5 Tips for Mastering Self-Discipline for Effective Workouts

You’ve probably got some fitness goals for yourself—maybe around fitting into that dress you’ve seen at the back of your wardrobe or toning up for that special event. You don’t need a reason, but you do need self-discipline. 

Often we focus on the fitness influencers and how they manage to stay motivated, yet so many of us fail to stick to good habits after just a week or two. Are we just not motivated? Isn’t it just the case that we are not the fit machine?

The truth is, you‘re not lazy, you‘re not unfit, you‘re just not eating, or you‘re not exercising. The difference lies in one crucial skill: discipline. Discipline is something that you have to build up over time, but if you have the right mindset and build up the right habits around it, it becomes something that anyone can develop discipline.

It’s time to take a look at how to get the self-discipline you need to stick to your workout plan so that you can start crushing your fitness goals like a boss.

Discipline Vs. Motivation

A lot of people think that discipline and motivation are the same thing, but they’re not. Motivation has two key parts. The first is emotional drive—want to take that action. But then you scroll through Instagram where you use the same hashtags because you want to model your body after the body of a fitness influencer. That’s not to say you couldn’t get a little spark from reading motivational quotes or even listening to a powerful speech as well.

Secondly, your “why” — the reason you’re doing this — is the second component of motivation. Now, maybe you’ve signed up for workout sessions because you want to increase your muscle, improve your strength, and up your overall fitness. You’re sneaking in workout sessions because you work like a busy bee and don’t want to devote hours to a workout that also produces results.

The real work begins with discipline. Now how about discipline versus motivation — discipline is about action that is not dependent on external factors, it’s not a matter of doing it or not doing it, it’s doing. That’s not just about feeling moved or remembering your ‘why.’ It’s about being there and working hard, even if you don’t feel like it. Your motivation can rise and fall depending on the weather or your mood, discipline on the other hand, comes with being consistently present in the gym even when it’s raining and cold and you have more things to do.

How to Develop Self-Discipline for Workouts

1. See What Your Strengths And Weaknesses are

It is common among many people to be pushed to do fitness routines, which do not suit their own natural habits and many do it based on external beliefs. For example, perhaps you’ve heard that working out in the morning increases productivity, or that you simply must exercise daily in order to make any progress. These may be good enough for some of you while for others it could be not the best.

To successfully create a fitness routine that will work for you, it’s incredibly important to know your own strengths and weaknesses. If you don’t overcomplicate things by playing to your weaknesses and instead play to your strengths you’ll be able to be more disciplined and be able to stick to your routine.

2. Get Rid of Excuses

Discipline is held back by excuses. Some look valid but they are holding you back from achieving your potential. To remain loyal to your goals you should cut back on excuses. Here’s how:

Start your day early. If you’re like most people, whose list of things never ends, an early start can make a difference in your day. Those extra hours can really play a part in your physical success and productivity whether you’re hitting the gym or doing other tasks.

Plan ahead. Such is the saying “failing to plan is planning to fail.” Without a plan, an excuse to find you and supplant. Have Plan A and Plan B always but keep what you’re focussing on at all times.

Schedule it like a meeting. Take your workout non-negotiable appointment. Put it into your calendar and know exactly what you’re going to do and when. Treat it like you would any important meeting, and don’t be interrupted.

3. Create a Clear Plan of Action

Once you’ve identified your strengths and weaknesses it’s time to create a good plan for your fitness routine. The trick for building self-discipline is to work with a very clear, specific plan of action with very little room for ambiguity. The more specific your plan, the harder it will be to find excuses or distractions to convince you that you haven’t been working at all.

Your plan should have concrete steps like scheduling workout times and choosing which exercises you’re going to do and be measurable. If you know when to do what and exactly what you need to do, you find it easier to keep yourself accountable. Well-defined goals make a discipline stand on its legs so it’s important to be explicit about your intention, which in turn will increase your chances of sticking to your routine.

After you’ve set your fitness plan on paper, you move past excuses and create an area in your schedule where new, productive habits can emerge.

4. Create Space for New Habits

If you are trying to build self-discipline you are probably starting to cultivate new habits for your routine. If these new habits are going to stick, conscious space in your day must be left for them.

Habit stacking is a powerful strategy to form new habits. The way to accomplish this is to join a habit onto something you already do regularly, jumping off from your accepted routine. One of the reasons, hype or otherwise, behind habit stacking is that it takes advantage of the brain’s highly developed neural pathways to facilitate the building and sustaining of new habits.

Let’s take an example: If you already spend 10 minutes every night packing for tomorrow, you can start adding to that, and prep your gym clothes at the same time as you pack. It means your workout gear is waiting for you in the morning, not justifying why you can’t go to the gym with that ‘forgotten’ excuse.

5. Stay Realistic

Life is busy, and it’s hard to make time for yourself, especially for your health. That’s why you have to be realistic about how much time you have to train. Fit too much to an already jammed calendar and you run the risk of becoming burnt out and frustrated. 

Next, be honest with yourself as to how much time you yourself can commit. If you pick up those 50 or so hammers and you’re willing to work an hour a day and that hour is flexible, that’s awesome! However, if you’re so busy that you’re overwhelmed with work, family or other responsibilities make the adjustment in your routine. A quick workout at home with your gym equipment during your lunch break can be a big help if you’re working from home. 

The point is, that self-discipline is having no expectation of perfection right away. Building consistency is a long process, and there are gonna be days that you go off track. That’s okay. Adopting a growth mindset is self-discipline; it means recognizing a mistake, seeing where you went wrong, and learning from it so that you can grow and improve over time, instead of instantly being a perfection.