I am lucky to be at the point in my training where, for the most part, I can motivate myself to stick to the plan. It helps when you live with your coach because it becomes pretty tricky to skip your workout (especially when you’re both trapped in the house together all day) but I also just really love training. Working out is my downtime and, especially at the moment where I find myself sat down for most of the day, tend to find I am itching to go and work out.

But, it really hasn’t always been this way so I can empathise with anyone who is struggling to stay motivated and on track at the moment. Maybe you’re a gym bunny and the gym is closed or you’re used to doing a class that you now can’t get to or you’re missing the team you now can’t train with each week. Whatever it is, I totally get how challenging that can be and I have had several people reach out to me on Instagram to see how I am managing to stay on track, so I thought I’d put my thoughts down into a post to see if it could help a few people along the way.

As most people will know, I didn’t do any sports or anything remotely active growing up and when I finally joined my first sports team at university (I was a member of the swimming team) I did it purely for the socials and the only time I got in the pool was once a week to sit in the shallow end and chat to my friends, something I am quite embarrassed to look back on - I wasted so much time being unfit and unhealthy.

When I left university I was the biggest I’d ever been, just shy of 13 stone (82kg) and although I went to the gym, I hated every part of it. I didn’t know what I was doing and I didn’t even break a sweat in the first few years I went. I was convinced I just wasn’t a very sweaty person, turns out I was barely doing enough for my body to register it as exercise. Then, because I had gutted out 45mins to an hour of something I couldn’t stand, I’d go home and reward myself with a chocolate or a huge portion of dinner because I had ‘earned it.’

So it’s safe to say I have gone through a whole host of things that certainly do not work, but as a result, I have picked up on the things that do work (for me at least) so I am going to share my top tips with you in the hope they might help you to stay active and stay on track - something which really is crucial now more than ever for our own physical and mental health.

Canva.com have some great printable workout plans you can use!

1. Make a routine and (try to) stick to it

This is one that I am lucky to have ticked off for me now because Sean is in charge of my coaching. However, it hasn’t always been that way and when I was first getting started I would spend some time on a Sunday mapping out my week of workouts. This made sure I got a good balance of training and rest and allowed me to see the bigger picture of my week. It also helped to keep me accountable because if I woke up on a day feeling unmotivated, I was more likely to get it done if it was on the plan.

2. Find some friends and set a workout time to keep you accountable

This one has been hugely important for me and my weekend zoom workouts are often the highlight of my week now. We do a BIG workout with a few friends on a Saturday (although anyone is welcome to join so do let me know if you’d be interested) and we host a workout every Sunday (this will be at 6.30pm SGT for now) on the Team Grit IG and through Spartan Zoom (Zoom code: 510 734 9695). Having other people to turn up to is a great way of making sure you stay on track!

3. Let yourself have those rubbish days

This is a really important one. You are not going to win every day, there will be days where you just can’t face a run or a strength session, especially if you work out as a necessity rather than for pleasure. I’d say on these days let yourself find the little wins. Don’t beat yourself up if you have a 10km planned and you can’t bear the thought of it. I always put my gym stuff on when I am not feeling like it and see if I can get out to do something - I tend to find that by a few km the endorphins have kicked in and I am feeling much better but if not, you’ve tried and tomorrow will always be a better day. Even if you just get out for a short walk it will do wonders for your mindset!

4. Find a new skill to work on

Lots of us are finding ourselves having more time on our hands, or at least some room in our training. For me, I have no access to a barbell so I have some extra time there. It might be for you that you can’t get out to run where you are and you are looking to fill some more time. Set a fitness goal that you want to smash while you’ve got the time to commit to it! Maybe you want to get your first pull up? Order yourself a pull-up bar. Take the time to work on your mobility (this has been a huge win for me and for the first time in years I am running with no pain in my Achilles - message me directly if you want to know more about this). I decided it was time to take on a handstand push up and came across a really great program by Pamela Lagnon. It has been far harder than I thought and I have a LOT of work to do on strengthening my triceps but it’s fun and doesn’t feel like ‘working out.’ ( she’s got a load of good stuff here https://thebarbellphysio.com/products-page/)

5. Commit to a program or take on some fitness challenges

The great thing about this period is that everyone is putting lots of great content out there so you’ve got loads of choices in terms of workouts, programs and loads of virtual competitions. I have to shamelessly plug Team Grit so you can find our free weekly workout here: https://www.teamgritocr.com/wotw and we also have a $10 4 week COVID program that doesn’t require any equipment (https://www.teamgritocr.com/store/covid19program) But, there’s lots of other great stuff out there, Spartan are hosting virtual races and you just have to head to IG to spot great zoom workouts, exercise tips and mobility work. So grab a cup of tea and spend some time looking at your favourite IG accounts to get some inspiration, they will give you some great ideas and re-motivate you to get back on track!

6. Set yourself some small goals to keep yourself accountable.

If you are a person who is normally used to using races to measure your progress, it can be really hard to know how you’re doing and that uncertainty can lead to a lack of motivation and a sense of confusion. But, races aren’t the only way to measure progress. Sean has been brilliant at planning these in to my program recently. I have started using time trials to set a benchmark and we recently found out that you can set up your own Strava segment (more info here: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_67wA4gvQP/ ) If you don’t have a coach then you can easily do this yourself. Find a segment on a favourite run that you want to challenge yourself to beat, set a 5min timer and see how many burpees you can do or choose a workout you enjoy and come back to it every few weeks to see if you can beat your time! All of these will allow you to keep yourself accountable, will help you stick to your training and when you improve your times you’ll have a new found invigoration for sticking to the plan!

I really hope that one or some of those give you a few ideas if you’ve been struggling to stay on top of your training. It’s also work checking out the blog as we’ve been focusing on a different OCR athlete each week to see how they’re staying on track at the moment: https://www.teamgritocr.com/blog so this might give you some inspiration. Feel free to reach out on IG - @smiley_spartan_racer - I am always happy for an excuse to talk about training! And finally, be kind to yourself, do what you can and what brings you happiness and use those endorphins that come from exercise to help keep your mental health in the best place it can be!

Jessie x