Finding gym motivation can be hard, but these are the ways I do.
Lately, I have been struggling to find motivation to go to the gym. Sometimes, there are days where I don’t want to go and even end up not going. But, I’ve learned that rest days are important and that forcing myself to go is not productive for me. With time, I have learned ways to motivate myself and how to build a healthy gym schedule.
As I said, rest days are important, and I realized that on the days I was forcing myself to go, I was making the gym seem like a negative atmosphere, which just led me feeling unmotivated and resentful of the gym. Over the summer, I was on a continuous streak of going to the gym once every day. Towards the end of summer, however, I found going to the gym to be a task and something I never wanted to do. Eventually, I stopped. However, not going was really bad for my mental health and made me feel terrible about myself. It was really tough and made me feel super unmotivated about a lot of things.
One thing I learned from this experience that was essential to making me feel motivated again is that the gym is not always the answer. There are other things you can do to stay active that don’t involve going to the gym. I started to go on walks in the evening after work, or sometimes I would do a quick at-home work out. Sometimes, I would make my brother play soccer with me in our backyard or go on bike rides. These things used to seem silly, but at the end of the day, they are also forms of exercise that get you moving. An important thing to remember is that the gym is not the only place you can get exercise, and it is good to switch up your routine. I had a constant routine of working about 40 hours a week and doing an online class, and I think adding a daily gym session made each day seem so boring and structured. When I began to do new things, I didn’t really have the intention that I was doing them to work out but more that I was doing it for myself to make my day more interesting.
Not going to the gym is not the end of the world. It is important to remember that you are doing what you are capable of, and breaks are okay.