How Looking Good and Feeling Good Can Motivate Your Fitness Journey
Staying in the fitness mindset can be as tiring as the exercise itself. The motivation just isn’t always there. A little confidence, embracing yourself at each step of the journey, can get you over those hurdles. Owning your workout with your favourite hits is guaranteed to get you feeling unstoppable as you smash those personal bests. Just don’t forget your headphones/earphones!
The role of music in enhancing workout performance
Listening to motivating music can improve workout performance and enjoyment. Making your own pump-inducing playlist personalises your workout and makes it more fun. The right headphones or earphones can enhance this experience, helping to maintain focus and rhythm during exercise.
The psychological impact of dressing well for workouts
Catch your own eye in those huge studio mirrors. Wearing your kit of choice while checking yourself out can be a much-needed confidence boost. It can even put you in the mindset for exercise. Feeling fit and seeing results can lead to smashing those long-term goals.
Setting achievable goals to boost self-esteem
Be real with yourself. Setting realistic, beatable fitness goals boosts your sense of achievement. They should be doable and leave you excited for what’s to come. Hitting those milestones improves your self-esteem—and you can put that newfound determination into your next workout!
The social aspect: Exercising with friends and community
A familiar face or two at the gym makes you more likely to head back again. Workout classes or exercising with friends makes you accountable. Even on those ‘meh’ days you’re tempted to skip. Fitness classes quickly become little communities where you can cheer each other on and reach goals together.
Monitoring progress: The motivation of visible results
Progress means different things to different people. Whether you’re watching the scales or your endurance, tracking is a tangible way of seeing how far you’ve come and can give that nudge to keep up your fitness routine. It is important to have more than one way to measure your progress, as sometimes you’ll find yourself not seeing the changes you expected but them appearing in a different form. Photos are always brilliant for this, as you can do comparisons to see your progress or even an item of clothing you want to fit a little nicer. Making sure to not only rely on something like the scales, which are unpredictable and can be affected by other things, will help keep you motivated and feeling positive.
Mindfulness and mental well-being: The feel-good factor
Exercise isn’t just for the body. Endorphins, feel-good hormones, are released when we work up a sweat. They also improve our mood by lowering stress, and because it feels good, we’re more likely to do it again. And again. You can try and take time to note down, or even simply consciously think about, how you are feeling before and after a workout and how you feel once you have been consistent for a while.
Motivation comes easy when you feel and look your best. Fitness means different things to different people. When you look the part and dress to bench-press, it makes working out more fun and doable in the long term.
Top photo by John Arano on Unsplash
