4 Ways To Stay Motivated

1- Have a plan with goals

Here are some tips to help you avoid the pitfalls that lead to a lack of motivation, missed workouts and stalled progress.

I've spent many years trying to figure out ways to engineer and optimize strength-training workouts so that anyone can get maximum results in minimal time. But the truth is that the greatest workout routine in the world is useless if you don't have the motivation to actually follow through with it.

Every time you work out, plan the exercises you are going to do and which weights you want to use. Moreover, because progressive overload is the foundation of muscle-building progress, you need to ensure that overload increases from workout to workout. There are three fundamental ways to ensure an increase in the intensity of overload:

A- Use a heavier weight for the same number of reps and sets (or the same duration of a static hold);
B- Use the same weight but increase the number of reps and/or sets;
C- Use the same weight and reps but perform them in a little less time.

Again, A and B yield the best results. Relying entirely on method C could lead to severe injury.

2- Don't keep switching exercises

Many people make the mistake of grabbing whichever exercise machine is available at the moment. For example, during their last workout, they exercised their biceps doing barbell curls on a preacher bench, so for this workout, they'll use a Nautilus bicep machine, and the next workout, they'll do cable curls on the low pulley.

The problem with this kind of workout is that there will be no way to compare progress in a fair way. The fact is that while 100 pounds on a barbell really is 100 pounds, the same weight on a machine is often not what is advertised after it runs through a few pulleys and levers.

Sticking to the same exercises on the same equipment is the way to ensure accuracy in the measurement of progress.

Stop going to the gym so often...

3- Don't work out so often

Overtraining is the single biggest mistake people make when strength training. You have to remember that aerobics and strength training are very different. It's a great idea to do 30 to 60 minutes of low intensity aerobics every day. And there is no need to increase the intensity of that exercise beyond your age-adjusted target heart rate. So every day for 10 years, you can do an identical aerobic workout.

Strength training is different. You make progress by progressively increasing the intensity of your workouts. To make a long physiological story short, you can't generate that increase every day. And contrary to popular gym advice, after you've been training for three or four weeks, you can't generate an increase by working out three times a week. You'll need more time off for full recovery.

If you paid attention to the points above, you'll easily be able to see your progress by reviewing your well-planned workouts using the same exercises each time. That way, you'll have meaningful and legitimate comparisons.

4- Measure your body fat

I have known many people who became needlessly frustrated because they didn't realize they really were making good progress. The goal of all strength training is to increase the amount of lean muscle tissue in the body. The benefits of having more muscle are nearly endless and beyond what can be covered in this article.

Many people make the mistake of using only the bathroom scale to gauge their progress. So the guy who sees the scale read "195" for two months may think he's on a plateau and not making any progress. But if he had been aware of his body fat percentage since the beginning of his training circuit, he might discover that he's gained 10 pounds of muscle and lost 10 pounds of fat!

Not only would that be awesome to know, it's highly motivating as well. Unfortunately, many guys tend to cheat themselves out of such a discovery.

Knowing your body fat percentage is not only about how much fat you lose... it's also about how much muscle you gain.

progress is the motivator

The bottom line is that seeing constant progress is the ultimate motivator. It is so powerful, it's almost intoxicating! And that feeling of confidence and positive achievement will carry over into many other aspects of your life.

If you plan your workouts, make appropriate comparisons, adjust your training frequency, and closely monitor your strength improvements, fat loss and muscle gain, you'll never want to stop exercising. And everyone else will wonder what your "secret" to staying so motivated is.

Have a great workout!

Peter Sisco is the co-author of Power Factor Training, The Golfer's Two-Minute Workout, Static Contraction Training, and other books. He is also the editor of the five-book "Ironman's Ultimate Bodybuilding" series. The step by step workouts he recommends are also available in his new e-book.