I enjoy working out, I enjoy going to the gym and the feeling I get when I'm done. I feel accomplished, I like the dull ache in my muscles after a set. I enjoy pushing myself.
My biggest problem is simply making the time to go.
I work 10-7, but getting up early to go is hard for me, so I usually try to go after work. I don't think the time that I go is important, it's more just making sure I go.
Any tips on how to keep it consistent? I'd like to end up going 5 days a week when if only doing the treadmill some of those days.
One thing my gym (Planet Fitness) doesn't have are group classes. I kinda feel like it would motivate me to be a part of a class like that, but I don't know if it's worth it to join a different gym, especially if I can't make it consistent with the one I'm going to right now.
21 comments
> I work 10-7, but getting up early to go is hard for me
What time do you go to bed? Do you get 8 hours? Plenty of time for a quick workout in the morning. Remember, a sesh doesn’t have to take 3 hours. 45 mins will be fine.
I went to the gym 2-5 days per week consistently for 8 months even while homeless. I fell off the rails recently due to “home life” (because my accomodations this past three months has been 45 mins away from the gym).
But I found it easiest to commit when I wasn’t commiting to much. All I convinced my brain to do was show up. Just get there. I didn’t even need to work out, I just had to walk into the gym and if I left immediately it was a success story. My goal for the day wasn’t to workout it was to go to the gym.
Only once in all that 8 months time did I walk in and walk out immediately. Usually I stayed for at least 20 minutes. I set the goalpost so short because I hate the gym. But eventually it became routine and I began to crave it and stay longer and longer and hate it less.
You push yourself to do it.
In the beginning you will have tons of excuses for not going.
Then there is the middle, where you go because that’s what you do.
Then you hit the, I go because it feels bad/ wrong inside if I’m not doing it.
you can’t get addicted to something you don’t want to do. What you can do is make it a habit so that it’s just part of your day and becomes effortless.
Find a schedule for yourself.
If you work full time and have other responsibilities going 5 times a week might be simply impossible. Being consistent with 3 days a week will bring your better results than inconsistent 5 days a week.
You have to show dedication. I go three times a week. Sometimes I don’t feel like going but I make myself go because I want to stay healthy. I had a mild stroke couple years ago and from just going to gym and good diet, I’ve lowered my risk of having another stroke and lowered my medication. I have incentive
I suppose. I’m lucky because where I live in London I got referral from my doctor to the gym, which means my fees were halved.
Very few people actually get addicted to the gym and you can’t make yourself get addicted.
Just set yourself a schedule and stick to it. I’ve been going to gyms for 20 years and I have never wanted to go or ever enjoyed being there. It’s just a means to an end.
Personally I’m a morning person so I make the effort to go early. Find “your” time and just go.
I remember been “addicted” to the gym and I often struggle with motivation until the first rep is done but for me it’s about a routine. I’m a creature of habit and if i can establish a routine i tend to stick with it unless something makes it impossible (injury, something life wise popping up etc.)
I started TRT, that got me pretty addicted to the gym
Always go first thing, when you still have the energy. Lifting heavy shit will create more energy.
The biggest hurdle is walking in those doors, everyday, rain or shine, happy or miserable.
Once you do, you’ve already done the hard part mentally.
So funny was all about consistency. I used to go to the gym three or four times a week just depending on how I felt. Then I started working a lot of overtime and I couldn’t go. And I found myself more reluctant to go. But when I was reading the overtime I was craving to go to the gym. But I was extremely consistent for months and months on end. I’m trying to get back into the same habit now that I don’t work the overtime like I used to.
Like someone else posted, you have to make it a habit. I go swimming every Monday same time same place for the past 8 years. I dont even enjoy it that much any more but its now habit
create a weekly schedule, write it out/print it out. keep it with you. just follow the schedule, come hell or high water.
Methamphetamine.
Just live close to it. If you’re just 5-10min walk from it, it’s just so easy to pop in whenever suits you.
If I had to take a bike or bus, I would be lazier but now there’s no excuse. And on my way home I can do the grocery shopping
Juice and peps
Just do something that feels worth going but NOT TOO MUCH! that’s the point to not get deeply fatigued.
Like warmup, only one heavy exercise like bench pressing / deadlift / squats etc ., then sauna if you have one. Keeps it fresh, around one hour of work, a muscle group got very active and can recover for a good time, and its overall not that exhausting and permanently enjoyable. Lost a lot of weight that way with 4-5 times in the gym per week (plus right eating habits obviously).
Best of luck!
You have to treat it as a habit as non-negotiable as brushing your teeth or any other thing you do, not because you want to, but because you need to. I know you said you don’t like getting up early, but early morning is the time Ive found that I can do it consistently without it interfering with other high priority things in my life like family and work. You just need to find that for you, and have that time set aside as your time to do it, then you do it whether you feel like it or not, because you will definitely have days where you just don’t feel like it, even if you do enjoy it. Something that has also helped for me is that I do some form of exercise daily so I’m up early and exercising at the same time every day which helps me stick to the habit. If it’s not a lifting day that means I’m going running or walking instead. I wont say that doing something daily is necessary, just that it’s what helped me stick to a routine. If That daily time has become very mentally valuable too as well as physically valuable.
I set goals. I go at 5 a.m. I am currently getting ready to start week 6 of my 8 week routine and it’s a 5 day split. I rest on weekends. Seeing results has made me make it a habit and a non-negotiable. I feel great and I’m seeing the difference in the mirror, and my wife tells me she can see it and of course that gets me excited lol. It’s all about routine, I can honestly say I am addicted to the feel and the results I’m seeing
Monday thru Thursday; I wake up at 4:30am. Workout from 5 to 6:30 (stretch, warm, lifting, walk/run, sauna). Work from 7:30 am to 6:30 7:30 pm. Go to bed at 9:00 pm.
I make it happen… no matter if I don’t feel rested, or tired, or stressed. If I don’t go, I feel worse. I don’t ask myself if I want to go… I just go!
You mention on other comments, you struggle with sleeping early. I think that’s just the pump from going late to the gym… Make the switch, it will take time to get used to but you will… the body takes about 24 days to get used to something. Make your choice!!
Set goals to push yourself
Lift x
Run x