Elite level athletes are not more motivated than you are.

Olympic athletes don’t just “want it more.”

The best CrossFitters in your gym have the same struggles with motivation that you do.

The difference? They know how to get motivated (and know what to do when they don’t feel motivated at all).

Ask anyone at the highest levels of fitness! Some days Games Athletes just don’t feel like working out. Professional Body Builders, sometimes just want to have a burger and fries, rather than their meal preps.

So why do they work out anyway? Why do they stick to their meal plan when things get tough?

Well, here’s how they do it! (And the great news is that you can use the SAME strategy!)

Use Your Coaches!

You need to be accountable to an objective third party. Your spouse might let you off the hook. Your friends won’t always push you to get to the gym or choose the vegetable side dish over those creamy mashed potatoes. Your coach will hold you accountable to your goals, because that is the foundation that started your relationship!

Your coaches:

• Remove the guesswork
• Get you results FAST (you’ll see why in the next step)
• Hold you accountable. You can “ghost” someone over text, but you can’t miss appointments.
• Provide a “pain” for failure. That means you have to pay for coaching. If you don’t, there’s no real penalty for failure … and you’ll backslide.

Get a really fast result.

Our brains are wired to reward quick wins and novelty. If we don’t see results quickly, we lose motivation.

It’s key for someone to say, “You did really well at X”. Apps like Strava and the Fitness on the Apple Watch are great at giving you little rewards when you accomplish something for the first time. But a coach will take care of this for you, too.

Set up a short-term “challenge” for yourself… but have a plan for after the challenge ends.

A 30 day sprint is great for motivating yourself. But most people drop off the edge when it ends, and many actually wind up worse than ever. In my experience, people who do short-term diets (like intermittent fasting or keto diets) usually gain back the weight they lost and far more. The unsustainable nature of the diet, plus the long-term damage to their metabolism, actually leaves them less healthy. You can do these things, just make sure you are creating a plan to follow through on after!

Again, a coach can build this plan with you, all ya gotta do is book a goal review session (:

It will eventually become habit.

It won’t always be hard to go to the gym, shop for groceries, or prep your meals. It will get easier! But, only if you keep the habit going. Usually it takes around 90 days for our behaviors to become habits and then a few more months for our habits to become “just what we do.”

Track everything.

• Track your workouts!
• Note your PRs (personal records)!
• Track your food intake (download MyFitnessPal!)
• Note your wins (#BSF Bright Spot Friday is a great way to do this)!
• Track your sleep.

Note how they all tie together!

If I sleep less, I want more caffeine. When I drink more caffeine, I want less sleep and more salt.

When I eat more salt, my muscles get tight and injuries increase. Then I end up having to workout less, increasing my stress and further harming my sleep.

Then I get grumpy, less fit, and dumber as a result. (That’s just me…but I know some of you can relate.)

Use your tools to plan.

For example, instead of just putting today’s food in MyFitnessPal before bed, enter all of your meals in MyFitnessPal in advance. Then add or subtract carbs, fats and protein to make your macros, and voila! You have a food plan for the next day!

Trust me, it’s far better than cramming dry rice cakes into your mouth at 8 p.m. because you’re not hitting your carb goals.

Check your progress.

Look, you’re not going to have a personal best on every workout. But that matters zero percent. What really matters is consistency. People who show up every day, even if they put out 50% of their best effort, get better results than people who crush it once a week.

The people who “sprint and crash” usually get amazing results, and then they lose all their progress once the push is over. Or they get strong, and then they get injured. The people who just show up for their classes and appointments get strong, lean and happy for life.

I want you to know this: The days when you feel the LEAST motivation are the days you’ll get the BEST results.

Consistent, imperfect action always wins.

To talk with a coach today, click the link found HERE to schedule your No Sweat Intro