Whether you are an A-class sports-star, or someone just starting out; dwindling motivation can be a downfall for many. The BBC have released recently a brilliant article defining sports psychologists tips on how to elongate spurts of motivation (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/health_and_fitness/4272136.stm). It is often our mental power which fails before we physically give up.

Firstly take a reflective look at yourself and decide what kind of personality you are and what is your motivation type in order to work out what you need to suit your needs:

Are you driven by your ego? Do you exercise and play sports because you want to be the winner, or be the best? Are you competitive and is that what drives you?

Or

Are you driven by the task? Do you enjoy improving your own personal best ?

It is not impossible to be influenced by both, but it is most effective to either be equally balanced, or low in ego and high in task orientation as it is the latter which has lasting power when it comes to fitness. Why? Those who are high in ego orientation, are more likely to give in at a snap decision when they feel they are not the best, it can be disheartening and your exercise goals are cut short. Try and Reflect on your behaviour and decide which you are, below is some suggested ways in which to keep you powering on.

• Reward Yourself, take happiness from the times you feel you have done well. Whether it is as small as treating yourself to a new item of clothing or taking part in the new craze of ‘taking a healthie’ (check it out at http://www.fitsugar.com/Instagram-Healthie-Pictures-32120764?ref=31955431). It all works to keep you on the positive flow.

• Keep a realistic goal, being specific means you are more likely to register your own success.

• Keep notes of your goals, this helps you understand what you are aiming to achieve. 

• Don’t feel guilty of failure, only be more determined to achieve it the next time. Where you have failed to reach a goal, ensure that you learn a lesson from it. Did you try hard enough, or did you let standards slip? Was your technique correct? Learn from it.
• Find someone to get sporting with! Group exercises solidify your goals, this works so well on Boot Camp. As the BBC shows in a recent study of Oxford University students (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8257716.stm), those who trained in a group felt less pain and strain from the exercise, than those who trained on their own.

If you find that you regularly ‘yo-yo diet’, or in fact have not found the burst of energy to pick yourself up recently and give it a go, try these suggestions and see how much you improve.