How did you get into the gym habit?

Frumpy2Fit
Frumpy2Fit Posts: 137 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I think the title pretty much says it all. I have been telling myself I need to go to the gym for about....2 years now...and I don't go. How did you finally get into the habit of going?
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Replies

  • Escape_Artist
    Escape_Artist Posts: 1,155 Member
    Well, one morning I looked at myself naked in front of the mirror and decided I had enough of looking that way
    I went to work and on my way back I stopped by the nearest gym and took a membership. I started lifting 3x a week from there, and still do :tongue:
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
    One day I just forced myself to go. I liked it so I kept going. I liked the results, so I went more. I don't know what else to say about it, other than I stopped making excuses and just went.
  • strikerjb007
    strikerjb007 Posts: 443 Member
    I don't... I never did. I work out at home. :p

    Truth is that you will either work out at home or do whatever until you are fed up with looking the way you do. At some point, the excuses will not be enough.
  • BroiledNotFried
    BroiledNotFried Posts: 446 Member
    FIND A GYM THAT IS CLOSE BY.

    FIND A TIME EVERY DAY WHEN YOU CAN GET TO IT. IT HAS TO BE ALMOST THE SAME TIME EVERY DAY.

    i go my clubhouse gym every day at 7:30 a.m., after the first kid gets on his school bus. I work out until 8:15, and then get on with my day. I work from home, so it makes it easier.

    No matter how crazy your day is, you try to make a committment to go to the gym. I tell myself I am going 7 days a week, and then if I make it 5 days a week . .. . we'll I'm still doing great.
  • randomtai
    randomtai Posts: 9,003 Member
    I found a gym that was awesome... that's how I started going.
  • JCM1969
    JCM1969 Posts: 141 Member
    For anything to become a habit... you have to do it first. You just GO.. whether you want to or not. I have NEVER regretted working out... or after a workout thinking.. "Well, THAT was a bad idea". Once you do something for a while (I have heard a month) then it becomes a habit.
  • Salt_Sand_Sun
    Salt_Sand_Sun Posts: 415 Member
    21 days to make or break a habit!!!

    ~Set a realistic goal and challenge yourself. Such as 2x per week.
    ~Find a friend to go with you. Statistic show that you are more apt to go if you fear letting someone down.
    ~ FInd a buddy here on MFP to help motivate you.


    JUST DO IT. "A journey of a 1000 miles begins with one step"
  • seilidhe
    seilidhe Posts: 1,042 Member
    My sister offered to put me on her membership so she'd have someone to motivate her to go. I needed the motivation as well. We started going to a couple of the classes, she stopped going as often, I kept on going... and I added a couple more classes. She quit altogether and I took over my membership. I used to be so sedentary.... still am to a point, especially at work. Never, by any stretch of my imagination, did I ever expect to find myself in a gym so many times in a given week. What on earth is this world coming to?
  • jaxbeck
    jaxbeck Posts: 537 Member
    My husband. He's been going to the gym for about 2 years now. I was always kinda afraid of the gym. All those muscle heads judging me......so I had in my head.
    I also didn't think there was ANY way I could find the time to go. I have 4 kids & have a full time job, after all. So I had it in my head.

    For the last at least 6 months, he has been getting up at 4am to go to the gym before work. After many months of getting fatter, him getting better, and getting woke up by that stupid alarm every morning, I thought, why aren't I going?? I wake up when he wakes up.

    That was it, I told him I want to go. It's been over a month now & I love it. I go 4 days a week first thing in the morning. It's great for me because there aren't a lot of people & I'm in a fantastic mood for the rest of the day :)
  • dcr5452WECHANGED
    dcr5452WECHANGED Posts: 121 Member
    I channelled Yogi Berra and told myself that 90% of it is half mental. Then I realized about 100% of it was 100% mental--and thats it---start out by telling yourself that 10 minutes is 1000X better than nothing and then build on it from there.
  • Chief_Rocka
    Chief_Rocka Posts: 4,710 Member
    The first one was free
  • BooBoo1264
    BooBoo1264 Posts: 164
    You get one or two people to go with you. If you're feeling lazy they can help motivate you to go.

