Dragging yourself to the gym after work when it\u2019s cold, wet and pitch black outside can make 5pm feel more like midnight.<\/p>\n
As the days get shorter and temperatures drop, it\u2019s easy for workout motivation to take a back seat during the colder months. But how can we beat this seasonal slump and stay active when all we really want to do is curl up in bed?<\/p>\n
Here are 11 simple ways to boost your motivation and keep your fitness goals on track this autumn and winter\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we\u2019ve got fewer daylight hours, and the weather is cold and wet, it makes going out to do exercise much less appealing. However, working out at home helps removes some of that friction,\u201d says Chris Browning, London-based personal trainer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are already in the place where you are doing the workout, all you\u2019ve got to do is get changed and get going. All you need is a yoga mat and some basic equipment such as dumbbells and resistance bands.<\/p>\n
\u201cBodyweight exercises such as squats, planks, and core exercises are also a great starting point that require zero equipment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the moment, I\u2019m having a lot of conversations with people around shortening their workouts and understanding that there\u2019s no obligation for it to be a 60-minute workout in the first place. Nobody ever said that you need to be doing 60 minutes in order for it to be effective,\u201d says Browning.<\/p>\n
He highlights that keeping the workouts regular is more important.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t need to be perfect, it just needs to be is consistent,\u201d says Browning. \u201cTwo or three workouts a week that are 30 minutes each is still extremely productive.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSigning up for exercise classes, whether that\u2019s Zumba, boxercise or a spin class, is a great thing to do this time of year. They take place in a warmer environment, and you\u2019re still going to get a great cardio workout,\u201d says Mark Harris, level 4 personal trainer, strength and conditioning coach and ambassador for at-home gym provider Mirafit.<\/p>\n
Exercising with a friend is good for motivation and consistency because it creates built-in accountability.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you commit to training at the gym or going to an exercise class with a friend, it gives you a bit more commitment because you won\u2019t want to feel like you\u2019re letting them down,\u201d explains Harris.<\/p>\n
\u201cTelling a friend that you will meet them at a certain time means that you\u2019ve made an appointment and are fixed to that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if you\u2019re just training by yourself, book in a fixed time in your calendar for your workouts,\u201d recommends Harris. \u201cYou could even put a reminder on your fridge so you don\u2019t forget about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t plan it and just try and wing the sessions, it\u2019s just too easy to find something else to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTry to get into the habit of getting all your gear out the night before, so that when you get up in the morning it\u2019s all ready,\u201d advises Harris.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want to keep running or cycling outside, make sure that you wear appropriate clothing,\u201d recommends Harris. \u201cWear high-visibility clothing at night and if it\u2019s cold, wear something that\u2019s going to be warm when you start that you can easily pack away into a bum bag once you\u2019ve warmed up.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, a light jacket that you can whip off quickly. It\u2019s really a case of making sure that you\u2019re comfortable all the way through your session because you don\u2019t want to come back from running feeling cold, wet and miserable.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to come back and still be relatively happy, so that you\u2019ve got the motivation to go next time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Harris often encourages his clients to sign up for a future event, such as a Tough Mudder, to give them a goal to work towards.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve encouraged some of my clients to put the event on their social media, so everybody knows that they\u2019re doing it because that then makes it extremely hard for them to back out of it,\u201d says Harris.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt also helps give them something to work towards and keep training for during the colder months.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
9. Have a measurement of progress in place\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMake sure that you have got a measurement of progress in place,\u201d advises Browning. \u201cThis applies all year round, but is even more crucial when people are wobbling a little bit in the winter.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019ve got a system in place, where you can see that progress, and it\u2019s objective, that really helps keep that positive cycle of motivation going.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHitting the gym one day and doing a Zumba class the next day can help keep it varied and fun,\u201d says Harris. \u201cThis time of year is a really good opportunity to try new things because most people will be modifying the workouts that they did in the summer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWith anything that you\u2019ve got to put an effort in to do, you need a why,\u201d says Harris. \u201cYour why doesn\u2019t need to be an event, it could just be to stay fit and healthy in 20 years\u2019 time to be able to lift and play with your grandkids.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat why gives you something to come back to when you get those moments of can I really be bothered?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dragging yourself to the gym after work when it\u2019s cold, wet and pitch black outside can make 5pm…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":673285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[499,103,61,60,61069],"class_list":["post-673284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-wow"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=673284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}