How To Find The Motivation to Exercise When You Live In Pain

Let’s talk about “motivation”. 

One of the things I hear often is “I want to exercise, and I have the best intention to exercise, but I just can’t find the motivation.” 

You see, the idea of “motivation” puts the responsibility on you. It puts a value judgement on you- you are “good” if you have motivation and “bad” if you don’t. So when we wake up and have no motivation to exercise, we criticize ourselves, and our inner monologue becomes very negative. 

I want to release you from this cycle of negativity and help you to reframe the way we think about “motivation”. 

There are many reasons that we lack motivation for exercise.

Our bodies are in pain, and the idea of exercise feels scary and overwhelming because we fear that exercise will actually cause more pain than we are already experiencing. For many, this fear is rooted in real life experiences, where this has actually happened in the past, where an exercise experience has triggered intense pain and flare up, so we are intensely nervous to try again. The lack of motivation happens when the brain says “We need to do this” and the body rebels, as an instinctive protective measure. The body is actually creating resistance (in the form of a lack of motivation) in order to protect you from harm. 

We may also be experiencing a lack of motivation to exercise because the chosen form of exercise is not the right fit. Certain forms of exercise are more likely to trigger exhaustion, pain and flare symptoms than others. Cardio- like running, swimming and even walking- can be really overwhelming for the system. HIIT exercises, popular in many online exercise programs, also can be too intense for the body's needs, triggering exhaustion, pain and flare symptoms. An hour long class might be too long and too hard for where your body is now. Picking an exercise that is too much for your body to handle will make you not able to stick to the habit consistently over the long term. 

And finally, we might be experiencing a lack of motivation to exercise because our body is already too drained from excess stress, exhaustion, flare symptoms. All of these internal and external stressors wear on the body, leaving us with limited leftover energy for exercise. (You can read more about it here) Our body knows that we have nothing left in the tank, and that any further depletion of energy would be dangerous, so it triggers a feeling of “no motivation” to protect you. 

You see, none of this is your fault. Your body simply needs time to recover, and recoup this feeling of energy, zest for life, and desire to motivate and exercise. Here are my tips on how to do that. 

1. Release yourself from the inner critic who blames you for not having the motivation to exercise. Give yourself permission to feel the resistance when it bubbles up, and ask yourself, what is this resistance trying to tell me? Exploring where this “lack of motivation” is coming from will give you deep insights into your body. 

2. Try moving your body in a gentle way. We need to pick exercises that give our body relief, where we can say “Ok, I can do this, no big deal.” If it feels like you aren’t really exercising? Then good! That means you can do it without triggering that fear and resistance! 

Do a little ab bracing, stretching or foam rolling, some balance practice, or simple ankle exercises. These exercises are gentle ways to dip your toes into movement that doesn’t trigger a flare. (Don’t know what these exercises are? Don’t worry, I can teach you!)

As you get accustomed to a little bit of exercise, you can slowly introduce more and more into your life. Your body will adapt over time, and will learn to desire the movements as a part of feeling good. The more you practice, the more normal it becomes, and motivation will then come naturally, and will be an organic and seamless part of your life. 

3. Acknowledge and trust that this is not a quick process. Through sales techniques like “6 Pack Abs in Weeks” our minds have been conditioned by the fitness industry to expect quick transformations. This is problematic, because when we don’t achieve these transformations, or have a lack of motivation in our journey to achieve these transformations, we get stuck in a cycle of negativity. It feels like it’s our fault for “failing”. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s not us who have failed- instead, the expectations set by these promises have failed us. So we need to set different expectations, and break the journey down into bite-sized pieces to be able to get stronger without crushing ourselves. A little bit of simple exercise each day can make all the difference. 

4. Don’t go it alone. If you are feeling overwhelmed, not motivated, and resistant to exercise- don’t get lost in the cycle of negativity. Instead, reach out for help. I am here for you!

Autoimmune Strong is an exercise program designed to encourage these principles. So, if you are unsure on how to apply these principles to your life, come join us and we’ll show you how! Learn more by clicking here.