5 Hacks: How to Stick to Your Workout Plan
Posted on July 14, 2025
Most people want to work out consistently, eat better, and feel stronger. But somewhere between setting the goal and actually doing it, life happens. Work deadlines, tired mornings, hungry evenings, stress, family responsibilities, and a dozen small obstacles can derail even the best intentions.
The good news? You don’t need superhuman motivation. You just need systems that make it easier to follow through.
“Don’t rely on motivation. Build systems that don’t require it.”
Here are FIVE powerful hacks to stick to your workout plan:
Here are FIVE powerful hacks to stick to your workout plan:
Counting down from #5 to #1
5. Get it out. Make it visible.
We all say we want to eat better, work out more, get more steps, or eat more fruit. But the problem is, most of our goals remain locked inside our heads. They float around like vague wishes, easily forgotten when the day gets busy.
It’s time to get them out.
Write your goals down. Make them visible in your daily life so you can’t ignore them. Put a sticky note on your bathroom mirror that says “Lift today. You’re strong!” so it’s the first thing you see while brushing your teeth. Place a note on your fridge reminding you to make a protein-packed dinner instead of grabbing leftovers or ordering takeout. If your goal is to hit 8,000 steps per day, put that number on a post-it right where you keep your shoes.
Here are simple ways to make your goals visible:
- Sticky notes: bathroom mirror, fridge, car dashboard
- Calendar reminders: phone alerts saying “Gym Time!” or “Steps Check-In”
- Whiteboard: daily goals written and checked off before bed
- Phone wallpaper: a motivational quote or your current goal
Keeping your intentions in front of you creates constant micro-reminders. Over time, these reminders shape your identity and habits. You’re not just someone who wants to work out; you become someone who does it daily because it’s always top of mind.
If you work with an online fitness trainer, share these visible goals with them so they can hold you accountable and cheer on your daily wins.
4. Eliminate decision exhaustion & temptation.
One major reason people fail to stick to their fitness routine is decision fatigue. By evening, your brain is tired from hundreds of daily decisions: work choices, parenting, household tasks, bills, what to eat, what to wear… the list is endless.
That’s why you need to remove decisions around your workout plan before the day begins.
- Pack your gym bag the night before. Don’t wait until morning to decide if you’re going. Pack it, put it in your car, and lay out your workout clothes so there’s no thinking involved.
- Meal prep in advance. When your meals are ready to go, you won’t be tempted to order pizza because you’re too tired to cook. If you have prepped protein, carbs, and veggies in containers, it’s easier to stay on track. Bonus: if your nutrition is well spaced throughout the day due to meal prepping and packing food, you’ll have more energy for a great workout after work!
- Automate your environment. If your struggle is skipping workouts after work, go directly to the gym before going home. If you battle late-night snacking, keep healthy options at eye level and treats out of sight or out of the house entirely.
Your online fitness trainer can help you create these systems. They know your unique schedule, stress points, and dietary preferences and can suggest tailored hacks to keep you on track.
The easier you make the choice to do what you need to do, the more likely you’ll do it. As the saying goes,
“Don’t rely on motivation. Build systems that don’t require it.”
3. Track your progress.
Nothing is more motivating than seeing results. It’s easy to forget how far you’ve come if you’re only focused on where you want to be.
Tracking your progress creates a factual record of your journey, proving that your efforts matter.
Here’s what you can track:
- Progress photos: Monthly photos in an outfit that shows the area you want to monitor. If you’re working on your hips, don’t wear baggy shorts. The same time of day, lighting, and area of the house will also help with accurate tracking. Visual evidence beats the scale any day.
- Gym video/photos: You want muscles so let’s see them work! Prop your phone up against your water bottle and video you working out. Especially on back exercises because those are muscles you don’t get to see - this is one of my clients’ favorite parts. They love to see the improvement month-to-month.
- Measurements: Inches lost around your waist, hips, and chest. Reminder: You want a .85 or lower hip to waist ratio. (read this article about tracking progress without InBody Scan.)
