How To Stay Motivated To Work Out

I think 90% of us have been there (I’ll leave the other 10% out of this because there are fitness fanatics who seem to NEVER burnout). It’s the place where we just dread working out or can’t find the motivation to get it in gear and do our daily workout. You push it off till the next day and when the next day comes you find some other excuse to not do it and eventually a whole week has gone by and you haven’t done one bit of exercise.

I get it. I’ve been there. I used to spend three hours a night at the gym, everyday, doing the same thing night after night. I was happy with the body I’d sculpted out for myself, but eventually it was too much to sustain. I kept finding excuses not to go the gym, finding ailments or aches to convince my brain that I couldn’t get to my exercise. I of course gained weight, looked terrible and became depressed. But I still could not drag myself to work out.

It wasn’t until I realized a few things and made the mental connection that not only did I need to workout to be healthy, but I wanted to workout to look good. Call me vain or egotistical, it’s ok, I’m fine with that. Seriously, who doesn’t like to look good? I find that when you look good, you feel good (to steal a quote from the famous Fernando Lamas) and for me that’s what it was about. I wanted to exercise, eat right and get healthy; but ultimately I wanted to look good.

I knew I had to start working out and eating right again. So I made a conscious effort not to put myself in the same situation I was in before where I worked out like crazy only to get burned out; I wanted to try and do something that excited and motivated me, something to keep my interested and engaged. That’s when I saw the infomercial for P90X. What got me geeked about it was that here were these ordinary people like me doing this “muscle confusion” and getting unbelievable results. With all the different workouts incorporated into the program I knew this was for me. That is what sparked me to want to get back to working out and break past my workout burnout, my fitness fatigue if you will. I got through my burnout by doing a program that mixes it up and keeps me interested every single day.

Getting yourself mentally prepared to workout is half the battle. You need to look inside yourself and determine why you want to workout. Do you want to be healthier? Do you want to just be more active? Do you want to look good so people check you out? Don’t apologize for whatever your reason is. Embrace it. Again, for me, it was because I wanted to look good. I like the feeling that as a 40 year old man, I could be on the beach without a shirt on and make heads turn. Living healthy and being fit are obviously a welcomed offshoot and I’m much happier now that I’m healthier and in the best shape of my life – eating healthy and clean, and not contributing to the growing obesity problem in this country.

Find whatever it is that excites you to workout. Once you figure it out start doing something. Is it getting outside and running, rollerblading or playing some tennis? Is it going to the gym? Or maybe you’re like me and love the fact that you can walk downstairs to the basement, push play on your DVD player, and get in the best shape of your life? It becomes easier to exercise when you know why you are doing it. Don’t just do it because everyone tells you it’s what you’re supposed to be doing. I think that’s the reason a lot of people fail. They aren’t exercising for themselves, they are doing it because society tells them they are supposed to and eventually there is no motivation to continue. You HAVE to decide what that motivation is and get going; you’ll find that when you know your why, you’ll want to workout everyday.

Please comment below with your WHY – your reason for exercising and staying in shape. If you don’t know it yet, let us know and maybe we can help!

Good luck…keep at it!

David Samra is an Independent body Coach who provides information, tips, tricks, resources, etc. about anything related to health, fitness, exercise and nutrition.