In winter, it is especially difficult to go to the gym – you want to stay at home, wrap yourself in a warm blanket, read books, watch Christmas movies and drink hot cocoa. Activity is at zero, there are not enough vitamins, and it is difficult to force yourself to go to training. How to continue exercising regularly? How not to skip training in the cold season?

First, you need to understand what can affect our desire to skip a workout, because of which we quit halfway through what we started, and why there comes a period when we force ourselves to go to classes, but at the same time, we do not get any pleasure? Consider the psychological structure of sport: goal – motive – method – result.

I have a specific goal. I know what I want and why.

We set ourselves a specific goal, towards which we are going for some time. We are driven by a motive – that which motivates us to start playing sports. The strength of the motive depends on how clearly the meaning and purpose of playing sports are realized. Everything starts in our heads. Why do you want to play sports? What do you want to achieve? What is your end goal? Answer these questions for yourself. You need to start playing sports from the internal settings “I want to train because …”

It is important to remember the following: a long wait for something or postponing the achievement of a goal for an indefinite period leads to a “cooling” of emotions, and a loss of interest in sports activities. If you’re taking a long break, constantly skipping or postponing a workout, you’re taking a huge step back and moving further away from your goal. Uncertainty, the vagueness of the goal or its vagueness can have the same effect.

All at once, a lot and intensively – mistake number one.

At the initial stage of playing sports, you need to remember that the physical and emotional stress that we are exposed to when we just start training should not exceed the physiological and psychological capabilities of our body – it has not yet adapted to physical exertion. No need to exhaust yourself with long and intense exercises or train until you lose your pulse – the main thing is to adequately assess your strength and physical condition.

If you return to training after a certain period of time, you should be prepared for the fact that at first, out of habit, it will be difficult for the body to cope with physical exertion. Therefore, the return to the training process should be gradual. Many athletes are stressed when they resume their training because they see that they used to have better performance or athletic performance. They either rush to catch up or become very frustrated, which in the extreme case can lead to the fact that a person quits sports.

In order to maintain the motive, you can set not only final but also intermediate goals. Their gradual achievement will reinforce the desire to complete all the tasks set for oneself and eventually arrive at the final desired result. Break your goal into several small tasks, and enjoy each completed item. Even a little progress will serve as an excellent motivation for you to continue sports activities.

Encouragement is a friend and inspiration.

Even in amateur or professional sports, competition organizers and sports management very often use material incentives to ensure that an athlete shows the highest possible result. You can organize the same for yourself. For example, if your goal is to lose weight, you need to lose 10 kg. You drop the first 3 kg – you make yourself a small gift. It can be something very small and inexpensive, something that you have long wanted to buy or try. A book, a soft blanket, a New Year’s cup, a Netflix subscription, shapewear shorts, a paid application from the AppStore – everything that will cheer you up! In winter, the spirit of Christmas is especially vivid, the atmosphere of celebration and comfort – you can please yourself with anything! Reward yourself for every completed task – this will become your little tradition and a pleasant bonus to training.

Sport has influenced my life – the result you achieve.

Sports activities affect our development and our life in general. We like how we feel, how we look, and how we change not only externally, but also internally. Sport brings several results: biological, psychological and social. The changes that have occurred in our body due to training are the biological result of sports. We gained muscle mass, lost or gained weight, and become healthier and more active. We are changing internally, our psyche (psychological result) is changing because sport is discipline and will. This can change the style of behaviour, we feel our position in society differently, and we are more self-confident and open – this is a social result.

When you realize that playing sports really affects your life, you like these changes and you want to continue to observe yourself and see progress, then you get into it and you can’t stop. Set a specific goal for yourself, define your motivation, find ways to work for yourself that will support your spirit and desire to train, and look back and see what kind of result the sport brings you. Do you like it? Then nothing will stop you!

Sport = pleasure

Here it is important to include the sensations of your body – to motivate it for pleasure. For example, before a person had elastic buttocks that he liked, then he gained weight but wants to return to the old form. He needs to imagine not the numbers on the scales, but remember the sensations: how he runs his hand over the body, feels the skin, muscles, shape, and how good it is for him. Or imagine how muscles ache pleasantly after a workout, a person is doubly well: physically and from the feeling that he is well done.

This is what you need to tell the body, and you can’t try the numbers on the scales with your hands. That is why sometimes people set goals in numbers, and when they reach them, they cannot stop – they do not see changes in the body and go to extremes.

It also helps to replace one positive emotion with another. For example, a person eats a lot of sweets and does so for various reasons, often because of feelings of anxiety or because they lack a sense of comfort. Or instead of training, he chooses TV shows, because TV shows are fun, and training is effort.

Everything changes when going to training is accompanied by pleasure. Let’s say a girl goes to the gym with a friend, they constantly communicate, discuss classes, coaches, and training programs, and get to know people in the gym. She enjoys communication and is more willing to go to the gym, it is not so difficult for her to replace the series with a workout.

It is also important to remember that we do not perceive big global goals. If you tell your body that you are starting to train for a marathon, it will begin to sabotage it. And if you say to yourself “don’t worry, I’ll run to the candy store and back”, it will not be so difficult to perform.