Struggling to Get Motivated? 5 Techniques to Help You Exercise More!

As you know, I recently hit up Gymagogo, an online workout that lets you take a live class in the comfort of your own home. I loved that once you sign up, you get reminded to actually attend—which totally helped keep me accountable and “get to class” even when I was super tired. Today, founder and CEO Michael Mayers is sharing a few of his tips to help you get sweating. If you’re having trouble staying motivated or getting ‘er done, read on! —Erin

As part of the research for Gymagogo.com, we read more academic papers on exercise behavior than we ever thought possible! The final count was more than 40 papers, and we also had the privilege of interviewing some world-class exercise behavior scientists. As we immersed ourselves in the academic world, we were struck by the number of studies that proved the effectiveness of certain techniques in helping people to exercise more. We’re applying some of those techniques at Gymagogo, and below I summarize some that can help you immediately.

5 Ways to Work Out More

1. Get dressed. Struggle to work out first thing in the morning? Lay your exercise clothes out the night before and put them on as soon as you wake up. The trick here is not focusing too much on the workout as you put the clothes on—just put them on and see how you feel about working out afterwards. Some people found this technique dramatically increased their likelihood of exercising in the morning.

2. Get a buddy. Yeah, yeah I know you’ve heard this one before. But the science tells us that the reason this works is because there’s someone you feel accountable to when it comes to exercise and, most importantly, it doesn’t need to be a friend. In my own research, I found that some people found exercise instructors who would text them if they didn’t turn up to a scheduled class, which made them more likely to turn up the next time.

3. Get support from friends and family. Friends and family don’t need to work out with you but your environment has to support exercise habits, and that includes the people closest to you. If they aren’t on board and supportive, then you’ll be swimming upstream from the start. Sit your other half, your kids and your friends down. Tell them what you are trying to achieve and ask them to support you in any way they know how. You’ll be amazed at what a difference it makes when everyone is on board with your goals.

4. Set goals, plan activity, do it and REFLECT. I bet you’ve heard this one before too, but what most people fail to do is reflect at the end of the cycle. What worked? What didn’t? If you faltered, why? The key to long-lasting exercise habits is implementing what you learn from that final phase of reflection. Five minutes of reflection at the end of each week can make all the difference.

5. Work out on the way somewhere. If you go to the gym, then make sure it’s on the route to somewhere you drive or walk to regularly. Choose one that requires no deviation in an established geographical routine. Just a couple of blocks off a normal beaten path can make the difference between “not tonight” and “I’ll just go in for 30 minutes.” Those decisions sit between success and failure.

The key to many of these ideas is to “reduce the amount of affirmative action required to exercise.” What that means to you and me is that you need to reduce the amount of willpower required to exercise and increase the likelihood of doing so.

Are there any tips and tricks that you use to exercise more? We’d love to hear them below!