At the time of writing this 68% of men are obese or overweight in the UK and it's not because they don't know the importance of physical fitness. We all know its importance at this point.
Everyone also knows that working out would fix many of their issues. If there was a pill out there that contained all the benefits of exercising, you'd be taking that pill every single day (see image below).
Taking a pill is easy but actually doing the work on a consistent basis for the rest of your life is a different story. Your health is an infinite game, it never ends. But don't worry I'm going to outline how you can maintain motivation for the rest of your life.
Forget About Motivation
It wasn't until my mid twenties that I was able to develop a consistent exercise routine. My secret... I stopped relying on motivation.
The most important part of working out isn't the specific plan you follow. It's not about whether you train with free weights, machines, or bands. It's not about deciding between cardio, weight lifting, or calisthenics. It's about actually getting into the gym and doing the work. Motivation doesn't help you do that.
For most people the thing that makes them change is pain. They normally wait until the pain of NOT doing "the thing" becomes greater than the pain of doing it.
That pain could be physical in the form of an illness or injury, it could be mental in the form of shame & self loathing, anxiety or depression. Whatever that pain point is for you, it will only get worse the longer you don't address it. Find your pain and use it, it's free fuel.
Motivation doesn't just appear out of nowhere. You're not going to simply wake up one day and be super motivated to lose that 20kgs of weight you put on over the last 5 years. As is the case with everything in life, it's not easy. Nothing is given to you. You have to earn everything in life, even motivation.
You can have all the knowledge in the world, access to all the best equipment, take all the supplements and protein powder, but if you can't actually motivate yourself to work out, it will all be for nothing.
This is why I stopped relying on motivation. When I focused on just doing the thing every morning regardless of whether I "felt" like doing it or not, a cool thing happened. I realised that motivation comes as the result of doing the thing first, not the other way around.
Making a start, even in the smallest way possible acts as a spring board that then naturally produces the momentum needed to complete the task. I can count on one hand the amount of times I've woken up at 5am in the morning raring to start my day and smash my workout.
If I relied on being motivated first before doing anything, I wouldn't get anything done. But I know once I get out of bed and put my gym clothes on theres no turning back. Once I make it that far in the process I'm always going to the gym to workout. Focus on the smallest steps you need to take to get you committed to finishing the task.
Schedule It In
Whether it's working out or starting a business or learning a new skill, you'll never get around to doing that thing if you don't set a consistent time to do it every week.
If your workout doesn’t have a set time in your calendar, it isn't happening. You'll wake up each day thinking “I hope I feel motivated to exercise today.”
Well your goals don't care about how you feel. The goals I said i'm going to start when i'm motivated are still waiting to get done. That rap career I was going to launch when I was 13 is not happening anytime soon.
If you ever find yourself saying or thinking something along the lines of “I just need to find the willpower to do it.” You don't, you actually just need to set a time to do it, and then do it. Once you make a start the willpower to finish will follow.
Just get in the door
The hardest part of motivating yourself to work out is getting out of bed and into the gym. Once you're there, you're there.
You're not going to turn up at the gym, walk into the weight room, and then turn around and go back home. Just get in the door and the rest will take care of itself.
Don't think about how unmotivated you feel when you wake up. No normal human feels "motivated" to do something difficult, but every human feels better after doing a difficult thing.
Don't think about all the lifting you'll have to do. Just think about getting to the gym. That's it. That's your job. And then it all takes care of itself from there. You have to earn motivation. It comes after first taking action.
(Trigger Warning) How to use your pain.
Most people who want to workout but have trouble with motivation are the ones who need to work out the most. It usually shows in their fitness levels and their body composition. On a weekly basis I see people who can't walk up a couple flights of stairs without being finished.
Keeping it 100, I used to be a stair dodger. I had bad knees most of my life and would avoid doing anything strenuous on them. It wasn't until the pain became unbearable before I finally started doing the work consistently to rehabilitate them.
Pain is an excellent motivator. Use your pain as drive to improve now. It's only going to get worse and the longer you leave it, the harder it will be to course correct later. A lot of people are in pain but not enough pain to change and that fear of change outweighs the pain of their daily existence
So if you're fat or hate your body here's what you should try doing: Look at yourself naked in the mirror. Do this every morning and night. Don't suck anything in, don't flex, don't try to look your best. Let your gut hang out and just look at yourself. Take it all in until you feel like you really want to get into the gym and start working on yourself. Sometimes you just need to feel the pain and shame of having let yourself go before you do something about it. It's never too late to improve.
I want to make it clear that this doesn't mean exercise from a place of hate. This habit needs to be formed from a place of love.
Do it because you want to look and feel good. If you’re trying to change yourself from a place of hate & using self hate as a motivating factor you will quit. Hate is exhausting & at some point you will quit because you want to “enjoy life again”.
Taking care of yourself improves all aspects of your life. Exercise shouldn’t feel like a punishment & nutritional food shouldn’t feel restrictive. These are both things you’re supposed to do when you care about yourself.
Always remember, you were born to be the anti-hero of your story.
Free your outlaw.