How to Stay Motivated to Workout During the Quarantine!

We’ve been in Quarantine for almost 4 months now, and for a lot of us it seems like the quarantine is going to last a lot longer! Going to the gym, group workout classes, or my personal favourite HOT YOGA classes isn’t a possibility. So, how do you stay motivated to workout during the quarantine?

I’m going to give you 5 tips that have helped me stay in shape during the quarantine. I have got GREAT results with at-home workouts and so much more!

I would workout about 3-4 times a week prior to the quarantine and I knew I wanted to maintain that schedule. With all the Banana Bread, homemade pizzas, and overall indulgent food I was eating I knew I would be in trouble if I didn’t continue my workouts!

So, here are the 5 tips you should be following to stay MOTIVATED to workout during the quarantine!

5 Tips to Follow to Stay Motivated to Workout During the Quarantine!

1. Physical Calendar

Print out a physical calendar for yourself to track your workouts! You want to be able to see visually how often you’re working out, and your habit tracking apps aren’t always the best for this.

I follow what’s called the 2 day rule – which means you don’t skip a workout 2 days in a row. The physical calendar has helped me stay focused and follow this 2 day rule to a T!

Try this out for yourself, print out a calendar on a A3 paper and stick it on a wall that you see every day. I stuck my calendar right above my study table, and my sister stuck it in her bathroom. So put it up anywhere, you just have to be able to see it EVERYDAY.

It’s also fun to check off days on the calendar and see how often you’re working out. I truly believe this has been the KEY to help me stay motivated to complete workouts.

The image below is the calendar I used to track a 40 Day Workout Challenge I completed last week. Each tick means I completed a workout and followed the dietary guidelines on the challenge.

2. Eat Clean & Hydrate

It’s extremely important to be eating clean especially if you want to be working out consistently. This is not only get you great results but also help you have high energy!

Think about it working out after a food coma is practically impossible. On the other hand, when you have a cleaner diet you’ll have more energy thus it won’t be as much of a task to start your workout.

I know it’s tempting to indulge during the quarantine, specially because we’re all stressed out. But eating indulgent food everyday will make you sluggish which means you’re less likely to want to workout!

Make sure you’re eating whole foods and balanced meals. A good trick is to follow the 5:2 or 6:1 rule. So, you’d eat well and not overly indulge for 5 or 6 days of the week and give yourself some freedom the 1 or 2 days.

When you follow this rule you’re not going to feel like you’re overly restricting yourself. It’s going to help you feel more active during the week so you can relax on the weekends.

Also, don’t forget to hydrate. Since we’re all indoors we forget to drink enough water. Use the link below to calculate how much water you should be drinking and make sure you come close to this level everyday.

The Water Intake Calculator

Eating clean and staying hydrated will mean that you’re going to have higher energy levels thus more motivation to do your workouts during the quarantine.

3. Try something NEW

We have to get creative with our workouts during the quarantine. Use what you have around you to make your workouts more effective. Take advantage of the internet which is now full of an endless supply of workouts.

Some of the NEW workouts you can do during the quarantine are :

1. Workout Challenges

I am a HUGE fan of workout challenges. Like I mentioned above, I did the 40-day SohFit Challenge which has helped me stay consistent with my workouts and my diet. Do some research and start a workout challenge. A challenge is going to help you stay accountable and motivated and it’s a great way to keep yourself busy during the quarantine. Challenges I recommend are:

• SohFit 40 Day Challenge – They have one coming out in August, so sign-up (here’s a link to their Instagram which has more information: SohFit Official Instagram)
• 30 Day Ab Challenge – This is a FREE APP that helps you tone your abs with 10-15 min daily Ab workouts. I’ve done this challenge twice and it’s amazing. Here’s the link to download the app – 30 Day Ab

2. Use Different Equipment

Use different equipment in your workouts. Since a lot of us don’t have access to full home gyms and heavy squat racks we have to get creative. Don’t worry, it’s possible to get in some AWESOME workouts without heavyweights.

Try using resistance bands, skipping ropes, Bosu balls, etc. There’s so much available out there. Get on Amazon and order some different workout equipment for yourself.

3. Instagram/Youtube Workouts

Everyone and I mean everyone (including me) is posting workouts on instagram and youtube. Some of the best workout’s I’ve done have been workouts I found on youtube/instagram.

Take advantage of this and follow some trainers to get FREE workouts that are amazing!!

Here’s a link to a youtube LEG workout I swear by : Youtube Leg Workout

Alternatively you can checkout SohFit’s Instagram stories for daily workouts as well: SohFit Official Instagram

The idea is that switching up your workout style will help you stay more motivated since you’re not doing the same old boring workouts week after week.

Try something NEW it’s great for you and for your muscles.

4. Workout Playlist

Don’t underestimate the power of a good workout playlist! It helps set you in the mood and motivates you to workout.

If you haven’t already I recommend creating a workout playlist with music that you LOVE. It’s going to make you workouts a lot more fun and also keep you motivated!

There are also TONS of workout playlists on spotify and apple music which are categorised via genre I recommend checking those out if you don’t want to create your own.

Workout playlists will help you stay motivated, the music will help you destress so it’s a win win! Try this and you’ll see that you’ll look forward to working out because the whole vibe of your workouts is going to change!

5. Face-time Workouts

Last but not the least, FACE TIME WORKOUTS! I know we’re not going for group workout classes with our friends anymore but this doesn’t mean that you can’t workout together.

At the start of the quarantine I started doing face-time workouts with my twin sister who is all the way in BOSTON – 3000 miles away from me! These workouts were so much fun, and helped me stay motivated.

Fix up workouts with your friends and get on face-time to do amazing workouts together. It’s going to help you stay accountable and motivated. Plus it’s a great way to catch up with friends you haven’t seen because of the quarantine!

Working out is a habit, but it doesn’t have to feel like it! When you’re motivated to workout you’ll start enjoying it so much that you’d actually set aside time to do it.

It’s not hard to stay motivated, you now have 5 awesome tips that you can try out! Trust me you’ll want to continue working out consistently if you follow these tips.

BUT something that is super important is that you don’t get stuck on how much you weigh. Stop focusing on the numbers and start focusing on how you feel. This is a philosophy that is new to me, I was introduced to this way of thinking through SohFit! But honestly, I am so glad! I no longer focus on how much I weigh I focus on how I feel.

When you’re focused on your weight and you’re not seeing results it’s hard to continue to stay motivated, so stop checking your weight. If you’re putting in the work and eating clean and your body feels amazing YOU”RE DOING GOOD!

I hope that this post helps you stay motivated to workout during the quarantine! Like I said before, these tips have helped me consistently workout 5-6 times a week! Apply these tips and FALL in LOVE with working out!

You can also check out the Fitness category on this blog to get access to some great workouts!

Sound of in the comments to share how you stay motivated to workout during the quarantine!

Here’s to the start of your self care journey!

Cheers, Disha