Motivation to exercise is almost an art. Too often, people find themselves in a situation where they have the best intentions to get fit but don’t have the motivation to follow through. Motivation in fitness goes through different stages. The action stage is the hardest. Showing up consistently for exercising requires discipline. Luckily there are a few tricks to overcome this.
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The Different Stages of Motivation with a Fitness Habit
The 5 Stages of Motivation in Fitness
No one-size-fits-all milestones describe how fitness motivation evolves. However, they are generic trends that most individuals tend to observe during their fitness journey. According to the mountainsidefitness website, the progress of physical fitness can be divided into five stages, among which three are actually before you even start taking working out:
- The Pre-Contemplative Stage: You might not be doing anything about your physical fitness. You feel happy with your current habits and are content where you are.
- The Contemplation Stage: You’re becoming more aware of your current body limitations and imperfections. You may think there is something you can do about it.
- The Preparation Stage: You decided you were going to change. The preparation stage consists of setting realistic fitness goals and plans and training exercises to achieve them. You research specific workouts and exercise classes or speak with a professional to be in better shape.
- The Action Stage: This stage is often the hardest because your mindset needs to shift from contemplation and preparation to exercising. At this stage, you need to start working out and find a way to stay motivated.
- The Maintenance Stage: Once you reach the maintenance stage, you may not have as much difficulty maintaining your desire to work out. You look forward to getting your fitness session as you will likely have more energy afterward. Your motivation to exercise reaches its climax.
“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” – Jim Ryun
Motivation to Workout: my Personal Experience with Pushups & Situps
I started documenting the implementation of my daily fitness habit when COVID-related lockdowns happened. Before doing pushups and situps every day, I was already active but less regularly. It’s difficult to comment on the (pre-)contemplative stage of motivation for working out mentioned above. However, I noticed three steps in the motivation for working out and the pleasure I derived from my simple daily workout:
1- Pleasure Derive from Completing a Fitness Challenge:
Essentially ego-driven. The workout difficulty somehow neutralizes the pleasure brought by the after-workout-happy chemicals. This is the hardest part of implementing a new fitness habit. I was primarily proud of making healthy things happen. I was so proud of myself when I started doing 150 pushups in a row with COVID lockdown. At this stage, I was completely disregarding the quality of the pushups form, but in hindsight, it’s not that important as I didn’t hurt myself. What is important is I have anchored a healthy habit of doing fitness anywhere
2 – Please from Ticking the Box Without Pushing Yourself to the Limits
It’s like after the rocket took off. There is still a bit of reluctance to keep going in your mind or body, but you feel you are getting further away from fitness to failure every day. You enjoy the small but consistent positive progression in your fitness journey.
3 – Genuine Pleasure of Doing Fitness and Harvesting its Benefits
Harvesting phase. You enjoy the benefits of the newly implemented fitness habit. It’s like feeling better after brushing your teeth or having a shower. You’re no longer reluctant to fitness anywhere. You show up at the gym or do your pushups wherever you are because you want to.
Motivation to Exercise: How to Find it?
Are you struggling to find the motivation to do fitness? You’re not alone. Many people find it challenging to stay motivated, especially when they don’t see immediate results. But with some creativity and effort, you can find the motivation you need to stick with your fitness routine. Here are some tips for finding the motivation to exercise and meet your fitness goals. Whether you need more drive to exercise specifically or a boost to accomplish tasks, here are a few motivation tips and tricks to help get you started.
How To Motivate Yourself to Exercise
Whether you like it or not, getting motivated is a form of discipline. Discipline is required to get things done regardless of the field you are in or the game you play. Forget motivation, you need discipline to exercise.
I use more than one trick to stick to my daily workout routine regardless of motivation level pre-workout. Here is a list of tips to find the motivation to exercise or at least, to get it done:
- Bend The Truth: “Fake it till you make it”
- Adopt A Cold-Shower Mindset To Tackle Your Fitness Sessions The Frequency And Intensity Of Your Workouts With A Smart Approach To Discipline
- Adjust The Frequency And Intensity Of Your Workouts With A Smart Approach To Discipline
- Talk To Your Friends About Your Fitness Plan To Feel More Accountable
- Record Yourself And Track Your Progress
- Be Positive – The Mindset – Celebrate Every Success
- Trick Your Brain To “Tick The Box” And Move On: Use Parkinson’s Law
How to Find Motivation and Drive Generally Speaking (Video)
Andrew Huberman, Ph.D., is a neuroscientist and tenured Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He makes complex topics enjoyable and understandable to everyone. In addition to the video above about finding motivation and drive, he tackles related questions such as how you can control your dopamine for motivation and focus on different podcasts with a scientific approach. After listening to or watching his video, you should be able to have more control over your motivation to exercise.