The Carrot And Stick Approach To Fitness

Need help sticking to your fitness goals? Using rewards or punishment just might do the trick. We ask four girls to test out this approach.

- Adora Wong

Whether it’s to lose weight or train for a marathon, staying motivated to see your fitness goals through is tough. Thankfully, there’s an age-old trick that can help, which uses rewards and punishments to influence behaviour.

This method is nicknamed the carrot and stick approach, so-called because of the analogy that in order to motivate a donkey to get moving, you’ve got to either urge it along with a carrot (reward) or strike it with a stick (punishment).