We all hit these points, these ruts. Lack of motivation has many causes. Some are easy to identify, like work or personal stress, being over tired mentally, emotionally, physically, or all of the above. Some reasons are less obvious. Perhaps you’ve been working out for a fairly long period of time, been consistent with your workouts, but no real progress has occurred as far as your fitness goals are concerned. Perhaps you aren’t getting the support at home from family and/or friends, who keep undermining your determination. Perhaps your just bored, or situations in your life cause you to question the point of it all.
The reasons can be as shallow or deep as anything else in life, but it tends to leave you in the same situation: you’re unmotivated. The irony is that when in this state of mind the easiest cure, at least symptomatically, is to exercise: getting all that oxygenated blood pumping furiously through your body can clear your thoughts, improve your mood, and change your perspective of whatever shit you’re dealing with, no matter how deep your shit is.
Just getting your butt in the gym can fix a lot of things, but I know as well as anyone how tough it can be. I know as well as anyone that sometimes the thought: why bother; can be overwhelming. The longest I’ve ever gone without working out at all, as an adult, was 12 months. There have also been long periods of time where my workouts were decidedly underwhelming efforts, barely holding onto my level of fitness, and even allowing my overall fitness to drop dramatically, but getting into the gym at all can make a huge difference to your outlook.
I know the struggle. If this struggle is something you are going through, or have gone through, remember this: everyone goes through it. If you know someone who hasn’t ever hit this kind of rut, they will. Everyone goes through it eventually. More than once. Remember it’s normal. Remember to try to get in the gym anyway. All things pass.
Fitnessgroan's Blog 
I needed that today…thanks 🙂
Very true, nice post!
Thank you. Very timely. For me, one of the biggest hurdles is getting past the phases where I’m working out hard and the sore muscles and/or need for recovery are hiding any evidence of progress. I know that pushing the muscles to failure so that they can rebuild stronger is the key to weight lifting, but I don’t know how long that takes and I assume that there are too many variables for an easy answer. I guess the answer is to keep pushing forward and trust that the results will follow.
Thane, you should see some kind of noticeable result monthly. If not, you are probably doing one or two things wrong. If you’re reasonably sure your intensity is correct, then lack of noticeable results is most likely not enough rest/recovery between workouts/poor sleep habits (those go together) and or not following an appropriate diet to ensure your muscles and energy systems are getting the proper nutritional support to improve.
I’m going to put another chicken breast on the stove tonight. I think I’m doing okay on the rest, but I may be falling short on the protein. I’ll start writing up a journal to see how I’m doing month to month.
Thank you!
Good thinking!