    Once you get in the habit. You just feel almost guilty when you dont go!
  • navyrigger46
    navyrigger46 Posts: 1,301 Member
    I have a lifting buddy, I don't want to let him down, and he doesn't want to let me down. M/W/F at 8:00 PM, no excuses.

    Rigger
  • Frumpy2Fit
    Frumpy2Fit Posts: 137 Member
    Thank you all so much for your advice! I had a feeling it was going to come down to just doing it whether or not I want to, although I was still praying there was some magical thing that happens one day where I become uber motivated and just get to it!
  • mdcoug
    mdcoug Posts: 397 Member
    It's not really a "gym" habit for me, it's more of a routine or a behavior habit. I make myself wake up every morning early and if I'm up early, it's to work out. In order to wake up early, I have to go to bed early. It was just a matter of having a workout plan, going to bed early and then waking up early. I'm almost afraid that I will break the pattern and revert to my old ways, so that keeps me on task too!
  • ginnysaurus
    ginnysaurus Posts: 1
    I found that I really enjoy strength training and so I'll force myself to do 20 minutes on the treadmill at a steep incline, and then reward myself with 40 minutes of weight machines.
  • flamjam
    flamjam Posts: 4 Member
    I signed up for a gym that also included tanning. If I make it the whole week without skipping or cheating I treat myself to a tan. I know it's unhealthy for my body... but it works. Sometimes I don't tan for weeks because I am satisfied with the work I did at the gym. Find something to treat yourself with that isnt food (unless its healthy). Its motivation to go and once you're there you feel great! Good Luck!
  • NoeHead
    NoeHead Posts: 516 Member
    ONE class. I went to spin class and enjoyed it and the same instructor for one of the spin classes did zumba. So I went to spin and zumba. I got approved for PT time 3x a week and it happened that MWF at 430 there was a strength training class. I would change at work, do a mini cardio before strength training and right after there was zumba on MW. MW strength training got cancelled but loved the weight training so i use what I learned from strength training class and do it on my own. THEN the spin/zumba instructor told me about pilates class after one of the spin classes...so now I go to that too.

    So basically because of that one class, I now go to the gym 5-6 days a week for an average of about 1 1/2 hours. Also one of the main things I found helpful was getting to know my classmates so when I wasn't there they'd ask me where I was.
  • james6998
    james6998 Posts: 743 Member
    I think the title pretty much says it all. I have been telling myself I need to go to the gym for about....2 years now...and I don't go. How did you finally get into the habit of going?

    I want you to try something, walk into the gym with the idea you are only staying for 15-20mins tops. Not much of a commitment. Then see how your body feels from that 1 day. Keep in mind, going to the gym doesn't start as a habit. Trust me when the rush of what the gym brings to you and how you feel gets into your blood, its like an infection. Don't make a commitment to the gym, test the waters, take away any stress of being locked into this. What would you rather do, always wished you would have gone at least to see how it feels or experiencing the feeling yourself and knowing if its for you or not. You just have to walk though the door, thats all it takes to start.
  • magbat1819
    magbat1819 Posts: 13 Member
    My husband and I stared together. There are days, like today that I just don't want to get up and go. Oh but I need too.
  • conniemaxwell5
    conniemaxwell5 Posts: 943 Member
    What triggered me to finally do itwas a quote - If it's important to you, you'll find a way. If it's not, you'll find an excuse.

    Now I set the alarm for 4:00 every morning and just go do it. I had been making excuses all my life why I couldn't exercise. Once I broke through that barrier, it was pretty easy after that.
  • gramarye
    gramarye Posts: 586 Member
    I don't go to the gym, but I do walk every night. I found having a goal helps. I spent one week seeing how far/fast I walked on average. The next week, I tried to beat my usual distance. The third, I upped it even further. I find that pushing myself to do better has been very motivating.

