You love training, you love boxing, but sometimes – just sometimes – that love you feel in theory doesn’t convert into action. Maybe there’s a change to your schedule, an injury or illness gets in the way or, for no real reason, you simply lose your mojo. It’s okay, a lack of motivation can happen to anyone.
But we know consistency is key when it comes to making boxing gains, so to keep on track it’s important to understand the psychology of motivation.
Psychologists will talk about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic comes from doing something you naturally enjoy. Extrinsic is about an external reward, and it’s there we find an important link between motivation and accountability.
As soon as you make yourself accountable, say by sharing a goal with a friend or committing to those new best boxing gloves, you’re upping your chances of boxing success.
Here we take a look at some of the best motivation and accountability hacks you can apply to get your fighting spirit out of your head and into the ring.
Equip yourself
A study by Adam and Galinsky in 2017 found participants enjoyed greater success when they wore activity-specific clothing.
Invest in the best boxing equipment for your training and you will feel good about how you look and increase your confidence. When you put on an awesome new pair of boxing gloves, you get into character, like an actor putting on a costume for a performance.
Add to this the fact that great comfort and protection will actually improve your performance, and it’s a win-win.
Teamwork makes the dream work
Buddying up with a pal for boxing training will make you less likely to duck out of sessions.
A study from the University of New England found that participants who took part in group fitness classes reported a 25% increase in physical health, whereas those who exercised alone saw no substantial change.
Why? Well apart from the guilt involved in cancelling plans, teaming up with others ensures a level of emotional support and encouragement that you don’t get when going it alone.
Wearable winners
Logging your goals with wearable tech is a sure-fire way to get the kick in the butt you need, whether that’s to close the rings on your Apple Watch or to satisfy your Fitbit’s reminder to move.
Not only that but monitoring your progress and seeing your metrics improve is motivation in itself to keep training hard.
Science backs this up, with 81% of participants in a study from the University of South Australia reporting that trackers encouraged them to increase physical activity.
Socialise it
Putting a goal out into your socials is one of the best ways to build accountability.
Tonya Williams Bradford from the University of California says “public commitment increases the likelihood of compliance to a course of action”.
Not feeling like you’re going to make that sparring session you planned? A #fitspo post is a quick way to garner encouragement from followers and make sure you go get the gains photos to back yourself up later. Tag @bravoseuk on Instagram so we can see your dedication.
