Tips to stay motivated with exercise

Exercise is a crucial aspect of any healthy lifestyle. It helps with fat loss and muscle gain, boosts energy levels, reduces your risk of chronic illnesses, and benefits your sleep and mental health.¹ However, if you find it easy to fall off track with exercise, you’re not the only one. Motivation struggles are common and understandable, so we’re sharing a few of our top tips on how to stay motivated with exercise to help you get out of a fitness slump.

Six simple tips to stay motivated with exercise

1. Be realistic with your workouts

Spending hours in the gym each week can be unsustainable alongside a busy lifestyle. So, try shorter 10-15 minute exercise sessions like High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) instead. Short HIIT workouts have actually been shown to be more enjoyable and more beneficial to your health than lower-intensity long workouts, so give it a go if you’re wanting to stay motivated with exercise.^2,3 To get you started, our Programme houses plenty of HIIT guided videos to follow along with.

2. Find a good exercise plan

There are plenty of helpful tools and resources you can use to stay motivated with exercise. Whether you’re suffering from boredom, or a lack of inspiration and challenge when it comes to your fitness abilities, following an exercise plan can really help. Our team of Health Coaches provide tailored exercise plans, daily workouts, and on-hand support on our Programme. They cater to different fitness levels and, what’s more, every video can be followed along at home. So, if a gym setting really isn’t your thing, we’ve got you covered.

3. Set yourself small goals

Research shows that setting fitness goals can significantly help with higher exercise adherence and result in fewer dropouts in exercise related activities.4 The relationship between the goal and performance is strongest when you are committed, persist despite barriers, and expend effort to accomplish the goals.⁵ However, to stay motivated with exercise goals, start small: if you’ve never tried running before, aim towards 1km-5km, rather than a marathon, to give you that reward boost you need to keep going.

4. Find an exercise you love

There are plenty of ways to enjoy physical activity, and one way to stay motivated with exercise is to find one you love. This will ensure it feels more like a hobby, and less like a chore. If you’ve found you don’t enjoy cardio, like jogging, try low-impact yoga instead. Or if you’re feeling cooped up inside a gym, try hiking or cycling in nature. Any form of exercise is good exercise, so keep trying different types until you find one you enjoy.

5. Get prepared ahead of time

You know what they say: ‘by failing to prepare, you’re preparing to fail’. This couldn’t be more true when it comes to staying motivated with exercise. Book in-person workout classes in advance so you’re more likely to turn up, even when you might not feel like it. For gym and home workouts, set out your clothes the night before so you can easily slip right into the outfit, and mindset, you need to get going.

6. Find a workout buddy

Another way to stay motivated with exercise is to find a workout partner. Research has found that exercising with other people who are also active can help with keeping up your physical exercise motivation.⁶ Often, it just takes another person to keep up the enjoyment and accountability you need to keep going.

If you need to take some time off from your exercise routine, don’t worry too much as it won’t undo all your previous hard work. But, if you are finding it difficult to get your head back in the game, try our top tips to stay motivated with exercise. For a little more guidance, our Health Coaches are available via our Programme with advice and fitness videos  to remind you that you’ve got this!