I can’t force myself to go in for sports and finally go to the gym. What should I do? How about a familiar question? Of course, yes, because both you and I have asked it to ourselves more than once. Let’s try to act according to a simple scheme — 5 simple steps and 3 professional tips should eventually lead us to training.
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It’s already the twenty-fifth Monday, from which you promised yourself to start a new life. Even cleaning out the closet seems like a more exciting idea than going to the gym.
No, of course you want a perfect body and good health. Just between this goal and you is a deep ditch, filled to the brim with laziness. How to get over to the other side and still force yourself to go to the gym? We have specific advice.
Set clear goals
Doing sports “for health” or “for weight loss” is great. It’s just that we don’t see an incentive behind a common phrase, which means we start to get lazy much faster.
Let’s add specifics! Lose weight — how many kg? Get muscle relief — where exactly? If we are talking about health problems, what exactly needs to be fixed?
Think carefully about your goal and fix it. You can write it on a piece of paper, which will always be in front of your eyes. A great idea is to tell your friends about the goal, who, if something happens, will not hesitate to check you.
Connect with those who inspire you
Look around: are there people in your social circle who are really passionate about sports? If you have, grab this opportunity to motivate yourself!
A friend who shows off beautiful muscles whenever possible. A perpetually upbeat co-worker who praises her morning yoga. We need these people! They will regularly push us to think: “I can do it too!”
A real live example in front of your eyes works much better than any recommendations from a nutritionist or doctor.
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Formulate a real benefit
Many of us make the mistake of viewing sports as an enjoyable but not required hobby. But what if you use a business approach? Treat the gym as a must-have investment!
Spend an hour a day now on maintaining shape and health — or in a dozen years to understand that the moment has been lost and now you have to “rake up” the consequences? If you think carefully, the answer becomes obvious.
Clearly formulate for yourself what real benefits you will get from sports now and in the future. You can even write down all the good things that training can bring to the points, and regularly look at this list when laziness takes over.
Turn it into a ritual
A well-known fact from psychology: a person is much easier to perform a routine, the skill of which has been fixed for years. For visits to the gym to become a healthy habit, they need to acquire rituals.
First of all, decide on the time and days of the visit. It is advisable to build a regular schedule. The next step is to gradually bring yourself to the idea that training is an obligatory part of the day.
For example, learn to pack your bag to the gym in the evening. Come up with a pleasant ritual that will be associated with training and create anticipation. It will be different for everyone, from their favorite song in the player to meeting a friend who lives near the sports club.
Find yours
To force yourself to go in for sports — to force it — is almost unrealistic. It is difficult to negotiate with a guard armed with a stick and not comply with his requirements. And with yourself, loved ones, you can always agree. Wrong weather, bad mood, tired at work — and now you have decided that the gym is being postponed.
Therefore, in order to avoid the need to “persuade” yourself, it is very important to find your sport. That’s right, with a capital letter — after all, we are talking about something more than training for the body. Your sport should suit your psychotype, character, lifestyle.
Let’s admit it right away: a rare lucky person hits the mark the first time. To decide, you will have to try different things — but there is nothing wrong with that when you are on the way to the right goal!
If sports training seems boring or even unpleasant, it probably just doesn’t fit. But there are dozens of others that will enter your life like the missing piece of the puzzle, bringing harmony and joy.
In a word, find a sport that will cause anticipation, and not bouts of laziness and self-flagellation — then motivation will become many times more effective!
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Three tips from an expert
If you still don’t know where to start, start with a professional opinion! Ian Ayres, an economist and professor at Yale Law School, has devoted his entire life to analyzing successful motivational techniques.
Here are 3 tips from him on how to force yourself to go to the gym:
- Turn sport into a money contract. This method is used by many large corporations to motivate employees.
“If money comes into play, people will try at least twice as hard as if we only appeal to their willpower,” Ayres says.
In sports, you can use monetary motivation in different ways. The easiest option is to buy a subscription for a month or even a year in advance with a limited number of classes that can “burn out”. An equally effective method is a cash bet with friends. This method also uses another good motivation that we talked about — it will help you set a specific goal.
- Find support. Volunteer studies have shown that people who started attending training, receiving support from friends or loved ones, achieved better results and worked out much more diligently.
A great idea is to sign up for a gym with a friend or girlfriend. If this is not possible, just find a person in your circle of loved ones who will become your motivator — will admire and praise for success, and most importantly — will listen with pleasure about your sporting achievements.
- Make motivation personal. Nobody knows you better than yourself. Dig deeper into yourself and find what works.
Ayres gives a rather unappetizing example: a British woman who wanted to lose weight urgently ordered a dummy piece of human fat for her kitchen. I installed it in front of the refrigerator. Sounds gross? Yes. Effective? Oh yes, it worked out great for her. What will work in yours, you know best!
As you can see, there are a lot of ways to motivate yourself to go to the gym. Remember: the main thing you already have is the desire to work and make yourself even better, even more ideal. And from desire to intention — one step!
And pay special attention to the neck. If you do not knead it well and start exercising, you can get injured that is incompatible with sports. Don’t want to turn yourself away from home workouts? Then perform this set of exercises for the neck:
Try to use our advice — and the long-awaited motivation will certainly appear. We believe in you!
