How to Commit Yourself to the Gym (2 min read)

Written by Millionaire’s Digest Team Member: Baran Wannamaker

Founder & Owner of: Bearbody Living

Millionaire’s Digest Team, Contributor, Health & Fitness and Successful Living Writer

I’ve been there, I feel like a lot of people have. The time in your life where you either watch an inspirational movie or see someone on Instagram with an amazing physique and think “I’m going to get on my gym grind and get shredded!”. So the next week you start up and begin to actually enjoy yourself with the health benefits that come along with exercise, but after that initial week or month is up you quickly realize that it’s a very challenging and long commitment if you want to get results. This realization causes so many to become discouraged and slowly drift away from the gym, I went through this stage 3 times my first year of training before I fully engaged myself. It’s a vicious cycle that will keep you in it’s path unless you find these 3 key factors.

1. WHY

Why do you want to go to the gym? Why do you want to start exercising?

You need to ask yourself these questions and find the answers, this very well may be the MOST important part to committing yourself as it is your motivation. When you get those thoughts like “I’m tired, i’ll do abs tomorrow” or “If I miss today, I’ll just go really hard next week” then this is when your why comes into play and pushes you. I have re-wired my brain to when these thoughts pop up in my head in the middle of a workout I automatically think of it as someone trying to sabotage my progress and I won’t let anyone do that so I make that thing a must do by the time I leave that gym, my “why” has allowed me to do so. Also it doesn’t have to be complicated, it could be as simple as you just want to look good at the beach and if that’s your thing then roll with it, let that motivate you until you reach your goals.

I can actually remember the night where I said to myself that no matter what circumstances I was under, that I would not quit working out, like I did 3 times before. The significant factor and key reason that I have yet and never will break this promise that I made to myself is because that night I spent about an hour in a room with nothing but a pencil and a piece of paper. I wrote down every reason why I wanted to change my body, every reason I wanted to commit to exercising, all of my why’s on one piece of paper and this made all the difference.

2. ROUTINE

If you have a routine or fitness plan then you know exactly what days you’re doing what exercises. This allows you to avoid walking into the gym with the confusion of what equipment to use or what movements to perform. I found it much easier to stick to a plan that was set in stone rather than not knowing what body parts you will train until the morning of because it gives you no valid excuse to not go and get work done.

Also there are thousands of free online exercise plans ready for you to use, you may have to do a small amount of research to find which one suits you and your goals the most but the major key is to not spend days trying to find one. Just pick one and stick to it, you can always switch programs if you find one more suitable. It’s a journey of learning about yourself and your capabilities, don’t think you need to know everything before you start. JUST GO AND GET AFTER IT.

3. LIFESTYLE

You must think of going to the gym as a lifestyle. You have to integrate it into your life as something you just do, like waking up, eating food, brushing teeth and going to work/school. There’s no room for excuses, would you ever have a shower and be like “I don’t feel like washing my hair, I’m tired, I’ll just wash it twice as hard tomorrow.” No, using that same excuse for the gym should sound just as ridiculous. When it becomes a normal daily activity that is when success comes as all the fantastic health benefits begin to present themselves.

Let me know your thoughts and if you liked the tips that I feel are so essential to becoming dedicated.

Article Credits: Baran Wannamaker

Millionaire’s Digest Team, Contributor