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How to Get Motivated for At-Home Workouts

It is officially September and in less than about a week, it will officially be fall. Which means colder weather, scarves, boots, hats, etc. to combat the cold. Well.. cold here in the mitten state anyway. For the past 6 years,…

How to Get Motivated for At-Home Workouts - JenniferMeyering.com

It is officially September and in less than about a week, it will officially be fall. Which means colder weather, scarves, boots, hats, etc. to combat the cold. Well.. cold here in the mitten state anyway.

For the past 6 years, I’ve been doing at-home workouts and I must admit that some days it is truly hard to get and stay motivated to workout in your own home. I realized it only gets harder in the colder months because all I want to do is curl up on the couch with a warm blanket and some hot tea or coffee.

It’s also pretty hard to get past all the distractions: i.e., the kitchen needs to be cleaned, kids are whining, I’ve got work to do on the computer, laundry needs to be folded, etc.

Now, I’m not a big fan of housework but it seems that I’ll come up with just about any excuse in the book to delay, procrastinate, and put-off my workout – then I find myself at the dangerous hour of dark, dinner-time and not being able to get it done. Which is no good!

Over time it’s much easier to keep and stick to the workout routine but in the beginning it’s all about just getting the motivation and willpower to just put on my workout clothes, chug my pre-workout, and get it done. But here’s a few ways that I’ve found to help get motivated for at-home workouts…

How To Get Motivated For At-Home Workouts

Don’t clean up:

Your fitness gear that is. Have a designated area devoted to home workouts and leave your equipment out. It doesn’t have to be a large space, just enough room for a mat, some weights, your laptop for watching videos, or a fitness ball. You can also have a basket in the living room for your resistance bands, a couple free-weights, or a rolled up mat.

My workout space is actually just a little corner in the basement where I keep all my stuff. Then when it’s time to workout, everything is right there ready to go. And since I work in the office right next to the workout space/guest room/kids play area, it makes it easier to get it done because seeing the gear out reminds me to use it.

Designate a drawer:

Or a section of your closet where you keep all your workout clothes. Running around the house or your bedroom to find all the things you need to get your workout done it exhausting and frustrating. You end up wasting time finding what you need and then, sometimes, just give up and decided it’s too much work. Keep one of your dresser drawers, or a section in the closet, organized neatly with a variety of clean fitness clothes, so you can easily find what you need, put it on, and get sweating.

I actually have these hanging baskets in my closet where I keep my sports bras and socks. Then I hang my workouts tops and pants together, on the same hanger, right next to them so everything is right there. I keep my workout shoes in a basket in the basement where the workout gear is so there’s never an excuse of not having an outfit to wear keeping me from working out – unless that excuse is that they are all dirty because I forgot to (re: didn’t feel like) do laundry.

Download it:

There are tons of downloadable workout routines available on your phone or laptop, from seven-minute HIIT workouts to five-minute leg workouts to plank workouts for your core, to whole body routines, and entire 60- or 90-day fitness routines. If you have an Amazon FireTV, Apple TV, ROKU, or similar you can download a ton of different apps right to the device to pick and choose from. And they’re all portable, so there’s seriously no excuse for you to not get at least a 15-30 minutes sweat-sesh in daily.

My favorite is Beachbody On-Demand (also downloadable app on the TV streaming and iPhone and tablets) as they tons of their workout programs available for download and instant streaming. You can pick a program and do it from start to finish or do their “challenge du jour” that provides you a different workout everyday so you don’t get bored doing the same program. Or just pick and choose your favorite or whatever workout you want to do that day.

Put on your workouts clothes first:

If you love morning workouts but feel that you have a tough time getting motivated in the morning, then put your workouts clothes on before even leaving your bedroom or going to the bathroom to brush your teeth. This way, you’ll already be ready to go by the time you get into your living room or workout space.

If you work at home, this is especially hard because we can make all kinds of excuses for waiting to get our workout clothes on and even waiting to get dressed for the day. For me, it’s much easier to just roll out of bed and put on my workout clothes before even heading downstairs to grab my coffee and head to my office. And since I’ve already got my clothes on, and look over to all the gear in the next room, I’m more motivated to get my workout done at least before lunch.

New tunes:

Something as simple as a creating a new playlist may be just the thing to get you motivated to move. I personally use FitRadio when working out because they have all kinds of genres and music playlists ready to go to help inspire and motivate you to keep going.

Keep a record:

A visual goes a long way, so find a way to record your workouts, whether it’s in a fitness journal, on a huge poster on your fridge, or with red stars on a calendar. You can also keep a jar on the counter and put a few bucks in it every time you finish a workout.

At the end of the month, you can take the money and buy a reward, such as a new fitness gear or a massage. I know that new fitness clothes and gear always gets me motivated to do more workouts. Plus, seeing a visual of how many workouts you’ve completed will inspire you to keep at it.


So there you go! A few of my favorite tips to get motivated for at-home workouts.

How are some ways you get and stay motivated?

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