How to Stay Motivated on Your Fitness Journey…Finding Your Why

Have you ever felt like you just don’t have time to start your fitness journey? Maybe you have a few kiddos running around the house and barely have time for yourself to think? Maybe you work long days and when you get home you are exhausted and going to the gym or getting a workout in is the last thing on your mind. When it comes to fitness; consistency is key to get results, but it is also one of the hardest parts of a fitness journey for most people. Staying motivated can be tough for so many reason but finding your why can help to keep you accountable and on track.

Your Why is the reason that you are embarking on a fitness journey. We aren’t talking a surface level “I want to lose weight” or “I want to look different” here, we want to look deeper than that. Having a clear why that is meaningful to you will make is much easier to stick to your health and fitness goals. I’m not saying that is it is going to make it easy, nor am I saying that there will not still be days that you won’t feel like doing it, but it will hold you more accountable.

Knowing your true why for embarking on your health and fitness journey will make you unstoppable and will allow you the opportunity to shape your journey in a way that will move you one step closer to your destination. Once you’ve identified this why it will be easier to focus on what truly matters and you’ll be able to better avoid or handle distractions. Being clear on why you want to stick to your health and fitness journey will keep you on a clear path and will help you avoid paths that will lead you in the wrong direction. This clear why will also allow you to handle setbacks better and in a more positive way instead of continuing to stray further from your goal.

That’s all fine and good but now we have to find your Why. Finding your Why is going to require you to dig deep and it’s going to require you to ask yourself some questions that you maybe haven’t thought about before, but I promise you it will all be worth it in the end.

The 5 Whys activity is a great place to start when you are trying to determine your true why. As the name lends, you are going to ask yourself why you want to do something at least 4-5 times. First write down why you want to embark on a fitness journey. Then ask yourself why again? Write that answer down and continue until you have asked yourself why at least 4-5 times. As you answer these questions make sure you are being honest about your intentions and give yourself compassion. Be curious and look at what is under the surface. Your 5 Whys activity might look something like the following if you were chatting with a coach about it;

Coach: What brings you in today?

Client: I want to lose the baby weight.

Coach: Why do you want to lose the baby weight?

Client: Because I want to fit into my old clothes.

Coach: Why is it important for your to fit into your old clothes?

Client: Because I want to be able to be strong and healthy like I was before I had kids.

Coach: And why is it important to be strong and healthy?

Client: Because I want to be able to keep up with my kids and set a good example for them.

That, that right there is a true why. A mom wanting to be strong and healthy to set an example for her kids and to be able to keep up with them. Now, when you don’t want to go to the gym, or do your workout, that’s what you remind yourself of. You aren’t doing it to lose weight, or to fit into your old clothes. You are doing it because you want to be able to keep up with your kids as they grow and set a good example of health and fitness for them. That’s way more likely to keep you committed to a goal than your weight loss reason.

With that being said, finding your why is not the only way to keep you motivated to stay on track. It is the most important one, and it is the one you should do first, however there are other things you can do to keep yourself accountable and motivated on your journey.

Start by thinking about fitness activities that you loved as a child or that you can lose track of time when your doing them. There are good activities to start with. When you are starting out or trying to kick start a fitness journey it is much easier to do things that you enjoy, as opposed to things that you don’t. Your fitness goals and journey may evolve over time to include different things, but when starting out it’s a good idea to start with things you enjoy. It’s much easier to make yourself do things that you enjoy, rather than things that you don’t.

Focus on consistency instead of intensity. It is better to focus on completing a physical or fitness related activity consistently than it is to go really hard every time. For example, let’s say there is a day that you really don’t feel like doing a heavy weight lifting workout. Maybe you sub in some body weight movements instead of the heavy weight and cut your session time down. You’ve still done something and maintained your consistency in getting a workout/movement in but you haven’t had to push yourself really hard when you weren’t feeling up to it. You can also implement the two minute rule here. The two minute rule says that if you don’t feel like getting a workout in to start it anyways and set a timer for two minutes. If after two minutes you still don’t feel like doing that workout then no worries, call it a day and you got your two minutes in. But if after two minutes you are feeling better and getting into it then keep going. This is one I personally use all the time. If I don’t feel like doing a workout I tell myself to just do the warm-up…if at the end of the warm-up I’m still not feeling it then I might walk away from it, but that rarely happens. Usually once you get going and get into a warm-up you are feeling better and ready to go through the rest of your workout for the day.

Finding an accountability partner or a coach is another great way to keep you motivated and accountable. Most people are more likely to stick to their workouts if they have someone else to do those workouts with. This could be physically meeting up with a friend to do your workout, or just checking in with each other via phone or text to make sure that workout has been completed. It could also be a coach or trainer who is physically guiding you through your workouts, or writing your workouts for you and virtually checking in with you. There are a variety of options available to you when it comes to accountability partners or groups. You can also look at Facebook groups of physical groups in your community that can help keep you on track.

Unfortunately, when it comes to motivation there is no one right or wrong way to keep yourself motivated throughout your fitness journey. However, some of these tips that we’ve talked about today are a really great starting point. If you find something that works for you stick with it. If you try one of these tips and it doesn’t work for you then no sweat, move on to try something different. If you are interested in working with a coach I am offering flexible programming options (including virtual/online training) and flexible payment options as well. You can reach out here if you are interested in one-on-one coaching and I will work with you to find something that fits into your lifestyle. Until next week!