our bodies enjoy the variety as well. I don’t blame you if an hour on the elliptical every day is getting boring, so try throwing something else into the ring. Maybe try a weight lifting class, yoga, pilates, or spin. You just may find a new favorite.
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Write down and track your progress
It can be really difficult to feel like you’re working out and not seeing immediate results; I totally get it. This is why I like to celebrate the small wins (and obviously the big ones too) by tracking my workouts, meals, and other healthy habits.
This can look a bit different for everyone. I’ve found that tracking my food in an app isn’t the best for me, but if I write down a general idea of what I ate that day then I can see when I may have snacked more than necessary or when I wasn’t really hungry. With that said, I do like to use my Fitbit app to see my steps for the day and to track my water intake and sleep.
I use my daily paper planner to check off my main health tasks/goals for the day like taking a few minutes to meditate, completing my workout, and taking a few minutes to stretch or foam roll. I like that feeling of checking those things off at the end of the day so this holds me accountable to prioritizing those tasks but also keeps me motivated as I want that feeling of crossing everything off the list.
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Get some new workout gear
This may be my favorite option which I’m sure comes as no surprise to the girl who will happily spend the rest of her life in yoga pants. When I get new workout gear, the first thing I want to do is throw it on, see how it fits, and take it for a test run. No joke.
Needless to say, when I recently got some new workout gear from Fabletics, I couldn’t wait to put it to use! I got the Kayla Tank and Salar Mesh Powerhold Capri and I love both! The tank is a soft jersey fabric with a crossover racerback style and was seriously the most comfortable thing ever! The capris are made of moisture-wicking compression fabric, have a pocket perfect for your keys, and how cute is the mesh detailing on the side?
I love being active with my friends, so the boyfriend and I met up with another couple last week to try out a new rock climbing gym in Grand Rapids. If you’ve never been rock climbing, it’s a tough workout but also so much fun! Even as someone who is (mildly) afraid of heights, I find it so empowering to climb my way up the wall or work at a particularly difficult route (for me) and feel like such a rockstar when I tap out at the top.
I hope you are able to take some of these ideas and incorporate them into your own life so you can stick with your health and fitness goals and truly make them a lifestyle.
How do you stay motivated to workout when you hit a wall in your fitness?
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