5 Ways to Persevere With Your Workout

If you decided a few months ago that this year would be the year you successfully went on your own fitness Quest or lived your own Transformation story, more power to you! Now while for some people it might be easy to remain motivated the whole way once they’ve resolved to do so, some of us may find it harder to stay driven until we reach our goals. But not to worry – here are Quest’s 5 ways to remain determined to go the whole way –

1. Establish your objective:

Just like with anything else in your life, before you start working out, it is important to fully understand why you are working out and what you intend to achieve by doing so. Understanding what you want from your workout gives you a goal, which in turn helps you persevere. Make sure the goals that you establish are specific and achievable – for example, “I want to lose 30 pounds in 2 months.”, or “I want to run a 10k three months from now.”. Do what it takes to make sure that you never forget about your goal.

2. Do away with excuses:

There will always be a reason for you to not get started, or for you to not go to the gym today, or even to prevent yourself from making your objective of working out on a regular basis a habit. Obstacles will come in various shapes and sizes – some of them will be hard to overcome, some of them might even be impossible to overcome. Excuses, however, are typically the biggest obstacle from getting you where you want to be, and simultaneously remain the easiest obstacle to deal with. Do away with excuses.

3. Monitor your progress consistently:

We live in an era where information is at our fingertips and instant gratification is the name of the game – simply put – we want stuff, and we want it now. Given this, it does not make sense to only set long-term goals and expect short-term results – this can be demotivating and disheartening.

Instead, consistently setting short-term goals that are challenging yet attainable and planning your progress down to the hour is more likely to lead to you being more motivated to continue exercising. This could be done in a variety of ways – you could use some form of wearable tech (here are 5 new devices to look out for), you could use fitness apps on your phone, or you could even use a workout log. But recording what you’ve done and planning your workouts is key to feeling motivated about exercising.

4. Find a workout partner:

People with support from their friends or family are more likely to succeed with their workouts compared to those without – simply because they can keep you motivated if you can’t find the inspiration to exercise. We’re not making this up – research at the University of Pennsylvania found that people who joined a fitness program with one or more of their friends as opposed to joining alone, both people spurred each other on to lose weight and attend their sessions regularly.

Find a workout partner who’s enthusiastic and has similar fitness goals, and work towards achieving those goals together!

5. Be happy:

All of this being said – to train and exercise well, you have to be happy. Don’t dwell on people or events that are not in your control, and focus on yourself. If getting fit requires you to sacrifice certain foods, or even a certain lifestyle – you have to be happy to give it up or else it will never seem like it’s worth the effort. Be happy!