5 Ways To Motivate Yourself Through Winter

As winter approaches, daily gym sessions can become a grind, so try these exciting alternatives and upgrades to get yourself leaner and fitter.

1. Shop yourself leaner

Go out and treat yourself to a pair of your favourite jeans in the size that you want to be. This will provide you with a specific goal that’ll give you sniper-like focus. Fixed goals provide a clear and narrow target and give you an idea for the amount of effort needed to achieve it, according to research by California State University, US. Make that shopping bill pay for itself.

2. Get naked

When you start seeing your physique changing for the better, strip off and take a look at your handiwork in the mirror. Haylie Furman, author of Weight Loss Motivation, suggests that looking at yourself in your  birthday suit will remind you that you’re looking so good thanks to your healthy lifestyle. Great for those days when you’re really lacking motivation for the upcoming grind session.

3. Become pen pals with yourself

This is a retro piece of advice, but going low-tech can be very effective. Scribbling down your fitness successes and failures is a key strategy to maximising your goal-hitting behaviour, found a study by the British Psychological Society. Researchers found that the act of looking back at fitness logs gave subjects a motivational boost. You never know, your notes could be published one day.

4. Twitter yourself fitter

Tweet out your fitness goals and be transparent about your ambitions in cyberspace. A study by scientists at Rutgers University in New Jersey, US, found being accountable to an audience or your followers will dramatically increase your motivation. Participants reported that they felt a responsibility to start their fitness regimen so they could report back to their ‘perceived audience’. Start posting fitness-related pictures and posts instead of your nights out if you want a leaner, healthier body.

5. Find someone to lean on

Teammates can send your motivation soaring through the roof. Research by boffins at Kansas State University, US, found those who exercise with a teammate whom they believe to be better than them actually increased workout intensity by a massive 200%. Also, females rode a bike 40% longer with a virtual partner.

Find fitness tips and more in every issue of TRAIN for HER magazine.