I love working out in gyms. I’ve always been able to focus more and train with greater intensity in the gym atmosphere.
It’s harder to find motivation to train at home, especially when you’re stuck there all day every day. Your sense of time and space gets blurred when your entire life is happening in one location.
Fortunately, you can overcome these challenges with mental reframing and clear practices around your workouts. Below are my five top tips for finding the motivation to work out in your home.
Change your expectations.
Most of us are not going to be able to replicate our regular gym workouts at home. The sooner you accept this, the better. You’ll have more fun training at home when you aren’t constantly comparing those workouts to ones you used to do at the gym.
Adjust your training goals.
Certain goals – like building lots of strength and muscle – are lot harder to achieve with minimal equipment. Additionally, your priorities may have shifted thanks to quarantine and new concerns about health, safety, or finances.
It’s okay to adjust your training goals to address your current situation. You will likely be more motivated to work out if your reason for exercising is aligned with your values and circumstances.
Here are some ideas on how to pivot:
- Instead of actively trying to build strength or muscle, train to maintain what you already have.
- Train with low-moderate intensity to manage stress and anxiety as opposed to doing hardcore HIIT workouts all the time.
- Focus on stretching and mobility to counteract extra time spent sitting. This will pay big dividends in how you feel even if you can’t get in any longer workouts.
- If you want to lose weight, now is a good time to improve your eating habits by learning to cook, logging your food, and getting in touch with emotions to battle stress eating. I understand this may not be possible for people under very high stress, such as those who have kids at home.
Create a buffer between your workout and whatever you were doing before.
Give yourself 15-20 minutes to get amped up. Drink some coffee or an energy drink, eat something small, put on some music, and start warming up. Don’t expect to be able to easily shift gears into workout mode immediately after doing another task.
Build a routine and develop rituals around your workouts.
Ritualizing as much as possible about your workout makes it easier to find motivation to be consistent.
Some ideas:
- Work out at the same time every day and/or on the same days of the week.
- Create a designated workout space in your home, even if it’s just a few square feet.
- Use the same pre-workout ritual every day. Have a snack, drink some water, get dressed, etc.
- Do the same warm up each time you work out.
- Play a certain type of music to get you in the mood to work out.
Have someone else do the hard part for you.
Designing your own workouts takes a lot of time and effort. You can spend hours googling or searching social media for inspiration and still not be sure you’ve put together a workout that’s actually effective. This creates additional stress and can turn into yet another obstacle to working out.
If this sounds like you, I recommend hiring a trainer or coach to help you create a workout program. You can join my Workout From Home Club to receive three done-for-you home workouts delivered directly to your email inbox each week. Of, if you want a more customized experience and the option to do virtual sessions, you can apply for my online training program here.