Here are 12 tips that help you to stay focused and motivated in your workouts. They’re all easy to implement, accessible, and guaranteed to work!
Tips that help You to stay Focused and Motivated
“Maintain a positive attitude, and the long-term goals will take care of themselves.”
-Arnold Schwarzenegger, on how to keep going over the long term.
Chances are you’re fairly new to working out. And unfortunately, if you’re like most North Americans, at least 50 percent of you will quit working out after the first month.
By six months, the number will have increased to about 75 percent. By the end of the year, only about 10 percent of those who first began hitting the gym will still be hitting the gym on a regular basis.
While the reasons are varied and mixed, most people who stop training do so because they become bored and unmotivated.
Well, let’s see if we can do something about that. Here are 12 tips that will help you stay focused and motivated in bodybuilding.
12 tips that help you to stay focused and motivated | How do Bodybuilders stay motivated
1. Get a workout buddy
There’s nothing like a workout partner to motivate you on those less-than-energetic days. Likewise, you can encourage them on days they feel sluggish.
A good training partner knows when to push you a little bit harder and when to give you slack. The two of you can have mini-competitions.
At the very least, you’ll have someone to keep you focused on training and not worry about work or something distracting in your home life.
2. Fit yourself in to stay focused and motivated
Believe it or not, you may have to add your name to your day planner. If it takes making your workout one of your daily appointments, then so be it.
The benefit of this is that it helps you balance your workouts with other daily activities such as family, work or school.
You will be more successful and bound to stick with it if you make working out part of your lifestyle.
3. Pace yourself to stay focused and motivated
Don’t think that you’re going to develop the body you want overnight. It probably took you years to get out of shape.
A couple of weeks of all-out training will do nothing but make you incredibly stiff and sore, unwilling to work out and to hate the sight of a dumbell or barbell.
It’s far better to train only two or three days a week year after year than to train seven days a week for one month and then quit because you’re burned out.
Remember, consistency is the key.
4. Rise and shine and work out! How can I motivate myself to transform my body?
The last thing you may want to do bright and early in the morning is hit the gym. But if you find yourself going home after work or school and flopping on the couch, give it a try.
By working out early in the morning, you’ll be sure of getting it done, you’ll feel energized throughout the day, and your morning workout will prevent everything else in life from getting in the way of your all-important health and fitness goals.
5. The scale – who cares?
Unless you have a considerable amount of fat to lose, don’t worry about your body weight.
A ten-pound loss of fat and a ten-pound gain of muscle will make a massive difference in your appearance, clothes size and health, but the scales will show no change.
Other than being a general guide for significantly overweight people, the scale is practically useless for measuring fitness success.
6. Pick a role model to stay focused and motivated
There’s nothing like having someone to look up to to keep you focused on your goals. Millions of people look up to Arnold Schwarzenegger for this reason.
From a naive 19-year-old who stepped off a plane in 1968 speaking no English to the world’s greatest bodybuilder, top Hollywood star and governor of California, Arnold knows a thing or two about motivation and staying focused.
Check → Arnold Schwarzenegger Biography
We’re sure there are many “mini-Arnolds” in your life. They could be teachers, co-workers or someone in the gym who overcame horrendous odds to get where he is.
On those days you don’t feel like working out or doing that extra set, ask yourself what your role model would do. We thought so. Now, do that extra set!
7. Keep track of your success
One of the best ways to know where you’re going is to see where you’ve been to stay focused and motivated.
For a few dollars, you can pick up a training journal and start recording things such as the amount of cardio, the exercises, the reps, sets, the weight used on each exercise, and how you feel and why.
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Were you up late the night before? Did you eat a heavy meal before coming to the gym? Forget to eat altogether?
Periodically looking at your journal will give you plenty of insight. You can see how different exercises and routines affect you, and you can see just how far you’ve come.
Your present warmup weights were once your workout weights. Four 45-minute high-intensity workouts have replaced those 20-minute cardio sessions two or three times per week.
So even if sometimes you feel you’re going nowhere, your workout journal is telling you otherwise. Keep at it!
8. Get back on track
Missing a workout is not that big a deal. In fact, if you’ve been working out consistently, an extra day off every month or so is recommended.
But for many people, one day off becomes two days off, two becomes three, and before long, they’re skipping weeks on end.
The gym becomes just a memory. This is similar to the dieter who, because she’s eaten a cookie, eats the entire bag of cookies and a quart of chocolate ice cream.
Setbacks and missed workouts are perfectly normal. But the quicker you get back on track, the faster you will reach your fitness goals.
Try to remember that health and fitness is not about being perfect. It is a way of life. Don’t view your workouts as being all or none. Just be consistent to stay focused and motivated.
Work hard in the gym, and then get out!
9. Evaluate your progress on a regular basis to stay focused and motivated
If you don’t check your progress regularly, you’ll be less inclined to push yourself and stay focused.
For example, you may be lifting the same weight for the same number of reps month after month.
If you’re happy with the way you are and want to maintain a reasonable level of fitness, then that’s fine.
But chances are you would like actually to improve – increase your strength, gain muscle mass, look better and have more energy.
Unless you evaluate your strength, size and cardio levels on a regular basis, you won’t feel inclined to push yourself.
10. Get to the gym! to stay focused and motivated
We all have days when we don’t want to work out. We’d sooner go home and lie back on the couch with a soda or beer. But don’t. Force yourself to go to the gym.
Tell yourself you will do the first exercise, then go home. Odds are that within the first 10 to 15 minutes, you’ll start feeling energized and have a great workout.
Sometimes, the days when you have the least energy to begin with end up being the days you have your best workouts.
You’ll feel especially great about it because you originally planned to skip the gym, remember?
11. Change it up – How do I stay motivated to lift weights
Nothing zaps motivation and drive like monotony. Doing the same routine over and over will leave even the most die-hard fitness fanatics bored.
That’s why you should change your training routine every month or so. The change doesn’t have to be radical, either.
Something as simple as increasing or decreasing the number of reps may boost your enthusiasm. Try changing the exercises on a regular basis as well.
Check → Rubber coated hex dumbells for home
If you mainly use machines, then give free weights a try. If you always start your chest training with flat barbell presses, try doing incline dumbell or barbell presses.
Or start with the back instead of the chest. Use the pre-exhaust system for a change. If you’re really stuck in a rut, give your workout a total overhaul and combine the muscles into different groups.
Usually, do low reps and heavy weights? Try doing high reps with low weights. Do whatever it takes to get you back on track and focused.
12. Take some planned time off to stay focused and motivated
Even though earlier I said to force yourself to the gym, there will be times when taking a few days or even a whole week off is recommended.
Often, one of the significant signs of overtraining is a decrease in training drive and motivation.
In simple terms, your body is not getting a chance to recover before the next workout fully. Before long, you’re experiencing burnout.
This is when the novice weight trainer is most likely to quit altogether. If you’ve been working out regularly for months on end, if you’ve tried all the other tips and nothing is helping, get out your calendar and block out one or two weeks to not train.
Make sure to write the dates on a calendar because randomly taking time off without a plan could turn into a permanent layoff.
Unless you’ve really lost interest in training, a week or two off will have you chomping at the bit to get back to the gym, and if overtraining was indeed the cause of your motivation lapse, then you should come back stronger than ever.
These are the best tips that will definitely help you to stay focused and motivated to your routine.
If you have any questions/queries or need clarifications, please leave comment below and we will respond promptly.
