I was chatting with a lady I had never met before at a beauty salon. After finding out that I was a Pilates teacher and personal trainer, she proceeded to tell me about her ongoing battle with weight loss.
This woman was a true inspiration, having managed to lose over 60 pounds by changing her diet and adding exercise into her life. But as many of us know, motivation doesn’t come with an endless supply; instead, it comes in waves of highs and lows. She explained to me that she was experiencing a low point and just couldn’t get started with exercise in recent times.
That is often the case when we get out of the groove of an established routine—it can be really difficult to find our rhythm again.
Here are the suggestions I made to her. If you are on the low end of motivation at the moment, hopefully they will be of help to you, too.
1. Make a 30-minute playlist of your favorite songs and dance to them.
2. Run or walk away from your house for 15 minutes and then run/walk back home. Build up until you can run most of the way.
3. When you don’t feel like doing anything, do some stretches while watching TV. At least you will have done something toward your fitness goal.
4. Make a playlist of motivational tracks and pick five exercises to do in a row.
Here is a sample of a five-exercise workout that you can do to break through your motivation slump.
