50 bold fitness suggestions that will instantly motivate you

You know you always feel better after working out—and that alone should beat any of that couch-laden lethargy. But we are human. Sometimes lacing up our running shoes or grabbing our gym bag and heading out the door with a spring in our step needs a little extra outside encouragement.

Fitness motivation can make the difference between staying parked and hitting your stride. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the 50 best fitness quotes from a wide range of inspirational sources. Of course, some of them (eg Nietzsche, Picasso, etc.) specialized in other fields, but their knowledge can have a profound effect on helping us achieve our fitness and training goals. Thanks, Pablo.

Whether you’re running your first 5K or climbing a 14,000-foot peak, here are 50 of our favorite fitness and exercise quotes that will inspire anyone to put down that donut and pick up the dumbbell.

Top 3 Fitness Quotes

Some of our favorite words related to human fitness in the broadest sense are the oldest in the book—and they still work wonders before (or during) that next brutal workout. Keep them handy and read them again whenever you need some quick encouragement between sets.

• “The greatest wealth is health.” — Virgil
• “No pain, no gain.” — Unknown
• “It doesn’t matter how slow you go, as long as you don’t stop.” — Confucius

Best offers for setting fitness goals

Sometimes just getting started is the hardest part of getting motivated to workout. We understand that. That’s where the following fitness goal setting inspirational quotes will come in handy. Whether it’s climbing a mountain or losing a few pounds, these motivational quotes can be well applied to your fitness goals. They will help you not only set resolutions, but stay on track.

• “Discipline is the bridge between goals and achievements.” —Jim Rohn
• “You have to expect things from yourself before you can do them.” — Michael Jordan
• “Do what you have to do until you can do what you want.” — Oprah Winfrey
• “The meaning of life is not just to exist, to survive, but to move forward, to rise, to conquer” – Arnold Schwarzenegger
• “Strength is a product of struggle. You have to do what others won’t do to achieve what others won’t.” — Henry Rollins
• “Strength does not come from physical ability. It comes from an indomitable will.” — Gandhi
• “Nothing will work if you don’t do it” — Maya Angelou
• “The secret to getting ahead is to start.” — Mark Twain

Best deals for training

Good workout quotes can inspire us to get off the couch and keep moving. We love exercise quotes that get to the core of what it means to get to that next level of workout motivation.

• “The difference between those who adapt and those who don’t is the willingness to fully commit.” — Arnold Schwarzenegger
• “A bear, no matter how hard he tries, grows fat without exercise.” — AA Milne
• “If something stands between you and your success, move it. Never deny it.” – Dwayne Johnson
• “Exercise is a dirty word. Every time I hear it, I wash my mouth out with chocolate.” —Charles Schultz
• “It is a shame to grow old through sheer negligence before you see what a man you can become by developing your physical strength and beauty to their highest limit.” — Socrates
• “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to look for it.” —Henry David Thoreau

Best gym deals

Exercising in a gym hits us differently. Here’s a roundup of the best gym motivations to inspire you to keep pushing—read better with a soundtrack of clattering weight machines, dumbbells hitting the floor, and the occasional pained groan.

• “I don’t count my abs. I only start counting when it starts to hurt because they are the only ones who count.” — Muhammad Ali
• “The secret to getting ahead is to start.” —Mark Twain
• “Get comfortable with being uncomfortable!” — Jillian Michaels
• “Most people fail, not for lack of desire, but for lack of commitment.” — Vince Lombardi
• “I’m not familiar with the gym, I call it James.”—Ellen DeGeneres
• “What hurts today makes you stronger tomorrow.” —Jay Cutler

Best deals on Outdoor Fitness

Nature and the great outdoors are sometimes the best gym of all, offering inspiration in the form of winding trails and spectacular sunsets. Motivational outdoor workout suggestions inspire everything from hiking and running to climbing and camping.

• “Sometimes you’re in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself.” — unknown
• “I go to Nature to relieve and heal and bring my senses together.” – John Burroughs
• It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.—Sir Edmund Hillary
• “Bring things into the light, let nature be your teacher.” —William Wordsworth
• “Into the woods I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.” – John Muir
• “Once you’re exercising regularly, the hardest thing is to stop.” —Erin Gray
• All who wander are not lost.”—JRR Tolkien
• “If you don’t make time for exercise, you’ll probably have to make time for illness.” —Robin Sharma
• “Walking and light I take the open road, healthy, free, the world before me.” —Walt Whitman
• “Two roads diverged in a forest, and I—I took the one less traveled by, and that made all the difference.” — Robert Frost

Best recommendations for cardio and endurance

Cardio workouts are in a league of their own. The following fitness motivations are for those who love to get their heart rate up and push their limits.

• “The body achieves what the mind believes.” — Napoleon Hill
• “It never gets easier, you just get better.” — Unknown
• “When I feel tired, I think about how good it will feel when I finally reach my goal.” — Michael Phelps
• “You can either suffer the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.” —Jim Rohn
• “Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses.” —Kobe Bryant
• “You have to push past your perceived limits, push past that point where you thought was as far as you could go.” —Drew Brees
• “It’s hard to beat a man who never gives up.” —Baby Ruth
• “The human body is the best work of art” — Jess S. Scott

The best quotes about strength

Motivational strength training may sound cliche, but that’s because exercise and strength are at the core of getting in shape. These inspirational quotes extend beyond the weight rack and inspire strength in the purest, natural sense.

• “The only person you are destined to be is the person you decide to be” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger” — Friedrich Nietzsche
• “If we could give each individual the right amount of food and exercise, neither too little nor too much, we should have found the safest way to health.”—Hippocrates.
• “Physical condition is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, but it is the basis of dynamic and creative mental activity.” – John F. Kennedy
• “Action is the fundamental key to all success.” – Pablo Picasso
• “There comes a certain point in life when you have to stop blaming other people for how you feel or for the misfortunes in your life. You can’t go through life obsessing over what could have been.” — Hugh Jackman
• “To struggle with difficulties and conquer them is the highest human bliss”—Samuel Johnson
• “It is wonderful what great strides can be made when there is a determined purpose behind them.” – Winston Churchill
• “Have courage for whatever comes in life – everything lies in it.” -Teresa of Avila

Related: 105 Adventure Quotes to Inspire Your Next Epic Journey