7 (Highly Suggestive) Ways to Love Your Workouts More

Let’s be honest, if getting in shape didn’t require working out, we’d all be as ripped as a pair of jeans in the 80’s.

But it does, and we’re not.

So how do you take your stagnant relationship with your workout routine and light a fiery passion that would make a romance novelist blush?

I have 7 highly suggestive, um… suggestions.

1. Set the Mood

If your workout is giving you the eye and you feel good about it — let that set the mood for how you exercise.

Skip the small talk and go after it.

Cut your rest times a bit shorter, use heavier weight, or add some sets or reps.

If, instead, you’re drained and everything feels difficult, cut sets, reps, weight, or increase rest times. Heck, even swap out for a different, less intense workout that you normally do another day.

By adapting your routine based on how you feel, you’ll get the same results and be more likely to stick with it.

2. Heavy Petting

If you don’t want to be a bodybuilder and are just concerned about general fitness, your program should have a fair balance of working your full body (more on that here).

In other words, you don’t need to do 5 different types of bicep curls, or spend 20 minutes on abs.

That said, if you have a “pet” exercise, one that makes you happy and causes you to enjoy your workout more, have at it — even if you don’t technically need it.

Save your faves for the end of your routine so it gives you something to look forward to and keeps you motivated.

3. Be Open to Experimenting

Doing the same thing all the time is a recipe for injury. Not to mention it’s just plain boring.

Variety is the spice of life.

As long as the majority of the exercise you do is part of a well thought out program you do regularly, feel free to throw some new things in whenever you get the impulse.

After all, what’s the point of getting in shape if the only thing you can physically do are the 4 or 5 exercises typically on your agenda?

4. Make it a Quickie

You may feel like if you can’t workout for an hour, you might as well not do it.

It’s unrealistic and wrong.

Rather than calling it quits with your exercise routine, bump up the intensity a bit and keep it short and sweet.

Ten minute workouts might not be ideal forever, but sometimes it’s what you need on certain days, or particular seasons of life, so you don’t dread it and can stay consistent.

5. See Who Lasts Longer

If you tend to lose interest in exercise after a couple weeks, try a little friendly competition.

One of my favorite ideas I’ve heard (from a great podcast, Strength & Scotch) was to agree to pay out money to a friend every week you don’t go to the gym for the specified amount of time (or vice versa).

If you both fall short, the money goes to an organization of the other person’s choice, that way you don’t just cancel each other out, there’s still money on the line.

However you do it, you’re more likely to want to stay loyal to your workouts if you have a supportive partner.

6. Self Gratification

If you don’t have a partner to help you out, you can still have the element of competition.

Compete with yourself.

Setting a performance goal (e.g. doing your first pull-up, or deadlifting X amount of weight) is a good way to prevent exercise from becoming tedious. Keep track from week to week and watch as you make progress.

Even if you typically don’t care much about those kinds of things, you’ll be surprised how much more satisfying your workouts will become.

7. Reach Your Climax

You might not love your workout right now — certainly not at every moment — but if you’re willing to put in the work anyway, you’ll find there’s nothing quite as motivating as when you reach your goals.

Then that’s just the beginning.

When you’ve reached one goal, make another, and then another, and another. Just like a relationship, the more you put into it, the more you’ll get out of it.

Of course, there are bad workout programs, just like there are bad relationships. I can’t guarantee your program will get you results (unless you’re one of our online coaching clients).

But if you aren’t consistent, I can guarantee you’ll never reach your goals. And if you never reach your goals, you’ll never know what it’s like to truly love your workouts.