It’s no secret I LOVE fitness. You heard me. I LOVE it! However, like everyone else, a lot of times I struggle to gather the motivation to hit the gym. Motivation to workout is like a roller coaster. It comes and goes. There are periods of time when I am 100% motivated and I have incredible workouts every single day. These highs are usually followed by periods of time when I struggle to get through a 45 minute workout. I know this happens to you too. And I am sure it happens to even the best athletes in the world. I have been working out consistently for long enough to know that I always feel better after a workout (even a light one), so today I will be sharing some of my strategies for getting motivated and crushing my workouts.

1. Save The Best For Last

For the last few years I have been doing body part splits for my training. This means I train a specific body part every day. I save chest day, which is my favorite, for Friday. I love doing chest! And I know I will have an awesome workout regardless of how tired I am. Try it! Identify your favorite workouts and save them for the end of the week! 

2.  Get Your Least Favorite Workout Done Early

On the flip side, I train shoulders on Monday cause they are my least favorite. Also because they are my biggest weakness and my motivation is at an all time high after a weekend of rest. Identify your least favorite workouts and get them over with! Put that Monday motivation to work and work on your weaknesses. 

3. New Tunes

This one is the simplest, yet one of the most effective motivators. Work on creating a new workout playlist, show up to the gym to listen to your favorite songs, and watch the magic happen. Great workout guaranteed.

4. More Is Not Always Better

Sadly, we have gotten into the mentality that in fitness “more is better”. Not true. More cardio and longer workouts are guaranteed to burn you out and make you lose your motivation. Not only do longer workouts not guarantee results, they can actually be detrimental to your progress. Use this trick to stop wasting time at the gym. Set your stopwatch to 30, 45, or 60 mins. Crank out your workout for that many minutes, and leave as soon as you run out of time. A quality workout doesn't have to be 3 hours long.

5. Recruit A Friend

Time always goes by faster when having a good time with friends. Same applies to your workouts. Ask a friend to join you. Push and motivate each other. Let that competitive spirit kick in and watch the time fly by.

6. Take It Outside

I live in South Florida aka Paradise. As a gym rat, it would kill me to miss perfectly beautiful days because I had to workout. So, I changed that. I cut down my gym days to 4 a week and now I take it outside on the other days. I like to go out and play golf, tennis, beach soccer, throw the football around, and long bike rides along the beach. I saw incredible results from this strategy. My energy increased, my body fat dropped, and I stay active and enjoy the weather all week long!

7. Take a Week Off

Yup, you heard me. If you are not feeling your workouts and nothing is helping, take a full week off. Don’t you dare step into the gym. Let your body rest and your mind recharge. Rest is the most underrated aspect of fitness. Recovery is everything, and your body has probably been telling you to relax. Listen to your body. Watch your diet. Enjoy the rest. Be ready to come back recharged and ready to kill those workout the next week!

Hope this list boosts your motivation, and helps you have great workouts even when all you want to do is stay home and watch Netflix. Please share your tips and tricks with everyone in the comments below!

Happy working out friends!

Carolina Romero. Fit Golfer Girl (All Rights Reserved)