Overcoming Mindset and Motivation Challenges with Personal Training

Mindset and motivation are two factors that can critically impact your workout routine. Many assume professional trainers and people that frequent the gym don’t have any problems with mindset or motivation, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. It is essential to understand that mindset and motivation are complicated, multifaceted, and personal to you. 

One of the biggest challenges we see when it comes to working out is breaking the cycle of inconsistency. People get into this cycle of feeling like they should work out, not being able to find the time or motivation, feeling bad about themselves, forcing themselves to overdo a workout, getting injured, and starting back at the beginning. This can be a frustrating and discouraging cycle and breaking it without help can be nearly impossible.

To overcome this challenge, one strategy is to work with a personal trainer. This can sound like a pitch to buy services, but here is why it actually helps. Personal trainers engage with their clients and consider factors like mood, energy level, body type, tolerance, and preferences to create a workout routine that fits their client's needs. They can adapt a session on the fly to make their clients still feel like they are putting in work towards their goal, but doesn’t over-exhaust and discourage them.  This not only makes the client's mood towards working out higher but maintains encouragement and the feeling of accomplishment. 

The second part of having a personal trainer is the accountability factor. Having someone waiting for you is huge. It keeps you motivated and makes sure that you show up to the workout, not just for the purpose of fitness, but because you don’t want to cancel on someone else. Studies have shown that when you are paying for a service there is a higher likelihood that you associate a value with it and will be more likely to participate in the activity.

Another advantage of working with a personal trainer online is that it eliminates the barriers that often discourage people from working out. For instance, people may feel demotivated to work out simply because they have to go to the gym or find parking. With online personal training, you can transition to your workout immediately by opening your computer, and the barriers and reasons to not do the work are easier to overcome.

Working with a personal trainer is all about prioritizing your well-being and ensuring that you leave each session feeling better than when you started. Even if you're not feeling your best when you show up for a session, that's okay because the trainer is there to assess your needs and take care of you in that moment. This is a level of personalized attention that you may not receive in a gym or workout classroom, and it can be invaluable.

Mindset and motivation are huge factors that can impact your workouts. Working with a personal trainer is a useful strategy to overcome these challenges. Online personal training has numerous advantages, including eliminating the barriers that discourage people from working out. Remember, it's okay to show up to your personal training session feeling down because the trainer's job is to take care of you and make sure that you feel better by the end of the session.

But what about the bigger picture? How do you break the cycle of inconsistency and maintain a consistent workout routine? Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

1. Learn how to do less before you can do more: Often, people set unrealistic expectations for themselves when starting a workout routine. They try to do too much too soon and end up getting burned out or injured. Instead, start with small, achievable goals and work your way up over time.

2. Patience with working out: Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither is a fit and healthy body. It takes time, effort, and consistency. Be patient with yourself and trust the process.

3. External support: The key to mindset and motivation is that it can’t just come from you. It has to come from some external form of support. This could be a personal trainer, a workout buddy, or a supportive friend or family member. Find someone who can hold you accountable and help you stay motivated.

4. It takes a village: You shouldn’t try to do it all yourself because you need the filter of an outside perspective to help develop and maintain your goals. 

1. Stefano DellaVigna and Ulrike Malmendier, “Self-Control in the Market: Evidence from the Health Club Industry,” Working Paper (Harvard University, 2001). Katherine N. Lemon, Tiffany Barnett White, and Russell S. Winer, “Dynamic Customer Relationship Management: Incorporating Future Considerations into the Service Retention Decision,” Journal of Marketing, January 2002.