- Scale body fat and weight: A traditional scale will tell you how much you weigh, including muscle, bone, organs, water, food in your stomach and more. But it’s not always the most accurate picture of progress. If you can, find a way to track body fat percentage and muscle mass. This will give a more accurate insight to your activity and nutrition. If you can, weigh on the same scale, same time of day, and same time of month (avoid week near your cycle).
- Strength improvements: How much weight you’re lifting each week. Ideally you’re sticking to the same workouts for 3-4 weeks to give yourself time to incorporate progressive overload on those lifts, build confidence, and to see a change.
- Steps or daily activity: Your average steps per day can be an easy win to celebrate. Shoot for 8,000 - 12,000 steps a day, depending on how aggressive your goals are.
- Nutrition consistency: Track protein intake, water, and overall calorie adherence. Try tracking your food, not as a diet, but to learn where you can improve. It may surprise you where your calories are coming from. (Free Calorie Calculator)
Fitness trainers can monitor these metrics for you within their app or your shared tracking sheet, providing expert interpretation and adjustments to your plan based on real data.
Seeing your data go up (or down, depending on your goal) builds confidence. Remember, even when motivation is low, progress is still progress – and tracking makes it visible and real.
2. Create a plan… and a backup plan.
Most people follow a program or plan, which is excellent. Programs tell you exactly what to do, when, and how, reducing guesswork. But life rarely goes perfectly according to plan. That’s why you need a backup plan, too.
It’s called an “if-then” strategy. Research shows that when people implement if-then planning, their chances of success jump from 39% to 91%.
Here are examples:
- If I miss my morning gym session, then I will go during my lunch break or right after work.
- If I can’t do my full workout because of time, then I will at least walk for 20 minutes after dinner.
- If I forget to meal prep, then I will pick up a healthy rotisserie chicken and salad kit from the grocery store instead of ordering takeout.
- If it rains and I can’t walk outside, then I will do a YouTube walking workout in the living room.
Your online fitness trainer can help you create both your primary and backup plans, so no matter what life throws at you, you have a clear next step. Having a plan B eliminates the mental spiral of “I failed today, so I might as well give up this week.” Instead, it reframes setbacks into flexible options that keep you moving forward.
1. Community!
“I love being part of this program because I feel like I have so many friends on the journey with me.”
Finally, the #1 hack to sticking to your workout plan is finding your community. Humans are social creatures. We thrive with accountability, support, and shared goals.
Being in a community reminds you that you’re not alone in your struggles. There will be days when motivation is low, but seeing others show up pushes you to do the same. There will be weeks you feel defeated, but community members will lift you up and remind you why you started.
Ways to build your fitness community:
- Join an online program or challenge group. These create daily accountability and cheer each other on.
- Attend group fitness classes. You’ll see familiar faces and build friendships.
- Partner up with a friend. Even if your schedules don’t align for workouts, check in with each other weekly about goals and wins.
- Hire an online fitness trainer. They provide structured programming, accountability check-ins, personalized feedback, and a sense of belonging that keeps you progressing even on hard days. You can even look for trainers specific for your needs, like an over 40 personal/fitness trainer or one that specializes in mobility issues.
If you’re looking for an uplifting, positive online fitness community, check out my TFL Trainer membership at TheFitnessLife.net. We’re not just workouts – we’re a family that supports each other through every up and down on the journey.
Final Thoughts
Sticking to your workout plan isn’t about perfection or endless motivation. It’s about creating an environment and mindset that makes it easier to show up. Write down your goals so they’re always in front of you. Eliminate daily decisions that drain your willpower. Track your progress to see how far you’ve come. Always have a backup plan for life’s curveballs. And above all, surround yourself with people who lift you up.
Try implementing these five hacks this week. Start with one or two, and build from there. Over time, you’ll transform your goals from vague wishes into unbreakable habits – and see real, lasting results.