11 Inspirational Quotes To Help You Train Harder

Found yourself in a workout slump? Finding it hard to make yourself hit the gym or go training? Don't feel like you can win that race or match? Well check out our favourite quotes to help give you that extra power and drive you push through and keep working hard.

1. Ryan Blair

“If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse.”

There will always be a reason not to train. From cold weather to a taxing day at the office, it’s never hard to find an excuse to skip your next session. This is a bad habit to get into, and will soon result in your progress all but grinding to a halt. If you want to achieve something you need to stick to it no matter what – besides, a bit of snow will keep you cool!

2. Stella Juarez

“Only the weak attempts to accomplish what he knows he can already achieve.”

Setting goals for yourself is all well and good, but if they’re too easy they aren’t going to do much good for your motivation. If you’ve already run a half marathon and you set your next target as a 5k fun run, you’re not likely to feel much satisfaction or a sense of achievement as you cross the finish line. If you push yourself that little bit harder, workout that little bit longer, train for a few more points, you will be amazed how much you can do, and the improvements will start flowing.

3. Ralph Marston

“There are plenty of difficult obstacles in your path. Don’t allow yourself to become one of them.”

You can point the finger all you like – maybe your boss keeps you late at work, or your spouse wants you to do too many chores. However, what your training really boils down to is simple: you. You are the only person who can truly make it happen, and you are the only person who can stop it. Which is it going to be?

4. Giavanni Ruffin

“If you put in as much time working on winning as you put into thinking about losing, you already be a champion.”

When you focus your mind away from the pressures and expectation of your failure, then your failure will become a myth. Instead focus on accomplishing that success you're aiming for, whether completing a marathon, beating a personal best, winning a competition or losing weight, and believe that you can achieve it. When you tailor your mind to what it is you want to achieve, and dedicate the time to reaching that goal then it is easier to accomplish and easier to keep working hard.

5. Marianne Williamson

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, it is that we are powerful beyond measure.”

The human body is capable of pushing itself to amazing levels, it is just the mind that stops us from excelling. So next time you don't feel that you're good enough or you're afraid of accomplishing your best, remember that you are more powerful than your mind will allow you to believe.

6. Will Smith

“He who says the can and he who says he can't are usually both right… talent you have naturally, but skill is only developed by hours and hours of beating on your craft.”

Look for any celebrity with a good work ethic and you will find Will Smith. If you believe you can achieve something and put the effort, time and hard work into that task then you can achieve it. It may time time and energy, but eventually you will accomplish it, and you can become the person who says and proves that he can. Whether it's beating a personal best or winning a match or race, if you tell yourself you can't do something then how can your body prove your mind wrong? Don't let yourself be the reason why you're not achieving something.

7. Eric Thomas

“Don't cry to give up, cry to keep going. Don't cry to quit, you already in pain. Get a reward from it.”

You've already made it out to training or to the gym, you’re already tired and hurting, so why not push yourself and make that pain and exhaustion worth it? It is so easy to give into the temptation of giving up when we get tired and when we're hurting. But if you can power through and will yourself to do that little bit extra and to keep going with your training, you will be thankful afterwards. Let's face it no-one has ever regretted going to the gym.

8. Michael Jordan

“Because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.”

Too often people will tell you that you're not fit enough, or strong enough or you will not work hard enough to accomplish something, but if you then start telling yourself that you're not good enough for your goals then these expectations will probably be fulfilled. But people’s perceptions of your ability is merely speculation of what you're capable of, an illusion, instead prove these deceptions as false and overcome them.

9. Muhammad Ali

“I know you've got him picked, but the man's in trouble. Imma show you how great I am.”

One of the greatest boxing matches of the 20th century, ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’ saw Ali defeat the previously undefeated Heavyweight Champion Foreman, and in the buildup Ali spoke of how determined and impressive he was to prove all the spectators and the bookkeepers wrong. When you feel that odds are against you, whether against an opponent or in your workout, remember to show everyone how great your are.

10. Jeremy McGrath

“In order to achieve greatness you have to go through a lot of pain. You definitely have setbacks, but in order to achieve that success you have to push through.”

Pain and that burn from exercising is probably one of the most difficult things, not for your body to power through, but for your mind. But to improve and to reach your goals or aims you have to suffer the pain to get to the other side. The body is capable of withstanding so much pain and suffering, it is only the mind that tells us to give up and that the pain is too much. When you touch something hot, it is your mind that tells you to pull away and so when you feel pain and tiredness, you have to remember it is just your mind, and that you can push through.

11. Arnold Schwarzenegger

“The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of the most motivated sportsmen, coming from an unknown and unsuccessful background in eastern europe, to achieving worldwide success and fame. Many of his motivational speeches talk of how important the mind is in achieving sporting success. It is not only braun that is needed to be a winner, but the right mindset and motivation is just as important. You've hit a motivational low, then follow this advice and know that you don't need to tell your body to keep pushing, you need to tell your mind to believe you can.