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Don't feel like it, bad weather, no time? With these excuses, you'll gladly skip workouts. These 14 tricks will help you get motivated to work out.

In this article:

• Why am I so unmotivated in the first place?

• Why was I so motivated in the beginning, and now I'm not?

• How can I motivate myself to exercise, even at home?

You probably know it too, that sudden urge to want to change everything: exercise more, eats healthier, get fitter. One of the most popular goals: The fit beach body for the next beach vacation. Sometimes it's also an upcoming event that spontaneously awakens your desire to fit into your favorite jeans again. But as suddenly as the motivation boost comes, it's gone again, and the old excuses are back: too cold, too tired, not in the mood for anything.

But this is not an inevitable curse. With a few simple tricks, you can motivate yourself to work out or, metaphorically speaking, kick yourself in the butt. We'll show you how to maintain your fitness motivation in the long run and achieve your fitness goals.

Why am I so unmotivated in the first place?

It's simple: humans are not machines. You, too, are subject to moods, lows in form, fatigue, stress, and many other factors that torpedo your motivation. You're like all athletes, including every top athlete, from time to time.

The key is not to keep going at the top level but to stick with it and motivate yourself again and again. Fight your way out of the motivation slump with the right strategies. We'll tell you how. If you want to find out your motivation type, also read our next article.

Why was I so motivated at the beginning and not anymore?

That's quite normal. There is magic in every beginning, as Hermann Hesse knew. In the case of a fitness project, it's a certain initial euphoria that wears off over time. But don't be too hard on yourself and don't look too black! It's normal that after an initial high phase, you'll lose interest again because you don't see progress from one moment to the next.

Between the 3rd and 6th months, many people find it particularly difficult to get the courage to train. Therefore, it is all the more important that you prepare for exactly this motivational gap, for example, with a fixed individual training plan, workout appointments, and rewards that have nothing to do with food for diligent training.

How can I motivate myself to exercise, even at home?

It's important that you don't put yourself under an artificial compulsion, under a pressure that doesn't come from you, from your desires. If you do all this just to please someone else or to meet someone else's ideal, sooner or later, you will run out of breath, or the desire will vanish into thin air.

What strategies are there for more motivation in sports, especially if I want to train at home? Plenty. We've collected 14 of our best fitness tips for you, with which you're guaranteed to overcome your inner pig. Let's go!

1. Slip into your gym clothes right after work

If you leave work with your gym bag already packed and don't take the dangerous detour at home, going to the gym will become a matter of course.

Here's a simple trick to make sure you don't skip your gym class: Take your gym clothes with you to work in the morning if you want to work out after work. If you go home first and want to make yourself comfortable (only very briefly) on the couch or eat a snack, it's much harder to get up again afterward. The same applies to the home office: Put your things in sight the night before or directly in the morning.

If you want to be on the safe side, slip into your training pants and sports shoes at work or immediately afterward. You definitely don't want the humiliation of heading straight for the couch in full sports gear.

2. Increase your fitness motivation with a new outfit

Hands off the baggy sweatpants and washed-out shirts! Work out in sexy tights and tops that you really feel good in and that make you feel good. You might also feel like sharing a selfie with friends or on social media to get pumped up about it.

You'll see: If you get a new sports outfit that also looks great, you'll immediately feel more like sweating in it. In fact, studies show that clothing you associate with competence in a particular activity can improve your performance.

3. Get help from a personal trainer

While a personal trainer can't do your workout for you, they can ensure you do your thing well and, most importantly, consistently. A personal trainer is a good investment, especially for beginners who are unsure whether they are really doing strength exercises & Co. correctly. A coach helps you to create a realistic training and nutrition plan and is also a great motivator.

Many good resolutions fail because you expect too much of yourself at the beginning, train incorrectly, and don't know what is best for you. A few guided hours can be a real help and increase your motivation in no time. This is also possible online: Take a look at our Women's Health Coaching Zone. There you'll get a perfectly tailored workout from our fitness experts.

4. Talk to yourself

It sounds a little strange, but studies actually show that self-fueling self-talk can have a significant effect on the motivation and success of a project. If you keep telling yourself, "I can do this," you'll eventually believe it and get it done. You might want to make sure that no one notices when you yell, "I can do it!" to yourself 15 times.

5. Create a workout playlist for yourself

We're prescribing headphones for your next gym session. Why? Because music makes you perform better during your workout, even scientists say so. This article will tell you exactly how it works.

Having your own workout playlist is the ultimate motivator. According to a study by Brunel University in London, music is even said to boost performance during sports. What's more, just imagine sprinting up the stairs to the museum to the soundtrack of Rocky on your next jog through the city! It's amazing, isn't it?

6. Go in search of your perfect sport

The best answer to why you play sports is always: because you enjoy it so much! So, find a sport that this applies to! So why torture yourself jogging through the park 2 times a week if you actually think running is dumb? Just because everybody jogs? Nonsense! Maybe you would be much more motivated to swim, skate, cycle or play tennis.

