Staying Motivated

Here are 5 tips to help you stay motivated with your workouts:

1. Make time to play and have fun every 13th week.

Anyone who trains CrossFit consistently should take a week off from CrossFit every 3 months. Now, I’m not saying you should be vegging out on the couch for one week, but you should be staying active with sports and activities you enjoy – other than CrossFit. This is important so you can better recover and avoid eventual burnout. Many people are surprised to get some PRs (Personal Records) during week 14 of training after taking 1 week off!

2. At a minimum, just show up!

Sometimes you just need to get in the door and the rest will take care of itself. Training within a group can be a powerful motivational tool. You should take advantage of this whenever you can!

3. Give 50-80%, and then reevaluate.

If you are feeling run down or just don’t feel like “putting out” today, try this strategy: simply show up, and give yourself permission to hold back. Only go at 50-80% intensity, and after the first few minutes, reevaluate. If you are feeling better energy wise and mentally, you can decide to go all out. If you feel the same, you can continue at that level for some nice active recovery. If you are feeling worse, you can call it an early day. I have surprised myself with a few PRs with this strategy!

4. Sometimes you just need a break. Take it!

Everyone experiences stress in their life (and if you don’t, please let me know and we’ll write an article about it!). Sometimes when work, family, friends, and life in general are grinding on you, you simply need to take a break. In times like this, you should give yourself a break, guilt free, but make sure to rejuvenate yourself. Make sure you get sleep, good nutrition, and reduced stress. Otherwise, it will be temporary fix as if you are putting on a band-aid. There is a time for work, a time for play and a time for rest. You will get more out of each if you can be honest with yourself and take the action for each when needed.

5. When all else fails, hold yourself accountable.

Some people have trouble getting up at 5:30 AM to workout. If you find yourself trying to talk yourself into skipping, either rearrange your schedule to either workout in the evening, or find a way to make yourself accountable. You can arrange to carpool with someone else from the gym or find a friend at the gym who is willing to call you in the mornings!

Do you have any unique ways of staying motivated? If so, we’d like to hear about them. You can leave a comment for this article.