I wanted to write about various strategies to stay motivated in the gym. You’ll enjoy your workouts and be more consistent when you have motivation.
I’ve been there. I’ve paid for a gym membership numerous times and quit after a couple of months. Sometimes I even spent a year upfront because I thought that would encourage me to continue. It never worked! Why? Am I that weak? Am I a quitter, a coward?
I started to doubt myself many times. I didn’t see myself as someone who shirks a duty or responsibility. How can I give up so easily, knowing I am doing a good and healthy thing for my mind and body? I was always fixated on that.
Being active has so many benefits. It’s good for your heart, your brain, the quality of sleep you will get, and so on, but unfortunately, knowing it’s good for you doesn’t always mean it’s easy to get yourself off the couch and go to the gym and do the work.
I’m writing this article for all who have trouble finding a consistent workout routine. I did a lot of research on the topic, and through the years, I learned to enjoy going to the gym to work out and stay consistent and motivated.
If that sounds like an objective you have as well, keep reading, my friend.
How To Maintain the Right Mindset for Your Fitness Journey
To maintain the right mindset for your fitness journey, it’s important to focus on your progress and celebrate the small successes along the way. Make sure to focus on the positive aspects of your journey and be kind to yourself on days when progress is slower. Set realistic goals and have an overall outlook that is open to learning and growth. Remind yourself that setbacks are part of the journey and use them as opportunities to learn and grow.
Finally, find your why. Working out, cardio, and eating healthy will make you look and feel much better and likely live longer. I want to live as healthy and long as possible to be there for my daughter as long as I can, and if that means waking up early in the morning and going to the gym, so be it! That’s my why, and I suggest you find yours. That will help you through the tougher times in your fitness journey.
8 Strategies To Stay Motivated In The Gym
1- DRESS THE PART:
The first strategy to stay motivated in the gym is to dress the part. It’s essential to feel comfortable in the clothes you wear during your workout sessions.
I know this sounds pretty straightforward, but it helps. What do you do if you go to a bar with a friend, a wedding, a party, or that job interview you are so nervous about? You dress up for it. You put on the right clothes to dress for the occasion.
Do yourself a favor and use this to stay motivated in the gym. That way, you feel more confident. Why would that be different when you go to the gym?
Our brains are susceptible to “en-clothed cognition,” a technical way of saying that dressing for the part will fuel your ambition to complete a chosen task.
Some gym clothing companies offer excellent quality clothes. I love Under Armour, Ten Thousand, and Nike, for example. Excellent quality for whatever workout you’re looking for, and heck, what is wrong with trying to look good while you work out while we’re at it?
Shortly I will do a full in-depth review of the leading brands out there with all the pros and cons per brand.
2- PREPARE:
Relatively simple, but in my opinion, a vital part of your strategy to stay motivated in the gym. In the evening, prepare your bag and lay out the clothes you will wear the next day for your workout. Also, organize your food and supplements. I have a unique cabin where I keep my supplements.
Organizing your pre-workout routine will be an important strategy to stay motivated in the gym to add to your arsenal. It is going to help you mentally prepare for the task. The next day, eat, take your pre-training supplement, put on your workout gear, pick up your back, and off you go. Make a habit out of this
3- VISUALIZE:
Visualizing what part of your body you will work out and what exercises you will perform will help you immensely with your strategy to stay motivated in the gym.
It’s a method that top athletes have used for ages. By closing our eyes and imagining what it would be and feel like to achieve a goal or to complete an exercise, we can prepare ourselves physically and mentally for the mission.
I taught myself to visualize the whole upcoming workout. I try to imagine the satisfying feeling of finishing the training, the exercises, the intensity, and the duration. Try it; I promise it will improve your motivational process before and during your workout.
It seems a bit zen for some of you guys, but include this as a strategy to stay motivated in the gym. You won’t regret it.
4- LEARN:
The number four strategy to stay motivated in the gym is to learn!
What helped me a lot in gaining more enthusiasm for my training was learning more about the technical side of the workout. Try to know more about the HOW and WHY you do a particular exercise in a certain way.
Start to concentrate more on the quality than the quantity of the repetitions in your sets. Try to reach that MIND-MUSCLE connection.
Start to understand the reasons for sometimes doing low-intensity cardio training and other times a high-intensity HIIT, for example. Learn more about a particular exercise’s effect on a specific muscle group. Learn more about anatomy in general, but especially your own.
You must listen to your body and find out what’s best for YOU. I had to learn how to work out with a bad left shoulder effectively. I had to find out which exercises work for me and which don’t so that I can do my workouts with fewer inconveniences possible.
I’ve been there. Remember, getting injured will significantly impact your strategy to stay motivated in the gym. Let’s do everything we can to stay healthy to be consistent in our fitness journey.
