Planning and Gym Time
Whether your goal is to hit the gym after work or simply a long day, I’m sure you can attest to the fact that the mental game is the toughest challenge of all.
It becomes especially challenging when you have errands come up liking getting groceries, hitting the bank or picking up kids from the school and hence why it’s so important to plan out your week on the weekends.
The easy mindset is to start thinking during the week what you need to get done on the weekend and have meal plans organized, but let’s get into the 10 tips to make sure this is a foolproof strategy…
10 Tips for Getting Your Butt to the Gym After Work
1. Eat Breakfast – It’s an old rule, but it’s really important in this instance. You need to keep your blood glucose levels stable, as well as conserve your glycogen stores over the course of the day. So eat a solid breakfast. Need quick and fat-burning breakfast ideas? Check out my article – Burn More Calories Breakfast Ideas.
2. Don’t Overdo Lunch – Make sure you eat a healthy lunch as well, but don’t overeat. Overeating of any kind will still cause your blood glucose to spike, and that means you’ll experience a drop in energy shortly before the time you should be going to the gym. I’ve made it easy for you with a grocery list & Abs Diet Healthy Lunch Ideas article.
3. Snack Healthy – You also want to snack throughout the day in order to meet these same nutritional goals. Get the right stuff in your snacks, like protein, complex carbohydrates, and vitamin-packed veggies. Of course I have a few articles on healthy snack ideas but this one is one of the most popular ones – Healthy Snacks for Weight Loss.
4. Decorate Your Office with Your Fitness Goals – I don’t mean you should cover the walls with them, but make sure you keep a photo or two visible throughout your day, or even a motivational quote on the wall. These are simple reminders that will plant the seeds of conscience motivation and my Pinterest page is full of beautiful images with motivational quotes.
5. Schedule Your Workouts – Take advantage of your calendar app on your mobile device, and schedule your daily workouts. This is a great way to keep yourself on track and make you feel committed to your schedule. Here’s another tips, 30 minutes before your workout have a banana and a pre-workout drink like ENGN PreWorkout. Having this as part of your schedule will put the nutritional component in check.
6. Find a Co-Worker to Join You – Having a friend to work out with is an amazing source of motivation. If you find a co-worker to join you at the gym after work, it will be harder to make excuses.
7. Change Into Your Gear Before You Leave Work – This is one of the best tricks for staying motivated after work. Once you’ve changed, you’re way less likely to change your mind on your way home.
8. Don’t Take Your Work Stuff With You – If you can, leave your work stuff at the office and just take your gym bag to the gym. This isn’t possible for everyone, but it’s another great way to prevent yourself from skipping out.
9. Set the Bar Low – If you really hate it, try focusing on just getting yourself to the gym rather than spending any set amount of time there. This will take some of the pressure off. If you can only knock out 20 minutes after a particularly busy day, it’s still better than nothing.
10. Motivate Yourself with Rewards – Setting up your own reward system is helpful for any kind of motivation. When it comes to working out after work, try motivating yourself with a favorite snack when you get home, or a glass of wine with dinner. These simple things can be really motivating after a long day and will reduce the mental resistance that trips us all up.
Have any feedback about these 10 Ways to Motivate Yourself to Hit the Gym After Work? Please leave a comment below…
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Thank you for visiting! Weight Loss and Training is a health blog which features all the best weight loss tips that I have learned over my 20 years of training. My background includes a degree in Kinesiology from the world renown Simon Fraser University, certification in nutritional sciences from UBC, and Personal Trainer Specialist certification from Can Fit Pro.
I totally agree with finding a co-worker or a friend to workout with. Humans naturally perform better when working out with someone rather than by yourself. as if we were competing against each other. Plus, it’s much more fun and motivating!
I totally agree with having a co-worker to workout with you. It’s not really necessary to have a co-worker, but as long as there is someone who can go with you in the gym is great. Having someone to share workout will motivate you to commit more in working out. It will also make you feel like the load in your shoulders are being lifted by half. It makes everything much easier and bearable!
I am having second thoughts in reward system though. Sometimes it’s the cause why we’re gaining more weight than losing it, especially if we have food as a reward system. We tend to overeat because we thought we already lose some fats. I think it will work great though if we have a reward system other than foods.