Nothing’s worse than putting in hours at the gym and not seeing the results you want. Case in point: I was doing the same 1 hour jog around Central Park about 4 times a week for months, maybe over a year (oops). My body was no longer getting the benefit it used to get, so in June I joined a month-long boot camp. It was a lot more old-school resistance training than I was used to, but the absence of cardio didn’t matter–I still lost weight and was sore everyday, even though I was spending less time exercising.
If you’re also in a rut, try these 4 ways to get back in the game:
1. Focus on efficiency, not quantity – change your mindset about logging in X number of days at the gym, and focus on how intense your effort is when you do work out. If your goal is weight loss, you should feel pushed to your limits every.single.time.
2. Add a new tool – jump rope, kettle bell, elastic band, trampoline, and exercise ball, are all fun ways to mix it up. I learned to use kettle bell at my boot camp, and pumping that thing like an old manual water pump was weirdly so satisfying. You never know what you’ll end up loving.
3. New music, new clothes – these extras make work out sessions seem less like a chore and more special and fun. If you’ve lost a few lbs, reward yourself with new workout clothes and see how good you look at the gym!
4. Mantra and visualization – I don’t care how hokey it is, mantra and visualization really work. My favorite is imagining a shirtless Ryan Gosling running near me. Just do what you would do in that situation and you are gold.
