Motivation to Work Out:
9 Tried-and-true Ways to Find It

Recognizing the need for motivation is the first step to creating a healthy and consistent exercise routine. But there is more to it. In this article, you will find nine great tips that will help motivate you to work out consistently.

Yes, certainly! Working out is hard, and that's the simple truth. Even with the body goals and knowledge of all the good it does for us, we still find it difficult to be consistent. Often, after a few days or weeks of following a workout program religiously, we start giving in to excuses: I'm too tired, I'm too busy, it's so confusing, it's too boring ... and then one day, we just stop.

Sound familiar? Yes? Now that's a lack of motivation to exercise. You love the idea of exercising, you want the results, you want to be able to wear fitting clothes and be comfortable in them, but you can't just stay consistent no matter how hard you try. An effective way to get over this is to find a source of motivation for working out. Motivation is what will make you put on your running shoes on the days you feel tired and escape the self-sabotaging excuses like "I'm too busy."

Motivation is the fuel that drives us to achieve set goals — find it, and you will discover consistency. It could come from external factors such as the desire to be in better shape or a need to escape from the daily struggles of life. The source could also be intrinsic — an interest or just a way of having fun. While both kinds of motivation are effective, we've found that intrinsic motivators are more effective in the long run, and therefore, we recommend them.
Without beating around the bush, here's how to stay motivated to work out.

As cheesy as this sounds, putting on your training clothes is one way to build motivation. In fact, 88% of over 2,000 gym goers in a study conducted by Barbell Apparel said that putting on their training clothes always provided them a lot of motivation to work out.

As humans, we tend to reflect our surroundings; this is why you can find yourself feeling lazy and uninspired when you're sitting in your sweatshirt in an untidy room. You will find that the more often you wear your training clothes, the more you will feel like working out. You might even try wearing your trainers to bed and to see if it helps with the motivation to run first thing in the morning!

The better your sportswear looks, the more you'd want to wear it. The more you wear your sportswear, the likelier it is that you'd actually use it for its intended purpose: working out. This was confirmed through the same study conducted by Barbell. Seventy-nine percent of the gym goers admitted that they felt more motivated to work out when they wore nice looking sportswear. Buying quality sportswear is also recommended because it will last longer. It will ensure that you don't miss gym appointments with the excuse of trying to get a replacement.

If you notice that your workouts are becoming stagnant, it may be time to add some diversity. Dr. Arnold Lee, MD, says, "It's the key to stimulating different muscle groups and preventing boredom." There's no harm in starting out with simple exercises that can increase your activity and make your body stronger.

Make efforts to try out different variations of your workouts. For example, if you use an elliptical bike at home, you can get a sports bicycle and ride around the block for a change. This avails you a change in scenery and provides exercise motivation. Varying workouts will help you escape boredom and make it fun.

You've heard that iron sharpens iron, and this is especially true in the fitness world. Working out is a lot easier when done in groups or with friends. Training within a fitness community will help build healthy competition that can, in turn, help you to push your boundaries. It may also enable you to get better instruction or tips that will improve the quality of your workouts. So, gather your friends, set workout goals, and crush them!

In the bid to stay committed, the mistake most people make is burning themselves out. Avoid it at all costs. Burnout comes when you overexert yourself and get tired from working out but refuse to take enough breaks to rest. Medically, rest is essential, and according to Kirsten Nunez, constant exercise overproduces energy-boosting hormones like adrenaline and makes it harder to sleep well. This can adversely impact motivation, and it can also make us more prone to injury, which will surely stop our workout routine in its tracks! This is why rest is vital.

If you're working out for extrinsic gains such as losing weight or getting your dream body, a great way to stay motivated is to track your progress and see your results in real time. Measure your body dimensions before embarking on this fitness journey and keep taking measurements at regular intervals. The more positive changes you see in these numbers, the more motivated you'll be to continue.

There is an adage that goes, "If you praise someone for something they've done, they'll be motivated to do more." This applies to fitness motivation too. A sure way to build confidence is by sharing your training achievements with the public. Sharing achievements such as your number of reps, how much weight you've lost, body transformation photos, etc. with the public and feeding your ego from the positive compliments can serve as a great source of motivation. And it may help motivate others to boot!

Finding the motivation to lose weight or to exercise for other health benefits can be very challenging. However, building your own set of little challenges around your workout routine and beating them can get you really motivated and charged up to achieve more.

Next time you go to the gym, create a little challenge for yourself. It may be something as small as beating your reps from the previous session by one or hitting an extra mile on the treadmill. The reason for this is the fact that achieving those little victories releases dopamine, a chemical in the brain that pushes us to continue doing the activity that caused the dopamine release. This victory–reward cycle is in itself a biological motivator!

Eating healthy is a necessity for anyone who works out. It is one of the few simple habits that can help you stay in shape. Exercising takes up a lot of energy and resources from the body, and these resources need to be continuously replenished. Your dietitian can recommend the best foods based on your unique physiology.

Poor eating habits can cause you to tire out quickly and make you less likely to meet milestones, and falling short regularly can make you lose the drive to continue exercising at all over time. You can make this your mantra: Eat like a champion if you want to be one.

The thought of being in top physical shape can be very exciting, but without proper motivation, your enthusiasm may be short-lived. Though motivation is something you pull from within, you'll need it to flow consistently. These nine tips will not only provide you with the motivation to work out but also be a means to sustain it and stay true to the course.

Never run out of reasons to stay motivated and active every day!