It is becoming common knowledge that regular exercise is essential to ensure good health. This is because it comes with innumerable health benefits ranging from improving your mood and better sleep quality to helping you achieve a healthier body weight.

These benefits have informed the WHO's minimum recommendation of 150 to 300 minutes of exercise weekly for adults and 60 minutes for children and adolescents.

Despite an increasing knowledge of its benefits, working out and doing it consistently can be hard. While it's easy to include working out as one of your New Year's resolutions, following through is the problem. health benefits ranging from improving your mood and better sleep quality to helping you achieve a healthier body weight. 

This is not for a lack of will but because it can be hard to keep yourself constantly motivated. The discipline and tenacity it requires can sometimes pose a stumbling block.

If you're looking for ways to keep your fitness motivation up, here are a few evidence-backed tips:

1. Set Process Goals

Goals refer to the expected results of your efforts and ambitions. They provide a roadmap to where you want to be and serve as fuel for motivation. Goals provide the focus you need to get where you're going, the drive to keep going, and a mechanism to track your progress. Goals can either be outcome or process-oriented.

For example, an outcome goal will be you saying you want to lose about 70 pounds by the end of the year. For process goals, an example would be if you say you want to work out for 3 hours daily on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Studies have shown that having process goals significantly improves motivation. This is because they force you to face the reality of your goals and how to achieve them. Hence, you set feasible goals while outlining how to meet these goals.

2. Restructure Your home Environment

Your environment has an undeniable impact on how motivated you'll be. Hence, using your environment to set yourself up for success is one of the essential elements of effective behavior change.

It has been reported that restructuring your environment can provide the motivation you need to cause a change in your behavior. New habits are formed from consistent behavioral patterns, and your environment plays a huge part. Therefore, you must set it up to keep you motivated. 

Restructuring your environment can mean finding a gym you enjoy visiting or designating specific times for working out. It would help to consider setting out your workout clothes the night before.

You can also set multiple reminders for your gym sessions. These ensure that all you need for success at working out more is more accessible. Keeping yourself motivated can be as straightforward as this.

3. Build a Community

Building a solid community is essential for motivation. Honestly, it's almost impossible to be motivated every day, and it is perfectly natural to have days when you don't feel up to working out. This is where your community comes in.

A robust and encouraging community will ultimately motivate you to get up and start moving, especially on days when it's hard. The positive impact of a strong community on motivation has been reported. Money can't buy the smiles, high fives, and encouraging remarks from the bonds people form.

There is a fitness team out there for everyone, regardless of what workout plan you're working with. Find an exercise that makes you feel good, and spend time with individuals who will help you develop your strength and confidence while keeping you motivated. These people will constantly hold you accountable, which is essential for motivation.

4. Reward System

Working out can be challenging to keep up with, but rewarding yourself can make it easier to bear. Of course, you'll do something more often if you're getting some form of gratification from it. You can gift yourself a healthy meal or watch a movie after a gym session. You should also remember intrinsic rewards like accomplishment and relief after a workout.

Part of having a reward system can include having fun while working out. Making the entire process of working out more enjoyable is a great way to keep yourself motivated. Greater physical activity enjoyment influences individuals' capacity to engage in regular physical activity.

Simply put, you are much more likely to repeat a gym session if you enjoy yourself. Switch things up occasionally; have your favorite music playing in the background as you work out or with your favorite person. These are steps to keep you motivated.

5. Positive Affirmation

Evidence suggests that repeating positive fitness affirmations changes your brain, increasing your likelihood of exercising. This is because, naturally, working out can be perceived as uncomfortable and met with opposition mentally and physically. Positive self-affirmations encourage you to engage in more physical exercise by removing that mental barrier, causing an aversion to working out.

However, beyond these positive self-affirmations, you should constantly evaluate the challenges and obstacles you face regarding working out and plan ways to solve them.

Conclusion

Working out can be challenging to start and keep up with. Therefore, finding evidence-backed ways to keep yourself motivated is essential. You should remember to build a strong community around yourself while having simple goals and rewarding yourself occasionally. With these in your arsenal, you can get that gym subscription.