4 Ways to motivate yourself to be more active during lockdown

For many people, lockdown has meant bad eating and minimal exercise. This is 100% understandable, and no-one should give you a hard time about it. 

But what if you feel that NOW is the right time for you to be more active? 

We’ve come up with 4 highly-effective tips to make those all important first-steps back to fitness  a lot easier!

1. Make a plan!

One of the biggest challenges with a never-ending lockdown is that you may be spending almost the entire day at home. This means that many of your old routines have vanished, and this makes exercising even more of a challenge than it was before the pandemic began. 

Open up your calendar and schedule three ‘Fitness-Reboot’ appointments over the next 7 days. Try and schedule your first appointment for tomorrow, at a time which suits you and doesn’t stress you out.

Now give yourself the best possible chances of success by beginning with a really simple training plan (Feel free to use this one!).

2. Lay out your workout clothes the night before.

Even if you’re working out at home, it’s important that you send your brain all the right signals, to make sure you stick with your workout schedule.

By laying out your training clothes the night before, you’ll be telling your subconscious that you actually mean business, and this will make it a lot easier to turn your new training plan into a positive habit.

3. Make a commitment with a friend.

Is there someone else within your family/friends/colleagues, who’s also keen to start getting active again? Why not arrange to begin your new training schedule at the same time, and then check in with each other via Whatsapp or Zoom, to keep each other accountable?

Studies have shown that people who begin an exercise programme together as ‘training buddies’ are over 85 % less likely to drop out of the programme prematurely.

4. Log your workouts.

By keeping a simple training diary or log, you’ll be able to keep track of exactly what you’ve been doing. Your motivation will improve instantly, every time you see a new workout logged or an increase in any of the training parameters.

A training log will also help you to progress your training in a sensible fashion over time. You can aim for small increases like 2-3 more repetitions each week, or adding another set to your workout. This will give you an amazing sense of achievement, and you’ll feel inspired to stick with your training for longer.

One final thought:

If you’re struggling to take that first step on your own, why not consider asking for some help from a qualified fitness coach?

Like almost anything in life, one of the simplest and most effective ways to improve your success-rate is to get some coaching from someone who has helped people in similar situations to you to get to their goals.

Anyone who has worked with a good coach will tell you it’s one of the best decisions you’ll ever make. Not only do you learn a lot about how to keep yourself motivated, but you also learn a set of skills that will help you overcome any other obstacles you may face in the future.