How do you guys stay motivated to go to the gym?

I cancelled my gym membership - the time and effort to go to the gym was an obstacle. Instead, I exercise at home with free youtube fitness videos in the morning. I found a few videos that I really liked, and just kept repeating them until I got used to exercising. I've been working out 4-5 times a week since last September. It's become automatic and I don't even think about it anymore.

I focus on how I feel after I work out, which is almost always good and better than I felt before going. That way it works like a positive feedback loop, rather than focusing on what I don’t like about going to the gym. I also make workout bargains with myself. Like if I really don’t feel like putting in the full effort or I just can’t get in the right mind space for working out, I only do the exercises I like best and call it good for the day. You have to find what you enjoy and focus on that so working out doesn’t become a chore.

In less abstract terms, I also make my gym trip as easy as possible by keeping my gym bag prepped and in the car all the time or sleeping in my workout clothes so I am ready to go in the morning, making sure I get enough sleep so I’m not too tired to work out, and keeping snacks on hand for easy fuel before or after my workout.

I race bikes and lift. The former competitively, the latter is new for me so perhaps in the future. Combination of a few things for me:

1) Enjoy it. I enjoy the process of getting better at these things, working on technical aspects, thinking about my training, etc. I also have taught me self to enjoy the feeling of working hard and pushing, even if it is painful at the time. A perverse enjoyment if you will

If you can get yourself to embrace the process and not think of the activity as "work" but rather something you want to do that goes a long way. Going to the gym or ride the bike to train are usually activities that I wake up excited and ready to go do, and find myself thinking about how much I want to be doing them at work or school.

2) Performance - I'm a big fan of performance goals. Try to run improve your 400m, mile, 5k, or marathon time, watts on the bike, or numbers on your squat/bench/dead. This gives concrete, empirical evidence that your getting better and hitting new PRs is a great feeling. For me at least, having a "get leaner" or "build my chest and back up" are nebulous and not especially motivating. YMMV

3) Take a moment to remember that you've never regretted doing a workout after you finished it.

4) Plan your day (to an extent) around your workouts. Obviously, priorities come first, but if you're serious about it it shouldn't be far off having a kid at a daycare....if the daycare closes at 6...you're not going to show up at 6:30 or skip out. Not to mention with that planned and scheduled from the start, it's a little harder to dip out.

5) Get friends into it. That isn't for everyone, but it's great if you get a group of people together. For obvious reasons you're less likely to ditch the group. If you prefer to work alone or are more efficient that way, this particular one might not be for you.

6) Think about why you're not going to the gym. Usually it's because you're not finding it enjoyable, or it's too hard; or a combination of both. Then try to reframe that. Don't think of hard work as being this brutal grind. Embrace how that feels and enjoy the mental aspect of pushing your body to new highs. Same for the enjoyment part. Doing rowing and hating it? Try something else, perhaps cycling or elliptical. Bodybuilding splits not doing it for you? Try powerlifting, olympic lifting, or Xfit. When you find something that clicks most with you, stick to it.

Just my $0.02...errr....$10.00