Finding the right sport can be a tedious task. But it's worth it. Get clear on a few basic things first: Do you prefer to work out indoors or outdoors? Alone or in a group? Action or quiet? No idea? Important: Stay curious and willing to experiment. As soon as you have found "your" sport, you won't have to overcome any more obstacles.

7. Think about the "good feeling afterward

Yeah, you did it! No matter how strenuous, sweaty and hard the workout was - there's no substitute for the feeling afterward. If you lace up your running shoes and start your Pilates class online on Sunday mornings despite the drizzle, you'll feel twice as good afterward. Not only the thought of having done something for yourself and your body but also of having fought your inner pig makes you simply happy.

8. Get inspired by great athletes

Have you ever read an inspiring athlete biography? We recommend Kristina Vogel or Gela Allmann, for example. Just pick your favorite athlete and let yourself be carried away. Sporting idols are motivating, even if you don't plan to win a marathon or become a world champion in boxing. Hearing or reading about the athletic successes of others is inspiring and often gives you an extra boost of fitness motivation to redefine and tackle your own goals.

9 Make your workout a team event.

Peer pressure can also be a good thing: If you arrange to work out with others, you don't want to be a killjoy or a sport spoiler. Studies show that people are more likely to achieve their goals when they work on them as a team. Why be a lone wolf when it's much better, more effective, and fun to do it together? When you make regular (outdoor) appointments to exercise with others, people expect you to actually be there. In addition, fellow fighters can push you when you have a hiatus.

Caution: A joint training session only makes sense if everyone is fully behind it. Otherwise, a planned training session can quickly end up in a coffee klatch, and that's not to anyone's benefit. Find out what else a sports buddy is good for here.

10. Keep an eye on your goal

The more specific your goals and the more consistent you are with them, the better. It's not uncommon for fitness projects to fail because you don't have a clear goal in mind. Get specific with your plans. Instead of "I want to lose weight," say, "I want to lose 3 pounds by June 1," or "I'll fit back into my bikini by summer vacation." The more specific, the better. Here are more tips on how to set smart fitness goals and achieve them.

Another super motivator is sticking a photo of yourself that you think is great on the fridge. It's an extra hurdle before you reach for the chocolate ice cream cake in the freezer. Plaster your apartment with Post-its reminding you of workout dates and gym appointments. Because the fact is: if you constantly encounter the topic of sports within your own four walls, it won't easily disappear from your mind.

Not as cheesy as you might think: motivational sayings that you stick on your screen or mirror, or set up directly as a background on your smartphone, can really make a difference to your mindset. It's worth a try, right? Here's another set of cards we've picked out for you with empowering inspirations for each day.

11. Share with others

Talk to others about your athletic goals who have already achieved or are planning to achieve similar things. Your colleague tells you about her preparation for a half marathon and your best friend is testing a new yoga app. Very good, then listen carefully! If you share your athletic experiences with others, you'll get lots of ideas for trying out new things or taking a more intensive approach to your own sport.

12. Document your successes

Dear diary... No, seriously: Write down every evening what you have done, achieved, or overcome in terms of sports and/or nutrition. Successes as well as failures. Sounds silly? It isn't. Especially not if you get yourself an encouraging athlete's notebook, especially for this purpose.

Writing down your sports achievements every day will not only give you a better overview of your training progress over a longer period of time. It also motivates you immensely! Why? While writing, you become aware of what you have achieved and what lows you have overcome. It makes you proud and drives you on!

13. Make the rain your friend

Do you think the world has conspired against you when you have to fight a headwind while cycling, a long climb while running doesn't want to end, or a nasty downpour starts during your workout in the park? You thought wrong! Make adverse conditions your new training challenge!

Use adversity as an incentive. The worse the conditions, the more effective your workout will be. Why? Adversity leads to increased calorie consumption and stronger exercise stimuli. Plus, there's now enough choice of pretty awesome functional clothing to defuse even the crappiest weather. Here you can find out which running clothes you can wear in any weather.

14. Trick your inner piggy dog

Are you disciplined, but you have to watch the latest episodes of your favorite series? No problem! If you're so addicted to watching, you'll have to work out at the same time. Whether streaming or linear: Always take a short break after 15 minutes (for TV: during commercial breaks). In the first one, you do crunches. In the second, push-ups and the third, squats.

But you can not only work on your strength in your living room - but effective endurance training is also possible: Move the rowing ergometer or the bicycle ergometer in front of the TV and let yourself be distracted by the TV program while training. Don't you have any expensive equipment? Then a skipping rope will do just as well, and you can use it to train your speed for fast runs. And if you really don't have any sports equipment at home, your sofa will do just fine. We'll show you how a sofa workout works in the next article.

Among the 14 tips, there was certainly one or the other motivational kick for you: Now nothing stands in the way of your success. This way, your fitness goals will work out in the long run, too, we promise!

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