Staying Active When You're Just Not Feeling It

Find the right attitude and mindset.

POSTED 15.09.20 11:21 BY CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR

Most athletes and dedicated fitness personalities will tell you that there’s simply no way to stay motivated all the time. Some days you’ll feel raring to go and ready to crush the day, and other days you’ll struggle to make it out of your duvet. If you wait for motivation to strike you before you go and work out or do something active, then you’re probably going to be doing very little. Staying active when you’re just not feeling it is tough, but not impossible. Here, we’ll give you an idea of how you can stay active when you’re struggling to find the right attitude and mindset:

Start Small

You don’t need to go to the gym 5 times a week for an hour, or climb mountains, or swim lap after lap to be active and feel accomplished. Starting small is the key to getting into the habit and slowly introducing your body to exercise. You could try:

A short 15 minute, all over body workout with no weights.

10 minutes of yoga.

A couple of walks around the block each day.

Photo by Krivec Ales from Pexels

Aim To Get Into The Habit

Your goal at first is to get into the habit. You don’t need to be perfect, but once you’re in a habit it can be hard to get out of it. That’s why this is a much more reliable method than waiting until you feel motivated enough to go. It’ll be hard at first, but a couple of weeks in you’ll find your new routine a lot easier. Short workouts doing just about anything you can stand are a great way to build the habit when you’re just starting out.

Don’t Focus On The End Result - Focus On The Process and The Journey

The worst thing you can do for your motivation is focus on the end result. Having an idea of what your goals are can help you to figure out what to do, but it can also hinder your progress if you think about that too much. It sounds cliche, but you need to focus on and enjoy the journey. Just focus on the things you do every day, big and small that will make you feel better overall. So many people are struggling right now. You might feel like you’re the only one if your friends have started new exercise routines, but you can ask did people exercise more or less during lockdown? for yourself. Not everybody is having an easy time of it, so don’t compare yourself and make sure you’re kind to yourself.

Get A Friend To Do It With You

Perhaps you could get a friend to do some exercise with you, whether it’s a class or a quick walk. Doing it with a friend usually makes the time go faster!

Photo by Kate Trifo from Pexels.

Change Your Perception of Exercise and Working Out

You don’t need to call it exercise if you don’t want to, and your ‘work out’ could simply be a few stretches and a skipping session, for example. Any activity is fine. Changing your perception is so important - make sure you examine your beliefs. If you think you need to exercise to look a certain way, think again. Anybody can work out and you should do it for not only the physical benefits, but the mental benefits!