I know it all might sound overwhelming and even a bit exaggerated, but believe me, it helped me immensely with my focus and the so-called love for the game. It’s like I started enjoying and trusting the process more, which led to having more fun and more effective workouts.
I can’t emphasize it enough, learning HOW to work out should be an essential part of your strategy to stay motivated in the gym, my friend.
5- SET REALISTIC GOALS:
Another crucial strategy for staying motivated is to set realistic goals for yourself. Starting with short-term goals.
As always, it’s crucial to set realistic goals for yourself. I’m not saying not to aim high, but I want you guys to realize that it will be a process. You are going to improve in stages.
It’s an ongoing journey of improvement and feeling better, so I advise you to set short-term goals too. These sub-goals can be as simple as wanting to lose 3% of body fat in 1 month or gaining 1 kg of body mass in 1 month, or maybe even both.
These are very reachable and realistic objectives. Make sure you celebrate and reward yourself when you reach a ‘sub-target.’
Maybe buy some nice headphones to boost your workouts, or take your partner out for a romantic dinner. Always remind yourself that this journey is not a sprint but a marathon.
6- PARTNER UP:
Partnering up might be an excellent strategy if you are a social guy.
It can be helpful to go to the gym with a friend. It will be less likely that you skip the workout session because you realize that your friend is counting on you to show up. Personally, this was never an issue to be more or less compelled to go.
What did help me in the beginning stages was hiring a personal trainer. I only worked out with my PT for three months. It was a great experience, I learned a lot, and he wouldn’t accept my not showing up.
He was aware of my ‘YO-YO fitness past’ and ensured I didn’t skip training with him. He was important to me, and I’m sure that hiring a PT at the beginning of your ‘gym journey’ will benefit you heaps too.
This strategy to stay motivated in the gym helped me immensely at the start of my fitness journey.
7- GO EARLY:
Maybe you wouldn’t expect this, but having an early workout is a great strategy to stay motivated in the gym.
What? Yes, hit the gym in the morning! Make it a part of your morning routine. Avoid those 8-10 hours more that you can talk yourself out of going. Still, lots of research has to be done on the subject, but morning workouts work for me way better than going later in the afternoon or evening.
Wake up, prepare a nice breakfast, shower, put on your cool, prepared set of gym clothes, and off you go. Believe me; if you are in the position to make this your morning routine 3-5 times a week, DO IT!
Introduce your early morning workouts as a strategy to stay motivated in the gym, and you will thank me later. It may take some time, but when you do, you will tackle your day with more positive energy.
8- RECOVER:
An overlooked, but important part of staying motivated is taking the time to recover from your workout sessions.
Please, I urge you to take that time to recover. Be aware that you need to rest for muscle recovery. It has so many benefits to taking time to recover. I quit the gym a lot of times in the past because I got injured. One of the reasons was that I over-trained.
I wanted to be the cool guy who would show everybody I could work out daily. I didn’t need to plan my workouts outs or take time to recover. All or nothing. Well, it didn’t work out for me. It won’t for you either, my friend.
A regular post-workout massage also helps me a lot, especially with the chronic shoulder issues I have had since I tore a muscle in my rotator cuff years ago.
I advise you to take it easy, especially when you are starting. I recommend working out 2-4 times a week. Maximum two workouts per muscle group. Throw in 2-3 cardio sessions weekly, and you will be fine. I will dive deeper into this topic in the future but promise me that you will take this advice seriously.
Conclusion
These are the strategies to stay motivated in the gym that helped me to be a lot more consistent with my workouts.
Most importantly, I finally learned to enjoy going to the gym, finding out which supplements to take, how to eat healthier, and, generally, taking better care of myself. It changed my life. I only wished I had known all this earlier in my life. I’m living proof that it’s never too late.
Using these strategies to stay motivated in the gym makes you feel way more confident and happy in your fitness journey.
When I started to see and feel improvements, my enthusiasm only grew. I have been living this ‘healthier’ lifestyle for two years and feel great. It’s incredible when you get complimented on how great you look. There’s nothing wrong with that, my friends. Let me tell you; not only will you look your best self, but you will also feel amazing.
I hope that reading this article will encourage you to take better care of yourself today. A healthy diet, physical exercise, and cardio are just a few ways to improve your physical and mental health, but it’s a start. An important one, I may add.
Using solid strategies to stay motivated in the gym, as described in this article, will improve and facilitate your fitness journey immensely.
Remember, Yo-Yo is the OLD YOU; Motivation and Consistency are the NEW YOU!
What is your favorite strategy to stay motivated in the gym?
If you have any more questions about the subject, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below. I will be more than happy to answer you guys.
