Everybody has different reasons for wanting to go to the gym.
Some of us are professional fighters and the gym is a a place of business, others are fitness freaks who wrack up countless hours week-upon-week in the pursuit of self-betterment. For some it’s a place to drop a few pounds, or to get fit for a 10K. There is one thing that unites practically everyone who walks through those doors however; motivation.
Or, rather, the occasional lack thereof.
Sometimes your biggest enemy in pursuit of your goals can be yourself as that little voice in your head attempts to list off the various reasons why going to the gym today is a bad idea; the traffic will be bad. You went a few days ago. You’ll go tomorrow instead.
How can you give yourself the best opportunity to make the most of your training? It comes down to being realistic with your goals.
Understand Why You Want To Go To The Gym
Isolate your goals. Just saying to yourself that you “want to get fit” is a largely undefinable concept. Make it more specific if you really want to achieve something, be it a goal of a certain number of reps with a weight machine you may have struggled with before. Or you could set a weight loss goal, or any one of the other voluminous reasons we pay the membership fee in the first place.
Remember How You Feel Afterwards
As anyone who exercises even casually can attest, there are serious benefits to working out. It is one of those rare activities which has benefits for both your mental and physical health and can deliver a feeling of accomplishment for going — something which stands in clear superiority from the nagging feeling of “I should have gone to the gym today” that so many of us can get as we talk ourselves out of doing things that have direct benefits for us.
Keep It Simple
You don’t have to work out like a professional athlete to see some serious improvements in your own physique. More often than not, even a brief 20-minute workout can help and it certainly helps more than not going anything at all. This can be key on those days when your motivation is flagging as seeing through a brief set of exercises allows you to always know where the finish line is and how close you are to it.
Set Small Goals
Do you want to be able to do 20 push-ups uninterrupted? Or how about getting to the point where you can do 10 pull-ups? Progress doesn’t happen immediately but as soon as you begin to notice small improvements it can be exactly the fill-up you need to keep going.
Make It Easy To Go To The Gym
Make sure that your workout gear is fresh and ready to go the day before as you will want to avoid adding another layer of difficulty in actually stepping out the door. Remember, for most people actually *going* to the gym is more difficult than actually being there so try and make it as easy on yourself as possible. If your gear is ready that is one more step to you being ready. In addition, you can also programme a killer music playlist to keep you going in there and identify ahead of time what you will be eating before and afterwards.
