6 Unusual Ideas To Motivate Yourself Work Out

Dissatisfaction with the body encourages us to go to the gym. But how long will we stay there? Psychologists have found out what helps to motivate ourselves and what only hinders us.

1. Tune in to good memories

If a new acquaintance causes pleasant emotions, you will most likely be happy to see him again. The same rule is true for sports. Those, who remembered about successful past trainings, visited the gym more often and with pleasure.

If a happy picture does not appear in your head, try to create it yourself. Headphones with your favorite music in your ears, sneakers on your feet – and forward, create a memory!

2. Do not strive to “do exercises”. Look for pleasure!

We often look at sports as a way to get in shape. And it is right. But it can also be a source of joy. Those who talk about sport as a game often use the words “pleasure”, “challenge”, “excitement”. Those for whom sport is primarily an exercise, focus on appearance, weight and stress management. Research shows that internal motivation works better when we need to learn and consolidate a new habit.

3. Do not train next to the fittest person in the gym. 

Advertising of fitness clubs attracts us with photos of models and athletes with perfect muscles. But meeting such a person in the hall will not add motivation. On the contrary, you’ll rather do less and go home with an unpleasant feeling.

A few years ago, psychologists conducted research on how the kind of desired body affects our motivation. The first participant was training on a treadmill next to the athlete wearing a tight top and short shorts. The second one worked out in the company of the same woman, but in a shapeless tracksuit. In the first case, the participant spent less time in the gym and her self-esteem worsened. The second, on the contrary, trained longer and at the end did not feel dissatisfied with herself.

4. Do not think about the flaws of your body

The frequency of sports activities is related to three things:

• satisfaction with your body,
• attention to its needs,
• the joy of knowing what it can do.

But none of these points will have the right effect if you think of a body with a dislike. Do not imagine yourself a sculptor who carves a masterpiece out of shapeless stone. Rather, think of a gardener who keeps an eye on his garden. The trees in it are good in themselves, but a couple of strokes of scissors will only add to their charm.

5. Adjust the training mode to suit yourself.

You found a program on the Web that promises a dream body for X months. But the first half hour of exercises squeezed you out like a lemon. The thought of repeating this nightmare terrifies you. “Probably, all this is not for me,” you decide. And you are mistaken.

Those who stick to a rigid program, without taking into account their condition, achieve less effect than those who choose exercises according to their abilities. Do not be slaves of the program and do not set records. Listen to your body and from time to time revise the order and intensity of exercises, the number of approaches and other parameters.

6. Stop concentrating on your laziness.

Our psyche seeks to ensure that reality is consistent with our vision of ourselves. If we build our inner image from negative traits – “I’m a negligible lazybones, I have absolutely no willpower” – our brain will interpret what is happening in such a way as to confirm this image. Did you sleep through the workout? Well, of course, what else can you expect from such a lazy person? Instead, it is recommended trying to think of yourself as a healthy person.

Did you oversleep? It’s not so bad – you should sleep too. You are a busy person, you need to recover. An important point: it does not mean that you need to justify your weaknesses. Just do not let them determine who you are. If we stumble, this is not a reason not to go forward at all, right?