One of my favorite things is finding creative ways to stay motivated about going to the gym, working out and getting exercise. Here is a random assortment of ideas that I have thought of that will hopefully help someone else:
o Buy supplements and leave them somewhere where you will look at them all the time. If you have a bunch of supplements sitting around, staring you in the face, it might guilt you into going to the gym. Place them in a strategic location such as on top of the fridge. Every time you go to get a snack or make yourself an unhealthy meal, you have a bunch of health supplements reminding you of your fitness goals.
o Overpay for your gym membership. If you feel like you are spending a lot on your gym membership, you might be more likely to try and get your money’s worth. The same applies for home fitness equipment. If you pay a lot for some sort of fitness membership or equipment, make sure you don’t forget about it. Leave your gym pass right by the front door. Set up your equipment right by the couch and television. Use guilt to pressure you into working out.
o If you really don’t feel like working out, convince yourself just to drive to the gym, get out of your car and step one foot inside. Tell yourself that if you really don’t want to work out, you can make that decision when you are one foot inside the gym. It is a lot easier to get yourself to do something when it doesn’t sound that bad. Don’t even think about working out, just think about getting to the gym. Driving to the gym isn’t that terrible. Just do it and see what happens. Worst case is that you can still say “I went to the gym today”. Best case (and most likely) is that once you get to the gym, you will justify working out because you have already come all this way. And just like magic, you have tricked yourself into working out!
o Get a gym partner. As long as you are both somewhat motivated, you will keep one another going in times of slight motivation decreases. It is a lot harder to blow off going to the gym when you are also blowing off one of your friends. A group of a few people might not work as well because you won’t feel like you are making someone go by them self when you blow off going to the gym.
o Find activities that you really enjoy. I absolutely love playing roller hockey. There is a rink in town and I go every time there are pickups. I don’t go for the exercise; I go for the competition and the love of playing the sport. Finding an activity that you enjoy which has the side-effect of exercise can really help trick you into working out. Just make sure that your activities are really going to give you exercise. I have found that beer pong doesn’t work so well.
o Get books on tape. Go for a jog or bike ride while listing to them.
The key really is to trick yourself into exercising. Some people feel that exercising is unbearable by itself. If you are one of those people, the best thing to do is just not think about the fact that it is exercise. Put your mind somewhere else and get it done.