    I don't see any reason why that wouldn't work for a gym, e.g. "This week I'm going on Monday and Friday," then doing MWF the next week, or whatever motivates you to keep doing it.
  • alyhuggan
    alyhuggan Posts: 717 Member
    Kept going because I knew being fat wasn't okay anymore. Now I've been going 5-6 days a week for 9 months now and I feel awful on days where I don't go.
  • JamieM8168
    JamieM8168 Posts: 248 Member
    Start going and find something you like to do there...

    I first started going doing personal training 1x/week, then I added in bootcamp so I was going 2x/week. Now I'm up to 5 days/week. 2 personal training, 2 bootcamp and 1 family workout :) I love it
  • ktsimons
    ktsimons Posts: 294 Member
    Thank you all so much for your advice! I had a feeling it was going to come down to just doing it whether or not I want to, although I was still praying there was some magical thing that happens one day where I become uber motivated and just get to it!

    I literally told myself that I only have to do 10 minutes on the eliptical and then if I want I could leave. The magic is that once I got into the gym and did the10 minutes, the realization that this ain't so bad kicks in and an hour and a half later I have completed a full cardio / weight lifting session. BAM - just like that! Even after 8 months I still have to play this silly little game with myself every once in awhile in order to make myself go - LOL...

    Also, don't even think about going without signing up for at least one personal training session...being afraid of not knowing how to do a particular exercise was a HUGE deterrent for me. My Dad, mom and brother are all title holding bodybuilders so I felt really stupid not knowing how to use the weights and machines. I had a trainer for 3 full sessions - yes it was an extra $100.00 for that one week, but then I KNEW I was doing it right. Totally worth every penny.
  • BlueBombers
    BlueBombers Posts: 4,064 Member
    I invensted in a bunch of equipment for my home, now I have no excuse.
  • Salt_Sand_Sun
    Salt_Sand_Sun Posts: 415 Member
    Thank you all so much for your advice! I had a feeling it was going to come down to just doing it whether or not I want to, although I was still praying there was some magical thing that happens one day where I become uber motivated and just get to it!

    Honestly there *IS* a magical thing that happens. Its the day you wake up or the moment you see yourself (in a picture, the mirror, through someone else's eyes) and realize enough is enough. Going to the gym or walking or running or lifting or whathaveyou is pretty much useless if your mind is not fully engaged!!

    YOU have to want it. YOU have to dig deep and find YOUR reason for going. You made the first step my joining MFP and logging in.... so you're already ahead of those still sitting on the couch doing nothing. But we all can tell you why WE workout.... but you have to stop, look at yourelf and find YOUR reason!!
  • Pearsquared
    Pearsquared Posts: 1,656 Member
    For me, it's always the little things that get in my way and cause me to make excuses, so I try to get rid of those.

    First, I always make sure to have clean gym clothes, and I set them up the night before so all I have to do is grab them and go.

    I have a little bag that I keep just for gym stuff, and keep stuff like deodorant, hair ties, and shoes in it 24/7 so I don't have to go hunting for them.

    I create a set time for working out - I say "I will workout at 2:00" instead of "I will work out in the afternoon" or else I'll just put it off.

    I create fun new music playlists that last me the week so I always have something different to listen to.

    I also like to go when a show I like is on tv - I go to a very little gym, so generally I have control of the tv. Or, I bring my iPad and watch something on youtube while I do my cardio. Having a little entertainment helps if you're not feelin' it on a particular day.
  • trisH_7183
    trisH_7183 Posts: 1,486 Member
    I wrote a check knowing I had to go,there are no refunds. After 7-8 wks,still going. Checks keep me honest:bigsmile:
  • ladyark
    ladyark Posts: 1,101 Member
    Decided that it wasent going to change itself. I was not going to wake up thin no matter how much i wished it. Once i started going i enjoyed it. Once i got a trainer i LOVED it. Now i have to be told to take a rest day. The rest is history :)

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