NO MOTIVATION TO WORK OUT? HERE’S WHAT TO DO

We’ve all had those days…

You’ve just come home from a long day of work or school… you’re physically tired and mentally worn down… you’ve got a thousand non-gym related things on your mind… and all you really want to do is flop down on the couch, relax and unwind.

Only problem is, it’s Thursday. And Thursday is leg day. And no matter how much you try to rationalize it in your mind, deep down you know there’s just no good excuse to skip this workout, even though you’d love nothing more than to stay right where you are and not move a muscle.

Sound familiar?

Regardless of whether or not working out is something that you genuinely enjoy most of the time, even the most motivated of trainees still experience “off days” every now and then. Days where laying in bed and watching Seinfeld re-runs seems like a much more appealing course of action than getting into the squat rack.

So, what should you do in those situations when, for whatever reason, you really just don’t feel like training and can’t seem to find the motivation to make it happen?

The solution is simple…

Stop thinking about it and start taking action anyway.

Sound too simple? Well stick with me, because there’s an important lesson here…

See, most people think of action and motivation as being strictly a one-way street. In other words, you feel a sufficient level of motivation, and that inspires you to carry out a specific action.

In reality, it works both ways.

Not only does motivation cause you to take action, but taking action also causes you to feel increasingly motivated.

In other words, if you feel completely unmotivated to do a particular task but begin taking action anyway in spite of how you feel, you’ll often find that the simple act of merely doing something in and of itself is the very catalyst that causes you to feel increasingly motivated.

This then feeds back on itself, as more motivation inspires further action, and further action inspires more motivation, and before you know it, you’re fully absorbed in the original task that seemed so daunting and insurmountable to begin with.

So, instead of sitting around in your current “uninspired” state and merely hoping that you’ll magically feel some big surge in motivation to get you into the gym… instead realize that the very act of taking positive actions towards performing your workout is often the very thing that will produce the motivation you’re looking for.

Rather, all of the small actions that you take leading up to your workout, through your warmup and through the first set or two of your session will gradually “shift” your state of mind in a positive direction, so that when it comes time to perform the bulk of the actual challenging work, you’ll already be in that pumped up and motivated state you were originally searching for.

Again, stop thinking and just start taking action anyway.

Stop creating mental pictures of what lies ahead… stop creating “what if this” and “what if that” scenarios in your mind… stop trying to weight the benefits and drawbacks of performing or not performing your workout…

If you’ve already made the commitment to yourself and know that the right thing to do is to get into the gym and train, then shut off your mind and just do it.

Stand up… change into your gym clothes… pack your bag…

Even these tiny little actions will kick-start this “state-shifting” process.

Have your cup of coffee, pre-workout supplements or whatever else you usually consume prior to training… walk out the door and start making your way to the gym…

Again, these additional small actions will cause your state to shift further.

Walk onto the gym floor… put your headphones on… begin warming up and moving your body…

Far more often than not, you’ll find that by simply taking all of these individual actions leading up to your actual workout without over-thinking or over-analyzing it, your mindset will shift all on its own and automatically produce the motivation and inspiration you need to tackle your workout with full intensity.

By the time you get past your first few sets, the rest of the workout will usually not only be smooth-sailing, but will actually be fully enjoyable as well, especially since you’ve now reinforced in your mind the fact that you’re a self-motivated person who takes action regardless of the circumstances.

And here’s the most important take away from this article…

This principle can be applied to every area of your life beyond just your muscle building and fat loss program.

Any time you’re faced with something that you know you need to do or should do but are feeling overwhelmed and unmotivated by, you can apply this “stop thinking and just take action” principle in the exact same way.

Have a work project that needs to get done but that you really don’t feel like doing? Just take some initial small steps and then harness the reaction of those first few actions in order to motivate yourself further.

Need to write an essay for school but are feeling completely uninspired and uninterested? Just get the first few lines down on the page and then see where it takes you.

Got an invite from a friend to go out but aren’t in a “social mood”, even though you know you should get out of the house? Just go anyway and watch as the state-shifting process kicks into gear once you speak to a few people.

The bottom line here is this…

If all of the actions you take require you to feel inspired and motivated right from the get go, you’ll never get anything meaningful done, or at the very least, you’ll only be a fraction as productive as you could be.

If you already logically know what the “right” thing to do is, then stop relying on positive emotions (or the absence of negative emotions) to drive you forward, and just do it anyway.

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