Motivation for exercising

During this period of the Corona virus pandemic, I have spoken to many friends, students and fellow coaches. The primary complain they have from the situation as regards to their fitness is that, “there is just no motivation. So it’s very difficult to maintain regularity in exercising.” Well, that’s absolutely correct. There is no tournament coming up, no one to compete with and restrictions in moving out of the house. The uncertainty of the situation adds to the problem.  No one knows when we will be able to compete in a tournament next. It’s been well over three months since squash courts have been closed and keeping the motivation on over such a long period is becoming increasingly difficult. In such a situation, how do we continue to drive ourselves to do that very important work out every day and continue to be in a minimum acceptable shape?

Here are a few tips which you can use to motivate yourself to exercise-

.Get a personal fitness coach-

This is the easiest way to motivate yourself to make your exercise a regular routine. Sign up with a trained instructor (to train you online), share your fitness goals with him, make a plan and get going. Yes, it does involve expenses, but it will be totally worth. A good strength and conditioning coach will make a plan for you as per your age, goals, and work on your weak areas. He will advise you on the workouts for ‘off’ days and keep you motivated. He will also check the form of your exercises which is not possible when doing on your own. So once you have signed up with a trained instructor, you arefree from all the detailed planning

 Check your weight- 

This worked for me. Recently I checked my weight and was surprised to see a spike by a couple of kilos. I have been very regular in my workouts so it came as a surprise to me. I immediately understood that some corrections in my diet and/or workout were required to at least maintain the weight. Most of us must have put on a few kilos as our life before this situation was very different. So there is no need for a panic attack if weight has gone up. But definitely, it’s something we need to keep in check. Weight is of course also a function of diet, but it is does signify important changes in our body. For a squash player, he exerts four times his body weight on the front leg while lunging for a front court shot. So if weight has increased say by 3kgs, we will be putting extra weight of 12kgs on that leg while playing that shot when he will resume. That can lead to injuries. So the weight has to be in control. Checking your weight may create a fear which will motivate you to push ourselves on the mat. Check weight once every 3-4 days once you are regular in exercising and then gradually you can increase the frequency.

Make a detailed workout plan-

If plan 1 is not feasible, you have to drive yourself. Start by planning your workout schedule. Plan the minutest detail. Write it down in your planner/ diary. Make a three or four week plan (repeats weekly) to see visible results. Do not make the workout plan so tough, that you are worn out in few days, neither too easy that it doesn’t challenge you at all. Also, keep a low intensity day after every 2-3 days for the body to ‘breathe’. Children below 15 may need their parents/ coaches guidance and motivation to plan and execute the workout plans. The parents have to dedicate their 45mins to 1hour every day to make sure their kids are doing the workouts properly. Most kids need that check when doing their daily exercises. 

 Keeping Targets-

Make a target out of every session. A target could be 30 burpees in 1minute or 10 push-ups. Make sure the target is not too tough. After every session, note down the readings. Every day, you can then see your progress and that’s a great feeling. After the week is over, analyse your achievements and if required make minor changes. After 3-4 weeks, the difficulty level can be increased. Noting all your accomplishments, adds to the motivation. Share these accomplishments with your friends and family and also share your further target.

Mental frame for exercising-

The night before the workout is very important. You should be now coming in the ‘zone’, mentally plan and visualize your next day’s work out, just like we would plan an office meeting or early morning school. Keep all workout clothes, shoes, yoga mat ready the night before. Inform your family members that you would need the particular space in the house at this particular time. They will then not disturb you during your workouts, remember it’s your ‘space’ and your ‘time'

Watch my video on 'How to get the best out of your workouts' below-

We all are more or less going through the same emotions during this time. But we all are athletes. We love challenges. Let us take this as one of our important challenges and face it head on. Our minds will continue to play games with us to avoid exercising. It is important to tame the monkey mind by using above techniques and put our foot down on the exercise mat and get going.

Amit Gajria

World Squash Federation Certified Coach

Mumbai, India.