When you start a new fitness regime, you’re full of enthusiasm. Maybe you’ve made a new year’s resolution to get in shape, or perhaps you’ve joined a new gym. But over time, it’s easy for your motivation to flag.

Everyone has those days when staying in bed or relaxing in front of the TV is easier than grabbing your kit bag and getting active. Here are some great ways to use technology to push past those lethargic moments and boost your motivation once more.

1. Take On a Fitness Challenge

There’s no better way to get a boost than to take on a new fitness challenge. There are many challenge apps to help you meet your health goals. For example, you could download a Couch to 5K app to help you train, set yourself a target, and reward yourself when you achieve any success.

2. Challenge Your Self-Limiting Beliefs

If your motivation is dampened by the feeling that you’ll never get fit or lose enough weight, the first thing you need to change is the negative mindset causing you to think that way.

There are numerous solutions you can try. One way is to download a podcast to provide positivity and inspiration and listen to it as you work out.

If you subscribe to Apple Fitness+, try using the Time to Walk with Apple Fitness+ feature. You can listen to inspiring stories from celebrities and influential public figures, including boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard and musical icon Dolly Parton.

This immersive walking experience combines the guest’s tales with images sent to your Apple Watch and a playlist of songs that inspire them. It’s a great way to help you learn how to push past those fears of failure.

3. Push Past Exercise Procrastination

Motivational speaker and life coach Mel Robbins has a brilliant tactic to help you overcome procrastination: the Five Second Rule. Because it takes just five seconds for your brain to convince you not to do something that isn’t part of your regular routine, the answer is to count down from five to one when you notice yourself overthinking. Then act on the impulse immediately, before you think of all the reasons why you shouldn’t.

Simple but effective, you can find this theory explained fully in Robbins’ Audible audiobook The Five Second Rule. You can also hear more in her podcasts, which, alongside the many other self-care podcasts and audiobooks on Audible Plus, will help you take that first step past procrastination.

4. Practice Affirmations

Another useful psychological trick you can use to prevent those negative inner thoughts from taking hold is to practice affirmations. Among the many powerful self-affirmation tools to boost your motivation is an app appropriately named Motivation.

The Motivation app is full of positive statements for all occasions. If you’re dragging your heels over getting moving, install its handy widget on your smartphone’s home or lock screen to get an inspirational message to prompt you to get moving whenever you look at your device.

Download: Motivation for iOS | Android (Free, subscription available)

5. Get Connected With Other People

You can get isolated, dampening your spirits and making the whole process of getting out and moving more tricky. Combat this by reaching out and making connections with others.

Try out one of the numerous fitness challenge apps to compete with your friends and persuade your nearest and dearest to join you. That way, you’re accountable to others, which may just provide you with all the motivation you need to get moving.

6. Set Time Limits on Your Workouts

Committing to short, sharp workouts makes you far more likely to stick to your exercise goals. It’s far easier to face a 10-minute home workout than a 10-mile run after a long day.

Many leading fitness apps allow you to select your exercises according to duration, so choose a short HIIT program to get your heart rate up for an intensive workout routine that will be over almost before you notice you’ve begun.

Try these seven-minute workout apps for exercising when you’re short on time. Alternatively, head for YouTube’s vast catalog of workout videos and take on a short workout led by a trusted trainer, such as Roberta’s Gym YouTube channel with its 10-Minute Full Body Workout.

7. Change Your Workout Type Regularly

If you always use the same equipment in the same gym or follow the same workout video, you’re bound to get stuck in a rut and lose motivation. It’s better for both your physical health and your mental fitness to change your routine regularly.

If there’s a fitness activity you’ve never tried before, now is the perfect time to start! Fire up your preferred app and take a fresh look at all those exercise categories you always scroll past. You could try a new activity each time.

8. Practice Habit Stacking

Build on your good habits by recording them, and try to build up an unbroken chain of activity each day. It’s easy to do this by wearing an activity tracker or smartwatch like an Apple Watch, which can provide helpful reminders throughout the day.

9. Have Fun Exercising

Finding enjoyment in your workout routine is essential, or you’re far less likely to maintain it. Hopefully, some of the ideas outlined here will spark your interest. However, if you’re still seeking inspiration, you could try an exercise app that specifically focuses on the fun aspect of exercise. Wakeout is an example that's full of short activities you can do during breaks in your working day to get you moving and make you smile.

Download: Wakeout for iOS (Subscription required, free trial available)

10. Take Time Out

Although it’s important to keep moving to stay healthy, there’s no point in forcing yourself to work out if you feel physically or mentally unwell. Try the Gentler Streak app that aims to improve your fitness without overtraining. It has inbuilt Go Gentler periods, during which you can rest and relax without feeling guilty. Gentler Streak helpfully calls these “active recovery” days. You can try again when you feel better.

Download: Gentler Streak for iOS (Free, subscription available)

Take Positive Steps to Work Out Regularly and Feel the Benefit

If you’ve been in an exercise slump recently, there are many ways to get your movement mojo working again. Although it sounds counterintuitive, the endorphins released by your exercise will make you feel much better afterward and, therefore, more likely to do it all again tomorrow. As with so many challenges, the first step is the toughest, so try these apps and tips to get started.