Exercise Motivation To Kickstart Your Fitness Routine

I know it’s hard, you’re a busy gal. I get that! I’m not going to preach to you how important working out is BUT I will share some insights on how to kickstart your fitness routine and turbo-charge your exercise motivation. If you’re looking to seriously get your bum in gear and optimise the time you spend in the gym, I suggest you read on…

getting back on track

Embrace every day as a fresh opportunity to better yourself. Basically, don’t beat yourself up for a bad day – We all have them! Aim to find a minimum of 20/30 minutes a day and you’ll soon notice you’re getting into better habits. Maybe you let your fitness routine slip due to injury or a lack of that ‘get-up-and-go’ attitude. That’s totally fine. Just set your sights on getting yourself back on track. For a start, you’re here reading this post so you must be pretty serious about it anyway!

your zone for exercise motivation

Sort yourself a little space in the house – Set up a small station of weights, add a mat and any other equipment you’ll want to use in that session. Block out distractions, grab a bottle of water and set up your laptop, tablet or phone. Dedicate this time to throwing yourself into a workout. All you need now to kickstart your fitness routine and get your exercise motivation back on top form is a top quality workout guide to follow. Load the guide up onto your device and do the workout along with the virtual instructor. If you’re struggling to find something worthwhile, I seriously recommend these ones:

• Joe Wicks’ ‘The Body Coach’ YouTube Channel
• PopSugar Fit YouTube Channel
• Kayla Itsines Guides
• Seven Minutes App
• Sworkit App
• Special mention to the Endomondo App for tracking workouts!
  

Feeling good = Looking good

Warning… Here’s a serious exercise motivation hack.
Treat yourself to some new workout gear and you’ll feel more inclined to try it out at the gym. This little trick works in the same way having a new dress to wear makes you more excited for a night out! Pick out some fresh yoga socks or a new flashing armband for running in the dark evenings. If you’re the type who will just shelve your purchases, invest some money in an entirely new outfit. For a more daring approach, buy a tracker or a fancy piece of equipment! Now you can put your purchases to the test and before you know it, you’ll be looking forward to the next workout so you can slip on those crisp new trainers. The cliché mantra of looking good and feeling good in return really does come into play here. Flip that cliché over and you’ll find that, if you feel comfortable and confident in what you’re wearing, you’ll naturally give off a strong vibe visually and in your body language. Winning!

I have popped some of my go-to places for gymwear below to help you find a new killer workout piece:

• Sweaty Betty
• H&M Fitness
• Monreal Gymwear
• Vie Activewear
• Hip and Healthy
• Gymshark

challenge yourself

Find an exercise challenge to get involved in – You don’t need to shout about it at work or plaster it on Instagram every moment of the day but if posting your progress and chatting to your pals helps to motivate you more, try it.  A lot of the challenges out there have awesome, supportive online communities of people trying the same thing as you. Don’t forget fellow participants may well be in very different stages; Some will be starting out afresh whilst others might be seasoned gym-goers on their 4th or 5th round of that particular workout challenge. The ultimate bonus of doing an exercise challenge like this? You don’t have to plan anything, it’s all done for you. Simply follow the instructions and keep up your motivation. I’ve listed a few challenge ideas below which should definitely kickstart your fitness:

• 30 Days of 10,000+ steps (set up a FitBit challenge with a few friends)
• BBG by Kayla Itsines
• Bring Sally Up – This is a squat/press-up challenge along to the Moby song. Add weights for some serious #BeastMode gains!
• 30 Day Plank Challenge

Simply add a splash of exercise motivation and you’re on to a winner!

twist up the norm

Keep your workouts diverse and you’ll find more enjoyment in exercising. We often subconsciously restrict ourselves to a limited range of activities. Sticking to what we like the most or the ones we think will benefit our bodies most is a bad habit to get into. I really recommend consulting a personal trainer or gym – Try putting the control of your workout into the hands of someone else. Asking the team at your gym doesn’t mean you’re incompetent, it totally gives you the chance to try something different (and gives them a purpose for loitering by the machines!). Not a fan of being a newbie at a workout class? We’ve all been there. Shut your mind off and just focus on you! You’ll find you get so much more out of the workout when you turn the focus on to your own posture, performance and progress.

Looking for a new class to try? Here are some ideas:

• Clubbercise – Dance fitness which really does feel more like a night out than a workout. Dark halls with disco lights, club classics from the 80s, 90s and now (think Kisstory). Bonus is that you have glowsticks! You’ll often see me posting about this on my Instagram stories!
• Bounce – Trampolining routines to catchy soundtracks. Cardio workouts which focus on bums, tums and thighs.
• Sh’bam – I’ve heard SUCH good things about this one!
• Hot yoga – Improve flexibility with the added perks of detoxification. Change up your normal yoga routines and try a hot yoga class! Ask your yoga teacher if they provide a class in your area. Look out for approved Bikram yoga studios!
• Acqua pole – Try a quirky water-based workout. I bet you haven’t heard of this one before!

the perks of peer pressure

Try to buddy up with someone who’s of a similar outlook, age or fitness level to you. Schedule in workout slots with a friend who you’d like to train with and you’ll find it really does help to keep you going. There’ll come a moment when you really can’t be bothered to go to the gym or it’s raining and you reaaaally want to sack off going for a run after work. Because you’ve got someone depending on you, you find the motivation to go and work out. By working out with other people, whether that’s an individual or a team of people, you often find it spurs you on that little bit more and will certainly kickstart your fitness regime and motivation. You find an edge where you can push yourself further. A little bit of healthy competition doesn’t hurt either and it’s great to build each other up, supporting your teammates through daily training and big events!

Set your sights

Sign up for an event and you’ll have a goal to look forward to and train towards. A few I recommend are below:

• Inflatable 5k – A quirky 5k ‘race’ involving a course of inflatable obstacles!
• Pedal For The J’s – Support a fab charity whilst hitting your own personal achievements. The J’s Hospice provides care and respite for families in Essex. Their annual bike ride is a great challenge to set for yourself. With variable distances, you should definitely go for it!
• Maldon Mud Race – The traditional race which takes place in Maldon, Essex. Competitors scramble across the muddy land from one bank to the other!

Start every morning the right way

Kickstart your fitness routine from the moment you wake up to set the day on the right path! If you struggle to wake up feeling refreshed and ready for the day, take a read of How To Be A Morning Person to help you out.

 

 

If you’re after some motivational quotes to get you started, take a read of my post. Prefer Pinterest? Take a look at the ‘Wise Words’ board I’ve got going!

Feeling pumped up and ready to jump back into your gym sessions now? Hopefully you’re all ready now to kickstart your fitness routine. Just remember that massive progress isn’t achieveable over night. Keep up your daily enthusiasm, exercise motivation and dedication and you’ll be right back into it in no time!

What did you try? Did you find anything in particular helped to reignite your love for working out? What gives you the most exercise motivation? Let me know in the comments below…