It can be tough to stay positive with everything going on in the world around us today. For the sake of transparency, I'll admit I've dealt with my fair share of stress and anxiety since the onset of the pandemic.
Dealing with stress daily is draining, not just for our energy levels but for our workout motivation as well. After a long day filled with stress and/or negative spiraling, the last thing I want to do is work out, and often it takes more than just discipline to get me up and moving.
That's where positive self-talk and thinking can come into play. The way we speak to ourselves and direct our thoughts have so much power over our actions, decisions, and overall outcomes of each day.
I've interviewed a handful of your favorite Sunny Trainers, so that both you and I can learn how they use positive self-talk and thinking to gain workout motivation. Spoiler alert: prepare to feel uber motivated.
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Workout Motivation Tip #1: Set Small Achievable Goals
Sunny instructors are all about setting and achieving small goals for building workout motivation. Instructor Brittany Noelle says, "Building confidence has a lot to do with setting small achievable goals and then conquering them. The more achievements you complete, the more confident and motivated you'll feel about your workouts."
By taking action, we show ourselves self-love for our mind, our body, and in return, it creates positive mental pathways that build our belief in ourselves and motivation to strive for more.
Sunny instructor Sam Candler wholeheartedly agrees, "Small changes done over a long time add up to big results!" If you're unsure exactly what small changes mean for you, she suggests taking it a step further by specifying what these small goals should look like.
"While outcome goals, like losing weight or doing a pull up, are good to have. Focus most of your energy on behavioral goals, like working out 4 times a week or drinking 3 liters of water a day. You have direct control over your behaviors and adhering to them is what will get you closer to your outcome goals anyway."
By building behaviors rather than outcomes, you set yourself up to reinforce a recurring system of action. It's a whole lot easier to instill regular positive self-talk and thinking when it's backed up with the honest initiative.
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Workout Motivation Tip #2: Be Realistic
Managing your expectations is important for staying motivated. There's nothing worse than trying to keep up with unrealistic expectations, which can make you feel defeated and steal your motivation when you slip up.
As instructor Sam states, "Perfection doesn't exist. It isn't required to hit your goals. 100% compliance for a week won't get you nearly as far as 80% compliance over 10 weeks."
It's so easy to get caught up on one missed workout and get off track for one week, weeks, or even months. Remember the big picture. You're human, and humans aren't perfect, so don't expect yourself to be! When you miss a workout, be kind to yourself, stay positive, and keep moving.
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Workout Motivation Tip #3: Enjoy the Process
To find positivity in the mundane of your daily workout routine, Sam suggests you "learn to enjoy the process as much as the result." If you love what you're doing, it's impossible to stop the positivity from leaking into the rest of your life.
How to enjoy the process? It's a daily process of listening to yourself - getting feedback from your body, your mind, your vibes, and finding a workout that feels right for you. When you put in work that you are excited to do, and feel good about doing, it creates a powerful connection of positivity between you and your workout routine and fortifies your motivation.
Sam encourages you to "find a workout you love and live in the moment each time. Soak up all the positive vibes and let it put swagger in your step."
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Get Workout Motivation with Sunny Health & Fitness
With that, I'll leave you with an encouraging story about fostering positivity that Sunny instructor James King III wanted to share with you.
'The Tale of Two Wolves'
An old Cherokee teaching his grandson about life. "A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy. "It is a terrible fight, and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego."
He continued, "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?" The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."
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