I got a question on Instagram a couple weeks ago about my fitness routine and how I stay on track and motivated to keep it up. So, I thought I’d do a post about it.
Here’s the question I got from Alli:
“I’m curious what lil habits you do on a weekly basis to keep yourself inspired to stay on track in your fitness routine!”
First of all, what does my fitness routine look like?
My favorite type of exercise is strength training, so that’s what I do most often. I go to the gym almost every day but I put in a proper rest day once or twice a week depending on how my energy levels are and how my body feels.
I’m a morning person, so I get up at 4.50am, which gives me some time to catch up on social media or read before I head to the gym. I love to start my day off with a good sweat – it wakes me up and gets me energised. I’ll spend about 45 minutes to an hour in the gym before getting showered and ready for work. On weekends, when I don’t have to head to work and have more time, I go for a walk after my workout. This is my time to enjoy nature, the quiet morning before people have got up, and catch up on my favorite podcasts.
How I Stay on Track with my Fitness Routine
Few would ever consider getting up at 4.50am, unless it’s for an early morning flight. I’ve been getting up early for as long as I can remember. It’s an ingrained routine so I can’t exactly say I have to motivate myself to do it. I will admit that my enthusiasm dwindles a bit during the dark winter months in Sweden though.
Here’s how I stay on track with my fitness routine:
- I love the way it makes me feel. Honestly, the days I don’t work out in the morning, I am a tired wreck all day at work. It’s as if I never fully wake up unless I’ve done my exercise in the morning.
- Early morning workouts mean I’m on auto pilot. I’m much more likely to talk myself out of exercise if I leave it until the end of the day. When it’s one of the first things I do in the morning, I’m barely even awake yet so it’s like I’m on auto pilot.
- I’m a routine person. Forming a routine around something is very much a part of who I am.
- Morning workouts have been my routine for 10+ years. I’ve been exercising in the morning for many years, which is likely a contributing factor to why I feel like something’s off on the days I don’t exercise.
- It’s my hobby. Strength training and exercise happens to be one of my hobbies, which makes it easier for me to stay inspired and motivated to exercise.
- It’s what my body is built to do. One of the things that inspires me most about exercise is that my body is capable of doing it! I’m built to move and use my body, that in itself is extremely inspiring and motivating. And my body rewards me by feeling great after a sweaty workout, confirming that exercise is a good thing for me to do.
How to get into a fitness routine
Here’s the number one key to getting into any kind of routine really:
- You’ve got to be honest about your intentions. You’ve got to do you. You’ve got to be sure about why you want to do it. Ask yourself if your intentions are positive (e.g. you want to feel energised, you love the feeling of moving your body, you want to experience running over the finish line of a race) or negative (e.g. you hate your body and want to change it, you think you’re fat, you feel pressure from someone else to start working out). If there is any kind of negative association, then back up and try again. Yes, exercise is good for you, but that doesn’t mean you should be forcing yourself to do a specific type of exercise or a specific amount of it.
- Give yourself some time to experiment – try different kinds of exercise and movement (yoga, dance, swimming, walking, running, tennis etc.) and at different times of day (early morning, on your lunch break, straight after work, in the evening after dinner), and see what feels and works best for you, your schedule, and energy levels.
- Be intuitive about how much time you dedicate to your new activity. Some weeks your energy will be low and you’ll feel like doing less exercise (or none at all), other weeks you’ll feel like doing more, and that’s totally fine! Energy ebbs and flows, that’s natural. Respect your body and don’t force it.
- Practice acceptance and appreciation. Don’t knock yourself for skipping a workout. It’s okay if you don’t feel like it sometimes. And appreciate what your body can do!
- Don’t compare yourself to others. Comparison is a surefire way to being unhappy. Don’t set out to achieve some fitness influencer’s body. Just because someone you admire or feel inspired by is doing a certain thing doesn’t mean you have to, nor does it mean that you will get their “perfect” body, “perfect” skin, or “perfect” life if you do what they are doing. You’ve got to do you.
