Do you ever make elaborate workout plans than abandon them a week later? Do you hit the gym but quit within a week because exercising is just too boring? Do you struggle with motivation issues every time you hit the treadmill?
You’re not the only one. Millions of people around the world struggle to fit their fitness goals. In fact, “working out” is the number one New Year’s resolution around the world. It is also one of the first resolutions people break each year.
People abandon their fitness goals for any number of reasons. But one of the most common ones is simply because of boredom. Conventional workout programs are often too repetitive, tiring, or long for busy, fatigued people.
Fortunately, there are some ways to make working out fun again, as I’ll show you below:
1. Measure Your Progress
Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, used to say: “If you can measure it, you can manage it”.
In the context of fitness, measuring progress equals managing your motivation. You’re more driven to working out when you can see the results in objective, tangible numbers. Instead of guessing whether you’ve lost weight or gained muscle, regular measurements give you clear evidence of your progress.
As studies show, this has a positive effect on your motivation. If you weight 180lbs last month and 174lbs today, you have clear evidence that your workout program is effective.
There are countless things you can measure:
- Weight & waist
- Individual exercises (total weight lifted, total reps, one rep maximum, etc.)
- Total time or distance on treadmill/stationary bike/etc.
- Total steps or calories burned each day
Thanks to fitness trackers, measuring these numbers is easier than ever. Keep an eye on their progress and you’ll never struggle with motivation issues again.
2. Add Some Music to Your Workouts
The easiest way to make workout out more fun?
Easy: just add your favorite tunes to it.
Studies show that people have better workouts when they listen to music. The more the music is aligned to their tastes, the better the quality of workouts.
The reasons for this are simple: music is known to alleviate fatigue, improve concentration, and increase mental alertness. Music also creates a Pavlovian response – people feel in the mood for exercise when they hear music they associate with working out.
This is the easiest tip to adopt on this list. Just grab a pair from this list of the best earbuds under 50, throw together a playlist with your favorite tracks, and hit the gym.
3. Change Workout Routines
If you’ve been working out for a while, there is a chance you might have hit a plateau. Your lifts and runs aren’t increasing anymore. And you seem to have hit a dead end in terms of losing weight or gaining muscle.
When you stop making progress, putting together the motivation to workout can be immensely hard. After all, if you don’t improve, what’s even the point of tiring yourself?
If this happens, consider changing up your workout routine. Ditch whatever you were doing and start something entirely new. If you were on a weightlifting program, consider switching to a calisthenics program instead. If you were only running for cardio, consider switching to rowing or cycling.
The goal is to give your body something new to work with. Picking up a new program will also give you new records to achieve, which can further improve motivation.
Getting the motivation to stick to your workout schedules can be hard. Follow these tips anytime you feel that working out isn’t fun anymore.
