Lots of triathletes are trying to do home workouts at the moment as a substitute for swimming or doing a class at a gym. But how many times have you missed the session because you can’t face it? I’ve lost count of how many of clients say they hate home workouts!
They can be hard to find the motivation for due to a whole load of reasons. It’s not all that convenient to workout in my house. I either have to re-arrange my living room, sweat my ass off in my spare room or find the courage to go into my dark cold garage. So it’s not very convenient. I don’t have all the kit I might like to have, there’s no one else there to motivate me. And it’s in my house. Which is warm and relaxing.
I like going out to the gym for the change of scenery and because it’s a motivating environment. There are people working out hard and music is blaring out which gives me a totally different energy than working out in my garage! Plus you might be joining a class or meeting a friend to workout with.
So how are you going to find the mojo to do those home workouts? Instead of just hoping you’ll have the courage when the time comes make a strategy. Come up with some ideas that will help you get the session done. The same idea applies to all the workouts that you find hard. Think of a strategy in advance to help you get them done.
So here are some things I’ve tried and strategies I’ve talked about with clients to help make home workouts happen.
1. Why do you want to do them in the first place? Know your compelling reason!
2. Try a YouTube video where you follow along someone else instructing the workout. This is good as it means you don’t have to think about timings or exercises and get some instructions from the person doing the video. Sometimes I love this! But other times it doesn’t work for me. I get half way through and there’s an exercise I can’t do because of my injury. Or it’s too hard. Or the instructor is annoying or I’d rather have my own banging rock music playing.
3. Write your own workout perhaps based on a workout you’ve watched. Plan it and write it out on a sheet of paper. Then you can get your own music going and do the workout on your own terms.
4. If you write it out yourself download a workout timer app that will let you plan work and rest intervals and give you a countdown.
5. Do it with a friend. This could be just as simple as you and a friend make a commitment to do the workout some time that day. But you could equally get your friend online and do it together at the same time on a video call. The accountability of having a training partner really helps but also makes it more fun.
6. Do it outside with a friend! Be creative with your workout and design it so you can do it outside. Then meet a friend somewhere and crack on! It could be your back garden, your driveway or a local park. Some parks have areas that are well lit at night but if not take a torch or camping lantern. This week I took a few pieces of equipment like a band, a skipping rope, a small dumbbell and my workout timer app on my phone. Then I met Coach Stuart and we had a cracking workout in the dark, in a car park!
7. Join an online class! Some gym and personal trainers are doing group classes live via Zoom. I also do this and it really helps to know once I’m booked I have to turn up at a particular time. Sharing the suffering with other people really helps.
8. Do it as a moving workout as part of a run or walk. E.g. run 2 minutes, then do 1 minute of burpees, run 2 minutes then do 1 minute of lunges etc. I even take some small exercise bands with me in my pocket to help with the circuit. A change of scenery can help and it can also trick your brain into thinking you’re going for a run rather than a tortuous circuit training session.
9. Plan a reward for afterwards. Such as watching your favourite TV programme, enjoying a nice dinner, reading a novel for 10 minutes or whatever works for you. (Do let me know your favourite rewards
10. Be creative! Think of ways to make your workouts happen even with the restrictions.
Let me know what home workouts you’ve been doing and what strategies you’ve used to help make them happen.