3 Tips To Help Ensure You Never Skip a Workout Again
Prime your mind for long term commitment
Why do people workout?
At one point or another in our lives, most of us will try working out.
But why do we do so?
Simple. We want to experience the myriad of physical and mental health benefits, that are associated with exercise.
After all, who doesn’t want to look and feel better? I know I sure want to!
But here is the issue…
To truly reap these benefits, you need to be exercising regularly, on a consistent basis.
Doing three weeks of intensive, Olympic level exercise in January isn’t particularly worthwhile, if you follow it up by spending the rest of the year skipping the majority of your workout sessions, in order to stay at home eating chocolate ice cream in front of the TV all day long.
And no, getting up from the couch to walk to the fridge-freezer for a refill of snacks does not count as cardiovascular exercise. I sure wish it do though!
Also, lifting a king-size chocolate bar to your mouth, does not constitute as a bicep curl. Nice try, my friend!
If you are someone who struggles to consistently keep to a program of regular exercise, and you often find yourself skipping workouts, I hope the below tips will be of assistance to you.
These tips aim to help you prime your mind, so that you never again skip a workout session.
I wish you the very best in your fitness journey. It is my sincerest hope that regular and consistent exercise will help you to become happier and healthier, you deserve it!
Tip #1 — Harness neuroplasticity by creating a realistic workout schedule
You first need to decide how many hours per week you are going to be able to schedule for exercise. I personally workout for 5 hours per week.
Don’t set yourself up for failure by choosing a unsustainably high number of hours, be realistic.
Slow and steady wins the race, not fast and inconsistent.
Now, you need to open your calendar, and select the specific dates and times that you will workout in order to achieve your targeted weekly number of hours.
If you take an ad-hoc approach, and don’t schedule specific dates and times, the chances of you achieving your target reduces dramatically. I’m speaking from experience!
It is very easy for ‘I will workout later’, to become ‘I will workout tomorrow’, which in turns transforms into ‘I didn’t workout this week’.
It can be tough at first to keep to a schedule, but over time you will train your brain so that it does not even think about deviating from the schedule.
Eventually, your consistency will cause the neurons in your brain to reorganise themselves, so that keeping to your workout schedule becomes the default position. It will become second nature, like brushing your teeth or eating breakfast.
Your brain will start to forget that skipping workout sessions is even an option!
Tip #2 — Stop comparing yourself to others
Comparing your physique, strength, or rate of progress with those of other gym users is thoroughly counterproductive.
You are not a professional athlete (I assume!), as such you have no need to track the progress of your ‘competition’.
The need to compare yourself with others is a negative compulsion.
There is always going to be someone better than you; they may have a better body, be stronger or may make progress much quicker than you.
In my early days of working out, I frequently compared myself to others. I felt like I worked out harder than any of my gym buddies, but seemed to make the least progress in terms of gaining muscle mass. Because of this, at one point I came close to quitting the gym altogether, out of sheer frustration.
Comparing yourself to others can lead to feeling such as body shame, demotivation, frustration, jealously and disenfranchisement. If you are feeling any of these emotions, you are much more likely to skip workout sessions.
Tip #3 — Be patient, and kind to yourself
Have you heard the old saying that ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’?
You need to internalise this. Remind yourself of it daily.
If you expect to see immediate results from working out, you will be sorely disappointed. If you feel disappointed, you will become demotivated and then the chances of you skipping workout sessions starts to increase.
Please understand that it takes many months, years really, of regular and consistent exercise to start seeing noticeable changes in your physique and performance.
Just put in the hard work, and know that the results will eventually come, as long as you don’t give up.
BONUS TIP — Have Fun!
Believe it or not, your workout sessions should be fun!
If you enjoy your workouts, you are not going to want to skip them.
If you don’t enjoy working out alone, invite your friends to workout with you. The more the merrier!
If you don’t like being in a sterile, air conditioned gym with no natural light, then try joining one of the outdoor gyms that are popping up everywhere.
Don’t take yourself too seriously when working out. Why not try wearing some fun, outlandishly coloured clothes at the gym. Don’t worry about listening to ‘cool’ music, stick on the cheesy 1990’s pop songs that you love.
I am humbled and grateful that you have chosen to spend your time reading my story, especially as there are so many talented writers on this platform.Please know that every clap, response and follow is more appreciated than you can ever know :)
