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Losing Your Exercise Motivation In Lockdown?

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“Training is going fine, boring at home, but music and tight time frames keeping me focused” – Jo 1:1 Client

 
It’s funny how just one sentence can change your mindset.
This week when I was going through my 1:1 check-ins I sat and stared at this sentence for quite a while.
Why?
Because it’s exactly how I felt, I could/can relate. Right now working out from home has just felt like ticking another box. I know I’d be miserable (and a pain in the arse to be around) if I didn’t workout, but my enthusiasm to workout from home is probably at it’s lowest.
 
 

I MISS THE GYM.

 
I miss it for much more than just the equipment. I miss the actual experience. Walking through those doors gives me a sense of *me* time. I head up the stairs and fumble in my pockets for my headphones. I smile at the other gym goers and mentally applaud their decision to workout today. As I head to the changing room to take off my coat, have a pre-workout wee (who doesn’t?!), put my headphones in and take out my liquid chalk, I am a moment closer to stepping out of my mind and into my body.

 

 
I feel alive.
Nothing other than my body and how it works is on my mind. And for that hour, I am so incredibly present that it really doesn’t matter how sh*t my workout might have been, my mind just feels clear. I leave the gym feeling mentally stronger and more capable to cope with the outside world.
 
 

I feel embodied.

 
Embodied cognition is the idea that the mind is not only connected to the body but that the body influences the mind.

 

I don’t feel the same way at home, it feels less exciting, more distraction and it’s just not…the same.

 
Let us just rewind for a moment.

If I’m still doing workouts at home, why does the Gym Experience even matter?

Because having rituals help us to transition from one realm to another.

We make a coffee, switch on our laptops, wipe the screen with the forearm of our jumpers, sit down, clear yesterdays dirty mug away, have a quick scroll on Facebook, close Facebook, 8:59 am, open emails. Ritual complete, ready for work.

 

“But music and tight time frames keeping me focused” – Ritual in place, ready for a workout.

 
 

If you’re not getting a lot out of your workouts right now, if it doesn’t feel the same as the gym, ask yourself:

“AM I SETTING MYSELF UP FOR A GREAT WORKOUT EXPERIENCE?”

 
And if not, start doing so.

 

30secs of preparation could change how you feel before, during & after your workout. Whilst we can’t have our Gym ritual back right now, we can re-create our own new Home Ritual…

 
 

Here are some ideas on how to re-create your own at home pre-workout ritual (some of these ideas have been suggested by my clients):

 
  • “Walk” to your home gym, take a walk around the block for 5-10mins, come back in and enter “home workout gym time”. Sometimes you just need to walk somewhere to mentally prepare yourself for a task ahead.
  • Use a new playlist. If you have been playing the same old playlist and it’s not exciting you enough, find a new one, you’re at home which means you can sign out loud if you wish!
  • Put your workout kit on underneath your work clothes.
  • Put your workout kit out ready for tomorrow morning/later – decide what you’re going to wear to take that decision off your hands at a later date.
  • Set a time you start and FINISH a workout.
  • Write down your workout on a piece of paper/whiteboard.
  • Fill up your Gym water bottle like you normally would (not a glass of water)
  • Zoom/Facetime a workout with a friend so you can do it together. If you miss “people” this works wonders.
  • Have an accountability buddy that you message before and after your workout (some of my clients message me a post-workout selfie).
  • Put up motivational quotes where you workout – “YES YOU CAN”, “JUST SHOW UP”, “PUT YOUR BIG GIRL PANTS ON”…whatever is going to motivate you to get moving.
  • Have a workout “area”, not all of us have spare rooms or big kitchens. Designate an area in your house that you do your workouts and stick to it.
  • Set up your equipment before you start, roll out your mat, put your DBs out, bands out, have a sweat towel ready.
  • Practice some pre-workout meditation – honestly, I’ve done this a few times and whilst it might seem a bit backwards to “be still and just breathe” before a workout, sometimes you need it to create space between work/life and the workout itself.
  • Set an intention. What do you want to achieve from this workout? To get through it? To feel like you get a pump on? To be able to achieve more than you did last week….?
 
I hope this helps!

 

Feel free to screenshot, save and share the tips. I would say “it won’t be long now” but really, who knows how long it will be? Create a new Home workout ritual and let me know if it helps you.

 
 

With Love,

Angi xxx
 

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