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15 ways to get motivated for exercise when it’s the last thing you feel like doing

January 22, 2014 by Peter Fletcher

Paintball players in action

Don’t be a slave to your exercise goals. Sometimes it’s good to do something different.
Image: Andrés Aguiluz Rios http://www.flickr.com/photos/magoexperto/

A text arrived. It said: “Hey PF, if you’re keen, we’re doing the 80 mins as per program tomorrow. 5:14am at my place then heading…”

My eyes glazed over.

By the end of the message I’d lost interest. It was hot, I was tired and the last thing I felt like doing was grinding out 8o minutes in the heat.

Come to think of it I couldn’t bear to even think about running.

The day wore on. I wrestled with excuses.  

Then it came to me: tackle this lack of motivation head on.

The question I asked, then, was this: How can I motivate myself to run when it’s the last thing I feel like doing?

Here are the answers I came up with.

  1. Don’t fight it. Roll with the flow and have a day or two or three off. Have faith that the inspiration will return.
  2. Do something short and easy. Do it for the joy of being back on the bike, back on the track or back in the gym.
  3. Adjust your workload. Trying to cram too much into the day can sap the joy out of life. Slow down.
  4. Don’t think about the big goal. Think about doing the first kilometre, the first rep, or even just getting out of bed.
  5. Read success stories, how to articles or watch inspirational videos.
  6. Make an exercise date with like-minded people. I run with a group in Victoria Park and do strongman training with some comrades in Cannington.
  7. Own your lack of motivation. Talk about it and write about it.  Own the syrup you’re trying to swim through.
  8. Don’t beat up on yourself if you skip a workout. Shit happens. There’s no point in getting down on yourself, that just makes it harder to get back on your feet again.
  9. Keep your goal in the public eye – like I’m doing with these blog posts.
  10. Look failure squarely in the eye. When I did my big ride my sports psych got me to address the worst case scenario. It was a liberating experience.
  11. Remind yourself about the good stuff you’ve done and the goals you’ve achieved.
  12. Get a good night’s rest.
  13. Take it easy on the booze. I haven’t had a drink since September 14, 2013 and I still feel flat. Imagine how much worse I’d feel if I’d ploughed through a bottle of red.
  14. Think small. Do a tiny workout even if it’s just a few pushups or a walk around the block. Something small is better than nothing at all. 
  15. Mix it up. Go for a ride instead of a run. Go for a swim or paintballing.

How do you get your mojo back if you’re in an exercise slump?

 

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Filed Under: Daily blog, Motivation Tagged With: exercise, motivation, running

Comments

  1. Lee Baston says

    January 22, 2014 at 9:45 pm

    🙂 Fabulous post PF…printing this one off. Run this morning was painful, windy as hell and not enjoyable at all but that guilty feeling crept in – 8 weeks to go, following a ‘program’, yep the voices in my head – little suckers!
    After today I said ‘boo’ to the program – pressed the pause button, for a lot of the reasons you have written about. Tomorrow, I will swim with my kids…number 15…because I don’t feel like running! My mojo will find me again, she just needs a break.

  2. Peter Fletcher says

    January 23, 2014 at 8:35 pm

    Thanks Lee. I had another off morning this morning but I sense the malaise has passed. Good on you for getting out there and getting it done.

About Peter

Speaker, trainer and coach. I write about living, loving and working better. Love a challenge. More...

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