How do you stay motivated to keep returning to gym?
It’s February and all the new year new me enthusiasm is begining to die off and I notice my gym becoming quieter and less crowded. Chances are your gym is will be the same, in fact its estimated that around 70% of people who start a new fitness regime quit within the space of a month and generally speaking inactive gym memberships outnumber active memberships in most gyms.
But what makes some people keep returning to gym, regular as clockwork while others fall by the wayside so easily? I believe it comes down to determination, accountability and eventually habit.
Honestly, I’ve been training regularly for so long that it’s actually easier for me to go to the gym then it is to stay home because it is so deeply ingrained in what i do weekly that I’m not sure how I would even function without it. This is habit. Deeply ingrained and difficult to change and habit takes time. The trick is to stay with your new regime until habit eventually forms.
My tips for sticking to your fitness regeme:
Plan your week out ahead of time. If you plan on train four times for instance, pick four time slots throughout your week, these slots are workout times. These are non negotiable, it doesn’t matter if you’ve decided on 3,4,5 or 6 periods of excessive per week this is when they are happening. This is what you owe to yourself.
Select times when you know your going to be free. Before or after work or when the kids go to school. Be it 23:00 at night or 5:00 bright and early there is almost always time that you can get some work done. You just need to look at your week with a positive, open mind. Asses any time that’s being wasted TV time social media scrolling and so on.
Hold yourself accountable:
You and you alone are accountable for your successes and failures. It’s not your bosses fault, the kids fault, the bad weathers fault, fate, bad luck or anybody else’s, if you miss your time to workout it’s your fault. I appreciate that injury and illness can hold you back and it may not be wise to train under those circumstances but those are the only allowances. There may be times when you can’t make it and for reasons outside of your control and thats fine. Reassess your week and find a new time slot. It is not an excuse to skip.
Repetition becomes habit:
Eventually a habit will form. (Even if you initially hate training it’ll happen) A mental change happens over time and before long weekly workouts become the norm and the force of habit will automatically nudge you in the right direction when you don’t feel like showing up.
To recap:
Set you goal,
Plan your week,
Plan your workout times,
Hold yourself accountable for making them happen.
If you need to reschedule , do so and get back on it.
Happy goal smashing,
Belt.