Beat exercise fatigue: How to keep your fitness motivation high

When it comes to reaching any exercise goal, be it running a 5k for the first time, or hitting your 10,000 steps a day, motivation is so important, but something we can all struggle with from time to time.

Motivation is essentially the driving force behind us wanting to exercise or reach a goal. A lack of motivation is not usually that this goal suddenly disappears, but that other elements of our lives start to take priority, or that reasons to not exercise (i.e., it’s cold and rainy outside, there’s a new series you’d rather watch on TV etc.) stack up. That driving force then soon starts to diminish.

I like to think of motivation to exercise as a seesaw. On one side of the seesaw are your reasons to exercise (your motivation), on the other side are the reasons to not exercise.

We can look at either side of the seesaw to try and tip the balance in favour of taking action and therefore, gaining ‘motivation’.

Looking at the reasons to exercise side of the seesaw, this is about finding your why, and making the exercise you’re planning on doing as achievable and as sustainable as possible, try these two strategies below:

Answer the question ‘why’

Keep asking why until you have your real reason to want to exercise. It could be that you want to lose weight, why? I want to improve my physical ability, why? I feel conscious when I can’t play with my kids without getting out of breath.

In this example, the person’s deeper reason to exercise may to be able to play with their kids care-free. Everyone’s reason will be different but knowing this will help drive you when motivation dips. Your method of getting fit may change over time, but this deeply rooted reason will usually stick around.

What can I do today?

To build sustainable exercise habits, ask yourself ‘what can I do today’, rather than, ‘what do I want to achieve in the future’. End goals are useful but can sometimes mean we bite off more than we can chew. Asking yourself ‘what can I manage now’ (even if it’s just an extra 1,000 steps a day), will mean you’ll build small, manageable habits, that will help you build momentum moving forwards.

When it comes to the other side of the seesaw (the reasons to not exercise), it’s less about strategising, and realising that a lot of these reasons will always be there. Our genetic preference as humans is to stay safe and to make things as easy as possible for ourselves.

But that internal battle you have with yourself, and the voice that’s telling you to stay warm and cosy on the sofa instead of heading out for a walk, run or to the gym, will become a little quieter if you choose small, manageable exercise habits to stick to.

Related: Music, the mind and our health