9 Tips to Get Back to the Gym
Okay seriously…summer is almost over and it’s time to start kicking your butt at the gym! Ever feel like you’ve fallen off the exercise bandwagon? Especially after the summer holidays? I mean, it’s hot, you have barbeques and drinks on the patio after work; it’s hard to always stick to your gym plans. The exercise slump hits you and it tough, really tough, to climb out of it!
Despite all your attempts at motivating yourself to get to the gym, though, you just seem to be having a really hard time!
No matter how many times you say you need to lose weight, you want to look or feel better, or you just know it’s healthier to be more active, your focus is elsewhere.
What do you do when you’ve hit an exercise slump?
Don’t worry – hitting an exercise slump happens to the best of us. Randomly throughout the year, I’ll hit an exercise slump and just decide I’d rather binge watch Netflix for 3 days straight than do ANYTHING active.
Sometimes a short exercise slump isn’t a bad thing – your body likely just needs a few extra recovery days. If you’re stressed out, worrying about a family member or doing extra tasks at work, rest and relaxation may be exacty what you need.
But if the gym hiatus has been going on for more than a couple of months (and you used to LOVE to workout), it may be time for some tough love.
Tips to Get Back to the Gym
It’s not always easy to pick yourself out of an exercise slump but I’ve found a few tricks that work pretty well.
Here are 9 no-excuses tips to get your ass to the gym!
- Schedule it. Check your calendar for the next 10 days. If you see any free time between other commitments, mark down that you’ll go to the gym at least 4 times.
- Pack your bag. Put all your gym essentials in a bag and put it by the door so you won’t forget to take it. It’ll save you time running around finding things, during which you’re liable to get discouraged and not go!
- Join a friend. Get a friend to commit with you or join a class that she always attends. Having someone around while you work out is always more motivating that going alone.
- Visualize the end results. Think about how awesome you’ll feel when you’ve hit the gym for 5, 10 or 20 times in a row. Woohoo!
- Take a ‘before’ picture. If you don’t like what you see, you know what you need to do, right?
- Hire a trainer. They’ll make sure you get a personalized program to help you meet your goals; plus, if you pay for something ahead of time, you are way more likely to follow through!
- Accept that you don’t WANT to go and go anyway. Few people LOVE to workout. Most of us go because we know that we’ll feel and look better and probably ward off a lot of major diseases in the process. It’s good for you to exercise – just go!
- Pick some awesome tunes and make a playlist. If you know you’ll get to listen to your favorite songs for 30-60 minutes, you might just look forward to that dreaded treadmill each week!
- Start slow. Don’t suddenly commit to 5 days a week when you haven’t worked out for a while. Pick 2-3 classes or hours that you can commit to and just go. Even if you can’t figure out what to do once you’re there, be happy that you went! Play on a few different machines, go for a walk (on a treadmill is fine), or ride a bike in 1stgear…just do something!
Excuses, Excuses
Now, be honest. As you read through my list, how many times did a reason notto do that suggestion pop into your head?
I’ll bet at least twice, right? Like, maybe you don’t have any time to fit in exercise. Or maybe none of your friends like the same types of exercise as you do. Or perhaps the thought of a trainer makes you cringe because it’s expensive.
Excuses do nothing for us. They’re just fear rearing its ugly head and you need to grab fear by the horns and shake it down.
Hurdling an exercise slump is never easy at first. What is easy is to fall back on your summertime ways and never go to the gym. Because exercising isn’t always the most exciting or enjoyable part of your day, right?
I don’t love getting out of bed at 5 AM every morning to go to the gym but I do it anyway. Why? Because about halfway through my workout I start to feel great – my energy suddenly skyrockets and I feel alert and clear-headed.
Plus, I know that I feel way less bloated and heavy during the day when I exercise.
So, toss aside the excuses, pick one suggestion and commit to it this week. Because I KNOW you can do it!
Soon enough, you’ll be loving your workouts again!