How to regain motivation in training in 5 steps

You have been training for a long time, you have achieved some of the goals that you had set for yourself, but today you suddenly begin to notice the effects of demotivation. You don't even know where to start.

You look at your mobile: 12 messages and 3 videos on WhatsApp. You read, visualize and respond. You enter Facebook, the same and this is followed by Twitter, Instagram, mail... you almost want to open up to your Google+. You turn off your mobile, you keep wandering...

You end up giving up and going to the Elliptical. You connect your headphones and "train". You have lost connection with your purpose, and if you continue like this, you have little left to give up.

Does this situation sound familiar to you? I hope not. But if you think it describes your case, you will have already come to the conclusion that something is missing: thenecessary motivation to train when doing sports.

• Related article: "The 10 keys to motivating yourself"

What really motivates you to train?

Nothing motivates more than remembering what you train for. I am convinced that with this article you will remember the reasons that led you to practice your favorite sport.

Now, a little theory always comes in handy to locate us. Let's start with the basics.

What is motivation?

According to the RAE, motivation is the "set of internal or external factors that partly determine a person's actions." Motivation is having reasons, that you do not win, to carry out an action.

Now, there are many theories that try to explain what motivates us and we can mainly divide them into two streams:

• Content-Satisfaction Theories: based on the study of aspects such as Needs, Aspirations and their level of satisfaction. (Maslow, Mc. Gregor, Herzberg, Alderfer, McClelland).
• Process Theories: they focus their study on the thought process by which the person is motivated. (Vroom, Adams, Skinner).

Likewise, depending on where you want to focus, we obtain the different types of motivation. Personally, the distinction between Intrinsic Motivation and Extrinsic Motivation is very clarifying to me. If you want to know all the types of motivation read: "Types of motivation: the 8 motivational sources", although here you can find a very brief summary:

Extrinsic Motivation

It arises from the hope of obtaining a benefit external to that of the action itself. The motives that make the person act are alien to the action itself, materialized as money, promotion, commitments... Example: I have signed up for the gym because my doctor has told me that if I don't lower my cholesterol he will have to give me a very powerful.

Intrinsic motivation 

It arises from the depths of our being and is linked to our values ​​and life purposes. It drives action without the need for external incentives. Example: I exercise to feel agile and autonomous so that I can play with my grandchildren.

To take into account what motivates us ...

• Not all people are motivated the same.
• Motivations vary over time and with the different environments of the person.
• Feeling useful and capable is one of the biggest Motivators.
• Satisfaction for what is well done is in itself a great motivator.
• If what we want is to motivate another person, we must know their needs and align them to an important objective for them.

When we reach psychic exhaustion in which the activities and sports that before we wanted to do, now we do not even want to start... In order to!!! Become aware of what is happening and ask yourself what has changed? Or better yet, what has changed in me, so that now I am no longer attracted to exercising?

What keeps you motivated the longest?

Before asking yourself, what motivates you or why have you lost motivation, perhaps you should look for the answer to any of these questions:

• What activity do you enjoy as a child?
• If you could choose, what would you like to improve in yourself?
• Who would you like to train with?
• If of all the sports that there are, you had to choose one, which one would you choose?
• What athlete inspires you? And what does it do to inspire you?

As you know, the benefits of exercise are multiple and among them I want to highlight, the improvement of self-esteem, the reduction of stress levels and the possibility of making you feel more agile and autonomous, improving your self-image and selfconcept.

So if after answering the questions you have found something similar to your motivating activity, you only have to answer one more question... Do you practice the activity you have chosen brings you closer to the person you want to become?

It is necessary that you invest time in becoming aware and bringing to light everything that is important to you and what you think is worth working for. That is a great motivator!

Feel ourselves owners of our actions

As I have mentioned before, there is nothing more motivating than stopping to think about what was the original trigger that started you. If in addition to looking for that deep motivation you want to specify a little more and you dare to achieve a challenging goal for yourself, I recommend you follow these steps with examples of people I have worked with throughout my career:

1. Don't look for motivation; believe it

Find a goal with which every time you remember it makes your eyes shine. Example: to be able to hold my grandchildren in my arms again.

2. Know in what physical and / or emotional situation I find myself

Example: carry out an assessment (bioimpedance) to know exactly the body fat-muscle ratios and thus know how much fat I want to lose.

3. Know what your strengths are 

This will help you achieve your goals. Example: I can only train for two days but when I start something I do not abandon it (Tenacious), I am sure that for 6 months in addition to controlling my diet (Conscious) I will train 2 hours to get down 7 kg. (Responsable).

4. Action plan

Example: put on a paper a time line that goes from today to the day you are going to achieve your goal (Lose 5kg in 2 months). Put two or three milestones along the way so that you feel that you are getting small results (Milestone 1: Check my pantry fridge. Milestone 2: Read 3 articles a month about food. Milestone 3: Lose my first Kg). Last action: divide each timeline until you break each milestone into small steps, so small that it is easy for you to get to the next step. This is how great goals are achieved.

5. Evaluation and readjustment

Example: check how your evolution is going or ask someone you trust to help you review, without attachment, the results obtained and readjust, if necessary, your path.

Recovering the illusion for training

In short, if feeling agile, autonomous, energetic, strong... makes it easier for you and brings you closer to your purpose, then don't worry, motivation will emerge. Be clear about what you want to achieve. Know exactly the way to get there. And make sure that achieving it makes you better.

I hope I have helped you and above all I hope that the next time you look at your mobile in your training it will be to choose your favorite song.