April 6, 2025, 8:56 am | Read time: 3 minutes
We WANT to do more sport — but, unfortunately, something always gets in the way. A good movie on TV, your best friend wants to come over, or it starts to rain… STOP: These are all lame excuses! STYLEBOOK shares how you can overcome your inner couch potato.
Sometimes, any excuse is good enough to keep us staying lazily on the couch. And the cold temperatures, unfortunately, don’t make it any easier to overcome. STYLEBOOK turned to fitness queens Barbara Becker and Ursula Karven and got a man on board: motivational coach Steffen Kirchner. Promise: Even the most stubborn inner critic doesn’t stand a chance against the tips from the pros. Read on for five tips to overcome your inner slacker.
1. Set Yourself a Goal
Exercising just for the sake of it? That doesn’t work, Steffen Kirchner says. In an interview with STYLEBOOK, the mental coach explains that it all starts with a motive: “You don’t just drive around in your car for no reason.” The goal is crucial, and it has to be an attractive one. “For instance, if I aim to be more appealing to my partner, I set that as my goal,” he explains. “And because it’s important to me to achieve it, I stay on the ball.”
2 Become Your Own Fan
Barbara Becker finds that sport is often compared to struggle. “I, on the other hand, don’t think I have to train; I can.” Realize that you, too, have a healthy body — and appreciate what it does for you during sport as something valuable. This way, regular exercise won’t be an obligation for you, but a kind of luxury.
3. Don’t Think About It at All
“I don’t think about whether I brush my teeth in the morning or not,” explains actress Ursula Karven. For her, a daily workout has long since become second nature. Anyone can train themselves to do this. Her tip: “Create a habit!” What we do routinely requires the least amount of energy, as mental coach Kirchner confirms. You should, therefore, push yourself to work out regularly, especially at the beginning, and after a while, you won’t be able to do without it — after 21 days, to be precise, Kirchner knows: “Then the effort curve noticeably decreases.”
4. Focus on Team Workouts
If you’re on your own, it’s easy for your inner slouch to get the better of you. So get reinforcements on board and arrange to go jogging with a friend — she is guaranteed to resent you if you simply cancel the training session. It’s best to choose a motivated partner rather than someone who needs extra encouragement. Otherwise, your ambitious plan will turn into nothing more than a coffee klatch!
5. Stick to Fixed Times
Barbara Becker knows that regular exercise can be integrated into your daily routine. It helps to consider the training session as a fixed date, for example, to always keep Tuesday evenings free for exercise. “If I’ve arranged to do yoga with myself at eleven o’clock, then I stick to it,” she explains. After all, nobody likes to be turned down — neither your best friend nor yourself.