We’ve all been there. You’ve missed a week or two at the gym and nothing is making you excited to go back. How do you talk yourself into it? Take a look at our guide to getting yourself motivated for the gym again.
Make a list, check it twice
Some of us are planners and some of us are doers. So, if you’re having trouble being a doer, make plans to get motivated. Make a list of reasons why you want to get into the gym again. They don’t have to be so simple as “to lose weight”. No one actually cares about losing weight. It’s the things that come with losing weight that motivate you to get into your training regime again. If that means you have to be vain, selfish, frivolous, or to stave off a fear, go for it. Only you are going to know about it. Your list can be filled with “to get into those jeans I love” or “to avoid a heart attack” or “to not have my knees give out like my parents’ did”.
Every time you are thinking of skipping the gym, give it a scan first. If skipping still feels worth it, then maybe you need that day off.
Combine big and small
A good way to make your list so you stay motivated is to mix the big milestones with the small. Like a mobile game. You get little rewards for reaching levels 1, 2, 3, and 4, but a big reward for reaching 5. So, toss in “getting into those jeans” with “losing 28 pounds by this date’ ‘, or mix getting to a certain weight on a certain machine with the long-term goal of big arms with the help of products from companies such as pur-pharma.is.
Mix up achievable with more challenging goals too and mix in some rewards too. Maybe you can zip up that dress you haven’t worn in a while, so you can buy yourself that thing you’ve had your eye on for months. If your goals are measurable, assign some a deadline and you’ll have something to work towards.
Even if you don’t want to go, go
We all have those off days, where we just don’t want to go anywhere. We regret even not talking to a good friend on a good day because we just weren’t in the mood. It’s understandable, but you won’t regret getting back into your routine. In fact, you might regret not. If you’re having an off day, go to the gym anyway. You’ll force yourself to do something, even if you’re taking it easy this time. And that’s okay. You went, you stuck to your routine and you did something. Even better, the endorphins from exercising might turn your day from “off” to “on”. If you need to do it first thing in the morning to get it over with, all the better for you.
Keep to a routine
Training even when you don’t want to is particularly important for your routine, which is important for motivating you to go. It’s a not-so-vicious cycle.
If you do the same things at the same time every day, week, etc. you might find your mind wandering to the last, say, Thursday morning, and remembering the run you went on then. That might just be enough to motivate you to want to do it again.
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