I have a problem.

I can’t stop buying workout clothes, gadgets, shoes, and gear. My dresser is exploding with compression shorts, tech t’s, and sports bras. My gear box is spilling out visors, headphones, and sunglasses. I am always going to want new gear so I needed to find a way to reign in my spending. I also thought it might be motivating to know I have to earn booty shorts and can’t just grab a cute pair when I’m at the Under Armour outlet.

I also thought this might be a good solution to get and keep me motivated to work out. I go through stages when I do really well, work out every day, and then I fall off the horse and completely stop working out.

I am trying to find some consistency.

At the beginning of this year, I started a reward program for myself. I decided for each yoga session and weight lifting session I would receive $1. For every mile I run I earn $1. For the first quarter, I gave myself $1 for each pound I lost but that became complicated if I lost .4 one week, gained .2 the next, then lost .6 the next. I dropped that when I started the second quarter.

I also was taking away $1 for every missed workout but decided not to do that for the month of June. It wasn’t really a deterrent for me. I still skipped my workout and justified it as “if I’m not working out I don’t need new clothes”. For June, I have just paid myself accordingly for each workout. I think it is best to just keep it as simple as possible.

I track it on a Google doc sheets. I have a tab for each quarter and track three months on each sheet. I have four columns for each month. The first is the day of the week, the next column is the date, then the amount, and finally a column for notes. In the notes, I indicate which workout I did or if it was a scheduled rest day. If I didn’t work out I may fill in the reason. Most recently I noted the days with high temperatures and high pollution advisory.

Here are screenshots of the spreadsheet I put together. It is not advanced or fancy but it does the job. I have them separated into weeks but now that I am not using my weight I could take the row out. I weigh myself on Sundays and left a gap to enter my weight. As you can see, I have spent some of the money. After I made the screenshots I moved the quarter 1 balance to quarter 2 and then subtracted the new headphones I bought.

I need to get in a few more workouts, my balance is down to $29!

Do you reward yourself for working out? How do you stay motivated?

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