Men of reddit, how to hit the gym consistently?

24 comments

1. Go every time.

2. Make a time/schedule

   Stick to it if you feel or not

3. You either have the pain of discipline or the pain of regret!
   It’s important to know, you’re not going to have a bad workout, yes it seems very tough because it seems so much.

   Just break it down into small easy tasks,
   1st get changed ✅
   2nd put your shoes on ✅
   pre- workout if needed✅
   3rd get in your car (or public transport or walk)✅
   4th -walk in ✅
   5thdo some stretches ✅
   6th break down each exercise into sets and reps- ✅
   preferably do this before the workout – e.g. for chest, hit bench, incline and pec fly!

   Finito- that’s a sufficient workout- short and sweet, and you won’t regret it!

   Keep it consistent- do the hard work! Especially when you don’t feel like it.

4. Discipline leads to repetition, repetition leads to habit. Find out what time you prefer. Some are first thing in the morning, others prefer evenings. I like going before work, it gets it out of the way and I feel more energetic. Some prefer going after, see what you respond to better. Don’t forget to recover but don’t let it become an excuse to slack off. Good luck

5. Think of it as a job, you have to go.

6. This biggest thing is make a plan that you can follow for the rest of your life. Don’t jump to the deep end a attempt to hit the gym six days a week. Understanding what’s realistic is extremely important!

   The same thing applies with diet too. I’ve trained people who go from eating like crap, to eating only clean food to start their diet. They’ll last for a couple of weeks then fail.

   The biggest thing is to have discipline! Also don’t be afraid of hiring a trainer too!

7. Look up James clear two minute rule

8. Unless you are actually sick or hurt always go. Otherwise there will always be an excuse not to go. I heard somewhere that motivation gets you through the door but discipline makes you come again.

9. Reminder yourself this: “*Progress over perfection.*”

   That means, just go. Don’t think about going too much. If you do, there’s a good chance you’ll find a reason not to go.

   Just schedule it in and then go, no matter how you feel. Only reason to skip is if you feel really sick.

   Not every gym session is going to be great. Some will be shitty and some will be amazing. The point is to be consistent.

   Remember, focus on progress, NOT perfection

10. Get really close.

11. put it into your schedule and stick to the schedule

12. As someone who has started going and given up several times in my life, here is something I can tell you that only another serial procrastinator can tell you. This is a methodical method of developing a habit that worked for me, so maybe it can work for you.

    The first part of the equation is to pick a plan. Your plan should correspond with your goals. For instance for me, I just wanted to lift 2 plates for most of my exercises. I have no delusions of joining a body building club, I just want decent practical strength, be healthier, have more energy, and maybe look thirst trap worthy on Tinder.

    Once you have selected a plan (and don’t worry, you can change it if it doesn’t seem to be working for you, but you should give a plan about a month before you make a judgment), it is now time to start developing the habit.

    The way that worked for me is that during that first session, go EASY. I mean, really really easy. Do just the bar and focus solely on form. And there are a couple of reasons: 1. Bad form will increase your odds of injury as you move up in weight and 2. You need to trick your brain into believing the gym isn’t that bad.

    If you go in and slam on as much weight as you can handle the first session, you will be incredibly sore for 3-5 days, and when you’re finally able to go back to the gym, you won’t want to because it fucking sucked the last time you went.

    But if you knock that shit out and leave within the hour, you’ll feel good and accomplished that you got it done. You won’t mind coming back, because slapping on 2.5-5lbs to the bar doesn’t sound so bad at all. And by the time you get to where it starts to get difficult, you’ll already have installed the habit of going. Don’t make the mistake I did when I first started going. Don’t get self-conscious and feel the need to go heavy.

    If it’s a lifelong commitment, you will get there eventually. There’s no need to go 100mph from the get go.

13. I’ve gotten 4-5 friends hooked onto the gym.

    Here are my number one tips:

    1) Do NOT go to the gym without a plan. None of that shit where you walk into the gym and just wander around and do a bunch of bullshit. “Pulldown machine? Looks good! Bench? Let’s try that. Rows? Sure thing why not” FUCKING STOP. Don’t do that.

