How to motivate yourself to go to the gym

Do you find it hard to motivate yourself to train and go to the gym? Below are 10 tips to help get your motivation levels up and get you going to the gym…

1. Be realistic about what you set as your goal. The quickest route to failure is setting goals which are too high and put you off too fast. If 5 days a week is too much, try 3. If 10 sets is too much, try 5. Be realistic and remember something is better than nothing and by going to the gym, you are already better off than sitting at home.

2. When it’s your usual time to go to the gym, don’t “think” too much about going or not going. Get your gym gear on and then things will just naturally fall into place.

3. If you are the show-off type, think of all those people you can impress online by showing off your new body and your new workouts and achievements. There is a massive community online eagerly waiting to see what you have been up to at the gym!

4. Find yourself a training parter. If you lack motivation, find yourself a training partner that is motivated to work out and will pull you up and make you reach your goals even on days you are feeling down.

5. Give yourself a reward, it builds a good habit. For example, if you like coffee, get yourself a latte after a hard workout in the gym.

6. Try some of your favourite clothes on and see if they fit. If they don’t, set a goal to get into them by X time. Not getting into clothes is a terrible feeling. On the opposite, working out, losing weight and getting back into your clothes is a wonderful feeling and can be achieved by working out.

7. Sign a contract with yourself on one of the sites that provide these sort of contracts. Make it a long term contract. Studies have shown this really works in increasing training motivation and sticking to a goal and regime. Sounds silly but it works, so give it a shot!

8. Training like the champions: Most successful sports-people go by short term goals. Sure, they have long terms goals, but they go one step at a time and always try and achieve short term goals. Successful businesspeople do this too. They close one gate before opening another.

9. Set a goal to buy some nice gym clothing if you hit a particular target in the gym. When you have got yourself closer to your dream body, you can treat yourself to some funky gym gear. These can be another reward you give to yourself for your hard work.

10. Switch things around. For example, if you are too tired to go to the gym in the evenings, try going in the mornings or lunch times. Get rid of all excuses by trying alternative methods.

There you have it, 10 proven, effective and slightly different tips on how to increase your motivation for working our and going to the gym. No excuses.