When we’re not used to doing something, or have been conditioned to not doing something, when you do do that ‘something’, it can feel really unnatural for a while. And when something feels unnatural, you can end up spending more time thinking about doing it, than the time it takes to actually do it. When this happens for a long period of time, you’ll feel like quitting, and of course you do! What you’re quitting is the time it’s taking up in your mind and in your day. It’s all the thinking about it that you want to get rid of.
So with that in mind, to get consistent with your workouts, you need to get to a place that you don’t spend time thinking about, you only spend time doing it. So here’s my top tips to staying consistent with your workouts:
Plan your workouts for the week ahead, on the Friday before you wrap up the week. Write down the exact times and days your going to workout for the week ahead. You can then put it out of your head and not think about it.
Show up when you said you were going to. Stick with your plan, don’t overthink it, just show up, dressed in your workout gear at the time you said you were going to.
Show up to your sessions regardless of your mood. I am very rarely in the mood to workout in the first 5 minutes of my workout. I wouldn’t recommend waiting for a eureka moment when all of a sudden you’ll be so excited to workout. Instead, show up regardless of how you feel, and don’t listen to yourself too much, or take your mood too seriously.
You’ve got to fit your workouts into your life. It’s very hard to get off the couch and workout. Instead, schedule a session in the morning, or straight after work, or straight after the kids have gone to bed, or straight after a walk. Do it when you’re still moving. If you sit on the coach after a long day, are you really going to get up again?
Put the time and effort into yourself. You don’t win any medals for being a martyr and putting yourself last, I know because I’ve tried! Seriously, if you can’t find time to workout during the week, use that as a warning sign that something is wrong and your life is out of balance.
Know that when you feel like quitting, if you do, you’re going to have to start all over again. It’s actually easier to keep on going through the tough times, than it is to stop, and have to re-start.
Quitting exercise because you don’t feel like you’re getting results is like saying you’re going to actively stop at being healthy. It’s absolutely bananas talk to me that you’d stop working out because you’re not getting results. Workout consistently through the good times and the bad, when you’re food is going good and when it’s not. Stop binding exercise around your weight. It has so much more benefits than that. And if you’re not getting results, and you are working out, tweak your food but leave your exercise regime alone!
I hope this helps, you can grab lots of free tools like Kickstarts and recipes books in the free tools section of our website here.
Here to help,
Jessica Cooke X
