It doesn’t get more convenient than an at-home workout, but convenience isn’t a strong enough factor to be a motivator alone: accountability plays a huge part.

With the sudden outbreak of COVID-19, accountability can be tricky when you’re working out in comfortable, familiar surroundings. While pre-pandemic normality might have stopped you from bailing on a gym buddy, it becomes far too easy to skip workout sessions when the only person holding you accountable is you.

It’s often said that getting fit and sustaining a level of fitness is all in the mind: they’re simply a matter of motivation. But what’s less frequently discussed is the mind’s unique way of rebelling against what you tell it to do, and disobligingly doing the opposite.

The most common reason for falling off the fitness wagon is that people set their stakes too high, and these goals quickly become intimidating. Physical health doesn’t provide the instantly gratifying results that other areas of our lives bring, and people often want to undo years of bad habits in a matter of weeks: ambitious fitness goals often lead to avoidance and a lack of motivation.

By setting smaller goals, there’s a real sense of achievement once they’re fulfilled, and an attainable foundation on which to gradually build your strength and stamina. Similarly, choosing exercises that enable a sense of personal progress (such as mastering a new discipline, like yoga, or a new level of endurance) means the rewards are arising from the activity itself, and not from its outcome.

As a fitness coach whose client base includes people of all ages and abilities, motivation – or lack thereof – doesn’t discriminate against a particular demographic: it can affect each and every one of us in some shape or form. But what is common is people’s perception of motivation, which quite often just adds an extra barrier itself, and suddenly exercising is more than merely putting on your exercise gear; it’s needing to feel a certain way, too.

Your surroundings also play an essential factor in staying motivated, and we’re more likely to exercise in a space that’s dedicated to exercise and set up as such, rather than having to rearrange the furniture every time we want to get our fitness on.

Exercising in an unused spare bedroom that already has your yoga mat and other equipment ready is far more likely to motivate you to exercise than shoving the sofa out of the way while the kids run in and out with increasingly aggravating demands.

All of the above factor into my online workout programmes. Fitness isn’t a one-size-fits-all proposition, and what works for one person might not work for another. That’s why each

plan is bespoke and takes into account a client’s abilities and personal circumstances.

It’s a holistic approach to fitness that recognises that mental support and stimulus are just as important as the physical aspect. I try my best to keep clients on track, both with their workouts and how they mentally approach fitness goals.

Remember that you’re unique, and your fitness goals and motivation shouldn’t be compared to someone else’s. We all just need a little push sometimes, and I hope this blog was yours.

How to stay motivated to exercise during lockdown