A common complaint that I hear from people who struggle to maintain a consistent fitness routine, is that the workouts are too boring.
To that, I say your workouts aren't supposed to be exciting, they're only meant to be effective! If you want excitement, play a sport or start a new hobby.
Training is simply a means to achieve a particular goal, whether that be improved strength, health, physique, or simply living pain-free.
There are only two reasons for being bored with training:
- You aren't seeing results
- You don't have a specific goal
If you aren't seeing measurable results, identify specifically what is holding you back, and then start working on improving that. It's the only sane way to keep moving forward!
For example, if your goal is building muscle mass, are you:
- Training with sufficient intensity?
- Eating a well rounded diet with sufficient protein?
- Maintaining good sleep habits?
- Are you targeting your underdeveloped muscle groups which have more potential for growth?
If you answer "no" to any of these questions, then you know what to work on.
If you don't have a specific training goal, is it because your objectives are too vague?
Just stating that you want to lose fat is not specific enough. Instead, be more detailed by saying something like this:
"I want to lose 5 lb of fat, and the most effective way for me to do this is by training my underdeveloped hamstrings and glutes, which will increase my resting metabolic rate, improve my insulin sensitivity, and make it easier to get and stay lean without spending excessive time training.
Maybe, you don't know what to focus on. That's ok, just make something up! Your training goals do not need to be something super meaningful to your life. There's no shame in changing your goals later on if you find that they are no longer serving you. The important thing is that it will give you some direction and a starting point.
Pick something simple like being able to do 20 pullups, achieving a front split, or increasing your arm measurement by 1/2". If you have any nagging pains, make resolving those pains your goal (actually, resolving pain should always be the priority when it's an issue!)
That's it from me! Hopefully training boredom is now a thing of the past.
Do you have any strategies that have kept you motivated over the years? I'd love to hear them!