5 QUICK TIPS FOR GETTING YOURSELF TO THE GYM
We are soooo good at getting in our own way.
There’s this magical, completely unfounded belief that the only time we can go to the gym is when we feel motivated. We throw our hands up and blame lost mojo for the reason we can’t possibly exercise. We externalise this and treat it like it’s something outside ourselves and out of our control.
And when we don’t have motivation, it is so easy to let that get in the way of just getting the work done. That’s usually when the excuses start. It’s too cold, it’s too hot, I’m too tired, I’m too busy, I’m too this, I’m too that. The list goes on and on. The conditions have to be just perfect.
And I totally get it - who wants to subject themselves to 45 minutes of short term discomfort for not only the short term benefit of feeling great when you leave but also the long term benefits of improved strength, fitness, health, wellbeing, longevity and overall physical and mental function? #sarcasm
But if we wait for when the ‘time is right’ or when we ‘feel like it’, life will pass us by. And the opportunities to make our lives better will slip through our fingers.
These 5 quick tips for getting to the gym will help us ignore that pesky lack of motivation and set us on the path to success.
#1 - SET UP THE environment
If you want to become ‘that person who just goes to the gym no matter what’, you have to set up an environment that makes it super easy.
Here’s a pop quiz to demonstrate exactly what that looks like!
Pick the scenario that creates the optimal environment for consistently attending your gym classes:
Scenario #1 - It’s 8pm the night before class, and you’re getting ready for the next morning. The class was booked a week ago along with all classes that week. You’ve got your leggings, undies, singlet, bra, socks, shoes, water bottle, towel, jacket and car keys in a pile outside the bedroom door. The next morning’s alarm sounds at 5.35am, 5.40am, then 5.45am (just in case). You’re up and getting dressed while you make a coffee, brush your teeth, and fix your hair. At 6am you’re out the door for the 6.15am class.
Scenario #2 - It’s 5.52am and you wake up. You lie in bed thinking about how much effort it’s going to take to get up, find clothes in the dark while your partner sleeps and get dressed. And you definitely don’t have time to do all of those things and still make it on time to class. You haven’t even booked the class and you’re not sure, but you think it’s probably too late to book anyway, so what’s the point. You’ll try again tomorrow.
#2 - track the habit
Coming to the gym regularly is a habit that requires building. And one way to build that habit is to track it by keeping a running tally of the classes you attend. If your membership includes attending a certain number of classes per week, create a visual way to track those classes you attend. Put it in a high traffic area of your house (eg the fridge) and following each session, tally it on the tracker. You can use this for any habit you want to build - drinking more water throughout the day, getting your steps in, etc.
#3 - BOOK IN ADVANCE
And treat it like a doctor’s appointment.
We highly recommend sitting down on a Sunday as you reset for the week ahead and booking your upcoming classes all at once. This will help to prevent last minute strikes of CBF. It may still happen but if you’ve booked and committed to treating your classes like doctor’s appointments, you are more likely to make it work.
And if you must cancel, no sweat! Just make a time right then and there to re-book for another class.
#4 - find an accountability partner
Aka Train with a Friend!
If you want to make it easier to get to the gym, find someone to train with who can hold you accountable. Take turns giving each other a ride, check in to confirm your week’s sessions, celebrate each other’s small wins. When you aren’t in it alone, it becomes much easier to grease the wheels of attendance.
#5 - act first and the motivation will follow
Let’s accept that the little voice telling us we have no motivation is actually an internal part of ourselves. It’s not some outside force inflicting itself on you. It’s a little voice that we have the power to control. We can ignore it, turn down its volume or hear it and respond with ‘so what?’. You can even trick it into behaving - motivation is actually caused by taking action, not the other way around. Somewhere along the way the order of these things got swapped in our minds. Motivation happens after we start doing something that we brings us benefit or pleasure.
So when the mojo is low, focus on how you felt when you regularly did something that positively impacted you. It made you want to keep doing it! So reverse the order of what your mind is telling you to do. First we act - consistently and repeatedly - and the motivation will follow.