How can you motivate yourself to keep going to the gym !!?

Question

I have forked out about £300 memebership fee last year + £50pcm
and only went about 15 times for the whole year -what stunning value !!! I have since cancelled. Whilst I have felt the benefits of excercise - it's just that it is so boring !! and maintaing a regime can be really difficult. Any ideas out there? or does anyone know of any pay-as-you gyms within the London area? I think MOTIVATION must be the key problem here!

Answer 1

Daredevil! A great name....but no motivation to go to the gym?
Well if you can fork out 300 Pounds for everything you wanted to do, but didn't have the motivation to continue...I would then have to think you are very rich or very stupid, and I don't think you are stupid or rich!

As a manager of a well known fitness center in Las Vegas, I have this happen allot. Why? Well, if one of my fitness trainers tells me ahead of time, or I hear it, I will call the customer in and talk them out of it. Most quit because they see no gains. Well, gains take a while, and some people need a fitness trainer to guide them for a while until they see the gains and then let them go on their own. If a fitness center/gym is boring...I am sorry, at my place we play a mixture of cool motivation music, TV for the people on the cardio machines, health bar, etc. I started 18 years ago working out in a cold damp basement gym/boxing ring....no music, no TV, no health bar, no GIRLS, just a bunch of A Type guys competing on who is the biggest, meanest, etc., etc.

You have to ask yourself what are my goals? What level of fitness do I want to achieve, and the training techniques to accomplish my goal.

I can't answer on pay as you go gyms, but you put out allot of money for some gym owner just to put in his pocket. My fitness trainers get paid on their level of experience and customers; I get a bonus on how many customers we have, so every fitness center/gym may have a different goal although many would like to have your money, and you not come and use the facility...then guess who won!!!!!!

Re-evaluate your fitness goals. Get a training workout book (you can make one using Excel). Once you know your goal, get professional advise on how to get there, and boom...start doing your thing!

Daredevil! Come on brother, your suppose to be muscular, strong, flexible, and motivated.........don't disappoint me!

If you tell me what your goals are, your current age, weight, height, etc., I may be able to get you going on the right path to a great fitness plan.

Answer 2

Remember: Motivation FOLLOWS action, not the other way around. For some reason, maybe the wrong regiment/diet, you're not seeing the results you expected. Change your workout to strengthen different parts of the body, from one day to the next, to relieve the boredom AND to allow for proper rest of those muscles in between.. Mix up your workout to suit your mood: aerobics or resistance training. Make certain you workout when it suits you most, for a shorter period of time than you were doing. Soon you will be "addicted" and won't be able to go more than a week without a workout; you'll know by how you feel. Most get crabby and edgy without the workout fix and will let nothing stand in the way once it is programmed into you. Last, is the gym "nice" to be in?? Is there the proper mix of motivated people?

Answer 3

Hi,
Firstly motivation is really the only thing you need at the gym... try working out in front of a mirror.
Rather than do a pay as you go gym or a 12 month min contract private chain, a lot of local councils run equally good gyms in the boroughs. As they are councils run there are no minimum contracts. I paid a joining fee of just £20 and £40 a month for full membership thereon.. These gyms obviously compete with the big chains, so their standard of quality are really high for what you pay.

Answer 4

God, I have the same problem. I pay as I go, which isn't too bad, but I'm not in London, so I wouldn't know where would be good. The gym is terrible, I sometimes get in there ready for mass workout, only to find myself leaving again 30 mins later. I have tried swimming, but all the hassle of getting to the pool and then changing and that meant I stopped that too. But yeah, motivation is my key problem also! xx

Answer 5

It is really hard to be motivated at first. What you should do is try bringing a friend along. It's more fun if you go with a friend. If not, make sure you bring headphones to either watch the TVs in there or listen to the radio or listen to your own music. When I go to the gym I read a newspaper or magazine. After a while it will become a habit and you will get strangely addicted to going to the gym.

Answer 6

You need either a work-out partner, personal trainer or to convince yourself that you, are you're own competition.

Think of it like this, try to imagine an imaginary person there with you... and you must always work harder and long than him.

Or here's a morbid thought. Everyone you love in life is dead, and it's only you, and the world has collapsed and it's the strong that survive... or at least, this is coming to the world really soon. You are getting yourself in the best shape of your life, ready and prepared for war as I said, only the strong survive.

Choke on that one Frank.

Answer 7

The best thing you could do is go with a friend. I joined a gym 3 weeks ago, to be honest i don't mind going on my own. The cheapest way to do it is join a council run gym. I go to one in Hertfordshire, its £35.00 per month gold membership and thats unlimited use. Its not a contract so if you decide after the first month you don't want to go back theres no obligation.

Answer 8

Why dont you jus go walking?? its free and if you dont go you dont feel cheated after paying so much money!!! And think of all the fresh air your getting!!

I have a short walk and a long walk which i try to do 5 nights a week.. if im fellig lazy ill do a short one and if im feeling good a long one!! I motivate myself be thinkin how good ill look on the dance floow on saturday night!!!

Play some tunes too!! they make you walk faster!!!

Answer 9

been going to the gym regularly for 3.5 years now - its easy enough to keep motivated, although a cold knocked me back recently, the local council has its own gym, and that's about £26 per month - the gym can be boring, I prefer to hit the weights quickly and stay no longer than about 40Min's.
(15Min's on stepper, etc - then the rest on weights, eg: curls/bench press/crossover/pecdeck)

Answer 10

You've hit the crux of the problems with gyms.

They are souless unnatural places. If you have to conciously have motivation to go there its hardly going to work.

Whats wrong with the great outdoors, far more stimulating a place to get exercise, even in a city.

And, don't tell anyone, its free