How to Stay Motivated to Go to the Gym: Full Guide

Staying motivated to go to the gym consistently can be incredibly difficult—especially if you’ve fallen out of your routine. I have personally been going to the gym for the past year and a half and have had many periods where I took a unintentional hiatus and needed some motivation. Without further ado, Here is my guide to how to stay motivated at the Gym!

How Does Motivation Work?

If you are like me, you enjoy knowing the science behind an issue, so here is a brief lesson on motivation! Since motivation is such a large driving force for us, I have split it into 2 categories where I will talk about the brain in both neurological way as well as psychological because in my opinion it’s important to know how both aspects work to get a full grasp!

Neurological

Our brain loves rewards! More specifically the ventral striatum, orbitofrontal cortex, and the mesolimbic dopamine system.

The basic premise of this is that we try to do something, we get rewarded our brain releases dopamine. This cycle repeats very commonly with small tasks like cleaning the house, that feeling when it’s done is the effect of motivation or that dopamine. Dopamine, or more commonly known as the “happy hormone”,

Psychological

Psychology is one of those sciences that is looked down on because it’s a social science until it explains something so perfectly, like motivation!

The main theory for motivation is “The Arousal Theory”. This states a very simple idea, that humans are motivated to retain a stable and optimal level of arousal through optimising anxiety. I go into why anxiety plays a big part and isn't necessarily a bad thing in my other article “The fastest way to Fall Behind; Accept Comfort”

Photo by Ihsan Adityawarman

Step 1 : Figure out your motivation type (Intrinsic vs Extrinsic)

Knowing if you are intrinsically or extrinsically motivated is such a massive game changer when it comes to achieving your fitness goals! The best and simplest way to define these 2 is:

Intrinsic is when you are motivated for its own sake and personal rewards.

Extrinsic is when you are motivated to get a reward or avoid a consequence.

To find out which one you are, look at the past when you were motivated and see if you were motivated because of yourself or a external reward or consequence. There is no “best motivation type” as they have their own benefits.

Step 2 : Figure out the best technique for yourself

There are plenty of techniques for motivation, I have listed 3 for each type of motivation to make sure you get the most out of this article! If you are intrinsically motivated I suggest the below techniques:

Personal Pleasure Maximising

Making the gym as fun as possible for yourself is a great way to keep yourself in routine. To make the gym more fun, you can for example; listen to music. talk to some people that are working out or even only exercise muscles you find fun… although that wouldn’t be the best for you so try to stick to a decent routine but don’t be scared to switch leg day for chest or arms once in a while!

Achievement Tracking

Keeping track of progress is how I got really motivated at the gym! There is many different ways you can keep track; you can take pictures of yourself every week to measure how lean you have gotten alternatively you can use an app that tracks your reps and weight, i highly suggest Lift Off or Caliber! Lift Off is my personal favourite as they will also give you a rank based on how well you are performing compared to the entire community.

Scratching the Curiosity Itch

The gym doesn’t have to involve the same 3 machines and cardio. Experiment with what exercises you like and keep trying new things that involve other ways of exercise! You can do yoga, marathons or even my favourite bouldering! There is no one way to exercise and you should experiment until something is enjoyable.

Whereas for extrinsically motivated people, I highly suggest the below!

Use your Friends

When going to the gym try to find a person or a group of people to go with. This will keep you motivated at the fear of missing out or disappointing them. If you don't know anyone in real life to try this with, join communities online! Try to find people equally as motivated otherwise it might fall apart very quickly since you will be motivated by them… if they don’t go odds are you won’t either.

Provide Rewards

Get yourself a treat every time you go gym, don’t go overboard, make sure to make it small and sustainable for the long run! Some examples include; every 2 days you go get yourself a chocolate bar you like alternatively you can do more difficult goals for bigger rewards like if you go 5 times a week for an entire month you can buy yourself a meal at your favourite restaurant.

Create Consequences

Very simple. Punish yourself for not going. This usually works better if someone can enforce it or you are honest with yourself. You can for example remove access to a console for the day you didn’t go, make yourself go one more day the week coming or even refuse yourself a good snack you have waiting for you at home until you go. These can be very depressing so I only suggest using these if it is a last resort as it can often lead to worsening your mental health and even physical due to heightened stress and low self-esteem.

Step 3 : Trial And Error

This step involves trying different techniques, don’t try one, decide it’s not for you and give up. You started reading this article because you lack motivation to work out. Try a different motivation technique each week until one sticks… also make sure you aren’t making your health worse due to mental stress! Take very deserved breaks and cheat days, you should only work out max 5 days a week if not less!

Step 4 : Prevent Hiatuses

Going from “It’s just one day” to “It’s been 2 weeks…” is very common. Everyone that I have talked to about the gym knows this feeling. When you start it’s easy to continue however when you have took even a day off you will continue procrastinating the start usually because you don’t enjoy it and you are doing it to be in better shape… this is understandable because I was the same!

The best way to prevent this is not take a day off. If you have to take a day off make sure you do go in the next day regardless of how inconvenient it is.

FAQ

Is discipline better than motivation for fitness?

Discipline in my opinion and it’s not even close! Discipline involves doing something you can’t be bothered to do where as motivation tries to make that task seem less annoying / boring. If you are disciplined you will carry on for longer as nothing will get in the way of you working out apart from not being disciplined enough.

How can I get back to the gym after a long break?

The best way to get back into the gym is start slowly and with lowered expectations. It is easy to be discouraged when you took a few weeks off and can’t do the reps you previously were able to. Always assume that you will drop 10% per week you are off just to be safe!

What should I do when I lose motivation to work out?

Keep a written note with your goals in a place you often look. For me I have a paper with my goals for the next year on my fridge because I visit it too often… I suggest also catering your social media to motivational content as well as subscribing to the Crash-Course newsletter!

TL;DR

Remember the first step is always realising the issue, and since you read this article you have already made the biggest step. You should see what type of motivation works best for you and try different techniques to see what sticks!

Don’t be ashamed if you stop many times as it’s completely normal to become demotivated, this is for so many reasons I cannot even list them!

Stay motivated and make sure you care for yourself!

Yours Truly,

Simon