Jack Claxton has been at the sharp end of personal training for over a decade, yet even someone as well-versed in its benefits can occasionally lack the drive to exercise. “Motivation is huge,” says David Lloyd‘s master trainer, who admits that his own motivation started to dip last year “even though I’ve been in this industry for 10-11 years.”
Despite committing his career to helping people fall in love with exercise, Claxton was falling out of love with it—hard.
Burned out and lacking direction, he resolved to make three small changes that quickly got him back on track. He now recommends them to everyone—to keep motivation flowing in good times and bad.
1. Block book your workouts
The first move Claxton made was to establish an ironclad routine.
“The first step I took was to schedule a workout in my diary first, before everything else. Basically, that comes down to making exercise a priority,” he tells Fit&Well.
Locking it in first thing also minimized the number of life events that could get in the way.
“I appreciate there are things in life that have to be more important, but you have to prioritize it,” says Claxton. “You have to decide where exercise fits in for you.”
Putting this into practice, Claxton found a clear month in his diary and added recurring bookings for every workout.
“Train here, swim there, stretch here, and I haven’t touched it since,” says Claxton.
“That’s delivered the best results. My training isn’t even that different to what it looked like before, it’s just consistent.”
Claxton also ringfences each session to ensure he’s never in too much of a rush.
“I make sure I have time to eat after or a window to grab a coffee before,” he says. “I make sure there’s enough time to stretch if it’s a more demanding session. That’s something I didn’t do before because I simply didn’t make it a priority.”
2. Speak it into existence
Another way that adding a workout into your diary helps motivation, is that it can help keep you accountable.
“When you write something down, you’re more likely to do it because you’re writing it into existence,” says Claxton, pointing to an upcoming Saturday where he has blocked out 90 minutes for a HYROX training session and another 90 minutes for brunch.
A neat trick to double the dose of accountability is to speak it, as well as write it, into existence.
“If all week I’ve been telling my clients and colleagues that I’m doing a HYROX training session then grabbing brunch on Saturday, I’m committed. I can’t then not train,” he says.
You can apply this same logic to a workout, yoga session or even a full-blown race. Tell anyone who will listen, they’ll act as your personal accountability buddy and they’ll be none the wiser.
3 Make it fun
Lastly, Claxton resolved to bring joy back to his training, an essential ingredient for anyone looking to make exercise a lifelong habit.
“I’m often asked, ‘what’s the best exercise for X, Y and Z?’ The answer is always the exercise you are going to do again and again and again—consistently,” says Claxton.
“It’s the type of training that you will keep showing up to because you look forward to it. That’s better than doing a dozen workouts that you don’t enjoy.”
If you’re struggling to find the type of training that you genuinely look forward to, Claxton recommends trial and error.
“If you’re going fishing and you’ve got a bigger net, you’re going to catch more fish,” he says.
So try a Spin class, have a go at a Pilates workout on YouTube, or sign up for a free trial at your local yoga studio.
“There are so many free apps and resources and taster classes you can sign up to,” he adds.
And if you are a member of a gym, chatting to a personal trainer should help identify the style of training that’s more suited to your likes and dislikes.
