It is week 4 of your 6 week cut. You are exhausted, moody, and craving chocolate bars and deep dish pizza like no other. You feel your motivation severely waning. Your body is saying, “I don’t have the energy to walk to the car let alone hit the gym”. Your mind tells you, “Yes, I know, this is normal. My body is going to fight me because frankly it is pissed off at me. But I have to be stronger and smarter. Of course this is not going to be easy. If it were easy, everyone would be ripped. If I want to reach my goals, I’ve got to push through and ignore my body’s will to be comfortable, to be status quo.” What’s are you to do? This is exactly the point when you’ve got to switch gears, and insert some of what I call “mind-body-trickery”. Below is a list of my top 5 tricks, that I impart when the going gets tough, and I’ve got to outsmart the average fat cell.

1. Remove the Option

If you work out at a gym away from your house, you have the perfect scenario for making things inconvenient for you to skip your workout. How? Set it up so that you HAVE to go to the gym in order to continue on with your day. For example, leave your only curling iron, bottle of shampoo, razor, make-up, your favorite pair of shoes, etc in your locker at the gym so that in order to get ready for your day, you’ve got to go to the gym first to get ready. If you work out in the evening or at home, incentivize yourself in some other manner. Bribery is a cheap trick but all is fair when it comes to fat loss. Tell yourself, you can only watch your favorite show tonight on television if you get in a fantastic workout first, or you can only have complex carbs with dinner if you deplete those glycogen levels first. Be creative. Whether you workout in the morning, afternoon, or evening there are ways to convince yourself, whether it is through inconvenience or enticement, that it is a better deal to hit the gym than to not.

2. Workout Buddy to the Rescue

Find a workout partner and set dates ahead of time to meet for workouts. Try to find someone that won’t let you off easy if you skip, someone who you would be embarrassed or feel extremely guilty to back out on. Workout buddies are great for not only keeping us committed, but motivating us to push harder and may even bring out the competitor in us. This type of positive stress is good for us and keeps us on our toes.

3. Don’t Over Complicate

Realize that the time it takes to get a workout in is just a fraction of your day. Don’t build it up to be a huge obstacle. Once you get going, it isn’t really that big of a deal anymore is it? Get your workout in, push hard, and before you know it, you are finished! Not to mention the endorphins are rushing and you feel great for the rest of the day.

4. Bring the iPod

The one thing that has gotten me through some of my toughest workouts was my iPod (Apple you can thank me later for the free advertising). During the intense, kick butt training sessions, I opt for a mega fat burning playlist. Song after song of high energy tunes. Just when you think you are going to have a break, the next great song comes on and you somehow find another burst of energy to push just a little more. For longer, more steady state training, I have actually moved over to audio books. Sounds silly, but you would be surprised how a 4 mile run can fly by when you get into a really good book.

5. Mind Over Matter

The bottom line is, we all know what we have to do to lose the fat. You know you’ve got to get the workout in if you truly want to reach your goal. So stop with the excuses, no more over thinking all of the reasons why you “can’t” get the workout in, and just do it.