The problem of being unmotivated is one that affects so many people, and is totally relatable. For whatever reason, we sit down or stand at work and just cannot muster the physical or emotional strength to get up and be active. And whilst it may hang over us like a dark cloud that we can’t shift, it’s actually 99% a psychological problem unless you have a major physical issue stopping your progress. If you really cannot push through the wall and get to the gym, however, there are some ways you can remain active whilst taking the time you need to get through your unmotivated spell.
1 – Practice ‘desk exercise’. There are many ways that we can remain active even when sat at a desk. An inexpensive, second hand desk cycling set easily stows under most work or home desks and means that, even when you’re sat down and hard at work, you can at least exercise your legs and break out a few hundred yards of decent, high resistance cycling. There are other ‘desk exercises’ we can do too; standing up and engaging in five minutes of stretching every hour (akin to DVT avoidance on a plane) will make a noticeable impact on the looseness of your joints.
2 – Consider a home gym. It may be that you are bogged down with work or family life; let’s face it, there’s little that is more exhausting than holding down a full time job and having to look after a few kids on top. It may feel like getting out and then driving to and from the gym just feels like far too much work. For the price of 1-2 months’ gym membership, however, you can purchase good quality second hand equipment that will easily fill a spare room or fit around furniture. Then there really is no excuse for not being active!
3 – Transform and use your usual routine. It may be that walking to work or taking the kids to school is just absolutely draining, both mentally and in terms of using up your time. And understandably so. That’s 1-2 hours taken out of your day just with menial tasks. This is a great time to look at that as an opportunity to be get active. Instead of walking your children to school or driving them, consider cycling as a group. It’ll get some much needed exercise in and wake you up, ready for the day ahead. It also saves a lot of money in fuel. If you walk to work and there’s a shower available at the other end, turn it into a high intensity run. By the time you get to your desk or work station, you’ll be buzzing with endorphins and healthy blood flow.
4 – Yoga and meditation. Whilst this isn’t always a full on cardio workout, yoga in itself is great for the body and, with a few specific exercises, is going to really get the cardio vascular system working. Meditation is perfect for breaking through the mental block that comes with a lack of motivation; by the time you’re done with your daily meditation, your mental attitude will be vastly improved.
These are, of course, not an exhaustive list. The key is to work out the root cause of the lack of motivation. Is it a lack of time? If it is, build a workout into your available slots of use ‘dead time’ to create workouts. Is it that you’re not seeing visible results? Change the workout and fit in exercises that work intensive training into specific muscle groups. Is it tiredness? Get plenty of rest and combine exercise with a mental workout. You’ve got this.
