Get in and stay in

Staying in the gym is not the easiest thing to do. Ask your personal trainer, gym manager, the bodybuilder or the power lifter. Most addictions such as smoking, alcohol consumption or drugs become lifestyles in the blink of an eye. You can just engage in them a couple of times in a week and you are hooked. I’m sure most students can testify to this!

Unfortunately the same principle does not apply to exercise. Some say, signing the gym contract is the one easy thing about gym. From there it’s an uphill battle to make it a habit, then an addiction and then a lifestyle. So what does one need to know to ensure it becomes a lifestyle? Well for one, a person’s motivation can make the uphill battle a great deal easier.  But what motivates one to continue exercising? Picture or visualize your perfect body every day before bed, and just before your workout. Make sure you have incorporated exercises into your workout that you actually enjoy, remember you don’t have to run on a treadmill, or sit on a bike. You can join a sports club (Kung Fu, Squash etc) and use that for your fitness requirements.

Secondly, find a gym partner who you can gym with, who would certainly help you through your tough routines, and sets. Who can push and motivate you. The gym partner/buddy is a good step towards creating a habit of your gym routine. In addition make sure that the program that you are on is legit and at the right intensity for your specific goal.  Programs are one of the factors that determine the nature of your gym experience.

Thirdly, incorporate the gym program with a log were you track your progress.  This is a great motivational tool that will keep you going when times are tough. It’s also important to be honest when logging your progress so as not to create any illusions of where you are at. Diarizing the progress will make the whole journey fulfilling as you look back with nostalgia. This will fill you with intrinsic rewards.

In addition to the tracking your progress you will find it useful to set some goals. Make sure you are not over ambitious with the goals. Set realistic, challenging and exciting goals.  Set what psychologists call distal goals. These are goals that have six weeks timeline. According to them it’s a good timeline as it’s not too long and not too short. These are just some of the tools that you can use to conquer the hill, to making exercise a lifestyle.  

So remember it’s never easy, but that’s what makes it so rewarding. When you ultimately accomplish the goals you set yourself whether big or small, you will always feel good and it should also lead to the desire to accomplish more goals.

And So, in the words of I don’t know whoYoda: “may the force be with you”.