This months question is from William. Whats a good way of staying motivated when you don’t have a training partner?
Particularly because for us we have online programmes as well as clients within person, and with Bothe this cases we are then becoming the support network. So when you don’t have a training partner and you have to rely on yourself, so sometimes having a well thought out plan, that you can stick to, that certainly goes a long way to keep you motivated.
When you break it down, what you are looking for is how do we stay motivated. Real it down and answer…what am I trying to achieve? Why is this important to me? Start with a goal and then once you have the goal you need the easiest way to get there. What happens with most people is they start with a very vague statement of what their goal is. You then start to put all these limitations on yourself and before you realise, a couple of weeks have passed and then admit that you are just not motivated for this! What we like to say is, get a very specific goal first of all, and a time frame to achieve it all, and answer why it is important to you, because when it comes to motivation you have 2 types. You have external motivation and internal motivation. External motivation is, for example, your personal training standing over you pushing you on! Internal motivation comes from within and you want to do this for yourself. So think about the reasons why you want to achieve your goal. This can then often push you on and keep the motivation.
When you have your end goal, it is very important to then break it down into much smaller chunks. Right down to daily micro-chunk, even hourly goals! Simple things like your hourly hydration and nutrition. As you are achieving these goals, you will be getting a sense of fulfilment and this is where motivation comes from, its about succeeding. Now granted you have got your long term goals, but as you are achieving the smaller goals you are getting wins, and wins lead to more wins! Micro goals, whether that’s hourly, daily, weekly are all aimed to your end goal!
As personal trainers, there is nothing more satisfying than a client coming to us, saying they have completed all the little goals and want to know what is next! They are so motivated to get onto the next step! That is what you want! Cheat the system by making small goals and getting the wins and in turn the confidence. Sometimes you might already know what is next or if you don’t, you ask your coach for advice.
The way that you measure these little wins is very important. Im working with a client at the moment and she has multipole ways of measuring her goals. Not only does she have the numbers on the scales, she also has the numbers on the measuring tape and she has this walking jacket that she wants fit into. Her long term goal is to have the jacket on, zipped up and fell comfortable and slim. So between numbers on a scale or a measuring tape, she has three ways of measuring her wins, which ever one it may be. Dont just rely on way of measuring your success. If you have multiple ways to measure, you then have more chance of success.
In a nutshell, staying motivated without a training partner, all comes down to you. It comes from internal motivation, doing things for you because it makes you feel good! In order to get that, start with small goals!!