    First of all, most new gym goers are usually intimidated by other people/machines/whatever. Second, most people won’t know what to do and feel stupid when they wander around and then start feeling like people are staring at them (nobody’s staring at you).

    So it is VERY IMPORTANT TO HAVE A PLAN.

    There are premade plans all over the internet. There’s Stronglifts, Starting Strength for weightlifting. There’s C25K for running. I’m sure there are others for other goals.

    You should NOT BE TAKING HOURS AND HOURS at the gym as a noob. 45-60 minutes and you should be done. And TRACK YOUR PROGRESS.

    When you just go to the gym and focus on shit you need to do, you won’t care about what other people are diong or feel self conscious. You get there, stretch, hit your first lift. rep out the sets, rest in between. Go to the next lift. … Go for the last lift. Aaaand. You’re done, and now you stretch and go home.

    2) DO NOT GO FOR HEAVY LIFTS. Stick to the program. Start off at ZERO. This isn’t a race. If you look around and think “oh god, everyone thinks I’m weak, let me put a plate on and bench it”.

    1, you *are* weak. 2, you’ll be fucking SORE if you do that and you WON’T COME BACK TO THE GYM. You should NOT FEEL SORE (maybe a little), it’ll make you not want to come back.

    Same thing for other goals. Like running.. you don’t start off trying to run 5 minute miles…. go slow.

    After 4 weeks of this, every single one of my friends just started going on their own. Why? Because you get addicted.

14. set times in the diary, there’s no internal debate or clashes, x o’clock oin Y day is gym time. Dont overdo it. saying you’ll go 6 days a week from the start is a sure way to start skipping days, being to sore and getting injured.

    Get a program. It doesnt have to be the absolute optimal program, pick something simple and maintainable. After a few months you’ll have learnt a lot more about whatr you can do, what you want to achieve, how much time you are willing to commit to it

15. Speaking as a personal trainer. The most important thing is to find a activity that you like. I enjoy training like a old school bodybuilder but that’s my thing. Yours may not even involve the gym. It could be running outside. Just find something you like and you will want to keep at it. If it’s a chore that you hate you will quit.

16. Gotta see it as a change in your lifestyle. I go in the morning every weekday before work, and then Saturday morning. Which means I gotta get up at 4am, which means I gotta sleep early at 8pm for a full 8 hours of rest. Eventually you build up the momentum and easier to maintain your routine. Make adjustments when needed, life happens and it’s best to accept that some days you’ll have to skip. As long as you keep showing up you’re doing great.

17. I drove by the gym once.

18. Make a schedule, force yourself

19. Shia LaBeouf’s advice comes to mind…

20. 1) Make it a habit. It takes 22 – 30 days to form a habit. Go whether you want to or not. The same way you go to work whether you want to or not because you *need* the money. Convince yourself that you *need* to be fit and healthy. Imagine the ghost of Andrew Tate coming to you in the night calling you “a fat, degenerate, pathetic excuse of man” because you didn’t *feel* like going to the gym today. If that doesn’t piss you off, you’re proving him right.

    2)Track your progress. Nothing gives you hope and motivation as much as seeing the fruits of your labour. Whether its your weight, muscle mass or the amount of reps you do.

21. You start to enjoy it eventually and then start feeling like shit if you don’t go for too long a period.

22. How bad do you want the results? If you want them bad enough, you make time for it and make yourself go, no matter what.

23. By going to the gym consistently.

24. You need several things.

    The first is a goal with tangible metrics and a reasonably good idea of how to get there.

    The second is a plan/program. Nothing will kill your motivation to go to the gym if you have no idea what you’ll do when you get there.

    This leads into the third. If you have a program that has to be done in a certain order, then you can constantly remind yourself that you have to get X specific thing done. So you can realistically tell yourself that you HAVE to go or you’ll fuck up your program order.

    Nice to have: a workout partner. Someone you train with, ideally a friend you like/respect. I train powerlifting 4 times a week, I do that on my own because I love it. But I also train boxing the other days – which I don’t enjoy nearly as much – and the only reason I can make it consistently is because one of my close friends is goes on the same days. Knowing someone is counting on you is a big motivator.