Although I now go to my local gym for workouts, I started my fitness regime back up last year by working out at home. Not everyone wants to go to the gym and some find it much easier and more comfortable to do it at home. So I thought I’d share a few tips with you that helped me out.
It’s easy to make excuses to avoid a workout. You’ve had a long and stressful day, you’re tired, yesterday’s workout almost killed you so you deserve a rest. Sound familiar? Sometimes we don’t even do it intentionally, it’s just easier to sit on the sofa with a cuppa. But it’s OK, you’ll do it tomorrow or maybe start over next week. Right?
The main thing to remember is that you are in control. It’s your mind making up these excuses, and you can overcome it. You just need to learn to ignore these excuses and get on with it. The sooner you realise that they are unnecessary and just an excuse, nothing more, the sooner you’ll be able to ignore them and crack on with those work outs.
If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.
You will never improve at something if you don’t keep trying. If you’re told you need to improve a project you’ve done at work, you don’t walk out of the office never to return. You sit down and work hard to improve that project. Working out is the same.
Some of the excuses your mind may create is that you aren’t good enough, you aren’t doing it correctly or you just aren’t up to it. But you will never improve if you listen to these excuses and don’t keep at it!
I will admit, the only downside I’ve come across whilst working out at home is that you don’t always know if you’re doing it correctly. Sometimes I would video myself to check my form during workouts to overcome this (mostly because the mirrors in our house are in completely the wrong places) The videos get deleted the minute I’ve seen them, but it’s a good way to check that you’re doing it with the correct form.
It’s important to try new exercises too. If you always do the same exercises, your body will become used to it and you are unlikely to see any big improvements. Improving isn’t about doing workouts perfectly every time. It’s about the challenges you come across when trying new exercises and working out regularly and consistently, rather than listening to the excuses your mind is creating.
If you stumble, get back up. What happened yesterday no longer matters, today is another day.
The excuses will never disappear completely. Your mind will always pop up with small excuses, even after 6 months or so. But the excuses get quieter and quieter the less you listen to them.
Motivation comes from positivity. So reward yourself after each workout. I don’t mean by eating the remainder of the ice cream in the freezer. But give yourself credit for what you’ve done. Think of all of the exercises you’ve done and how amazing it feels to have done them, particularly if you’ve tried new ones. I love my protein shake, so that’s my reward. I know that if I work hard enough I can reward myself with a shake.
No matter how you feel, if you feel you’ve done it poorly, you’ve not done it perfectly, or you don’t want to do it, just do it. Then come and tell me how you feel afterwards.
Don’t wish for it, work for it.
A.x
Amy Louise 