We’ve all been there. It’s time to get up and exercise and you just can’t bring yourself to do it. No matter what you do, you just can’t seem to find the motivation. You just want to lay down.
Being your happiest and healthiest self requires exercise, but exercise is not always something you want to do. Sometimes you just want to get home from whatever you were doing during the day and collapse on the couch.
In order to remain consistent and see sustainable results, you have to find techniques to keep yourself accountable. You have to know the difference between needing rest and just feeling out of it. You have to fight through that lack of motivation and continue on your path to help.
Here are a few things to do when you can’t find the motivation to exercise:
Gauge your need for rest. Rest days are important, sure. Your muscles will grow during recovery and it will help to prevent injury from overuse. However, there is a difference between resting and taking a day off that you don’t need. You have to know the difference and exercise when you don’t need that day off.
When you really feel like you don’t want to get in the gym, ask yourself why. Is it because you’re sore? Did you not sleep well last night? Are you mentally drained? If you answered yes to these questions, you might need a day off. That’s fine! Get back in there tomorrow.
However, if you answered no, think about the potential growth you’re missing out on. You could be taking one step closer to achieving your goals. Taking a day off that you don’t need to could slow down the routine you’ve been breaking. You may feel tempted to take more days off that you don’t need to.
The key here is honesty with yourself. You know what you can and can’t handle. If you can’t find a concrete reason to skip a day, you can probably handle some exercise.
Do something you enjoy. If you’re dreading exercise because you hate your current training plan, you should change it! There should be fun in fitness. It doesn’t have just to be hours on the treadmill or in the weight room (unless you want it to be!).
You may be experiencing some burnout. That is perfectly natural. It just means it’s time to change something in your routine. Maybe you need to add an exercise or take one out. Perhaps you need to try some personal training or team training.
If none of these things sound appealing to you, try something you know you like. Go for a walk, play a sport, or do some yoga. These are all fun and relatively low-impact exercises that you can do to help your burnout.
Ask somebody to go with you. Teamwork makes the dream work, as they say. Having someone who will motivate you through a challenging workout is fantastic! At FNS, our team training (virtual and in-person) is designed with teamwork and community in mind. Our coaches will motivate you every step of the way to be your best throughout the entire workout. On top of that, you’ll meet tons of like-minded people with the same goal as you: living a happy, healthy lifestyle.
Working out with people you like is just plain fun. Friendly competition will add a little bit of flavor to any boring workout routine. Having a long-term workout partner is also a great method to keep yourself (and them) accountable. It’s much harder to take a day off when you have someone planning on and counting on you to be there.
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