Recently a friend came to me asking for advice.
Last summer she had gone to the gym every single day for 3 months and had made some amazing progress. She wanted to do the same again this summer.
But for some reason, she just couldn’t get motivated.
And it’s at the point now where she’s not going to the gym at all.
She can’t understand what’s going on, because she does want to keep working out and keep improving herself. She knows how good she would feel if she went.
But the thought of actually working out fills her with dread.
Worse still, she feels guilty all the time for not working out when she knows she should.
She's tried to 'switch off' her emotions and 'just do it', but it hasn't worked. She just can't help but "dread" (the actual word she keeps using) her workouts.
So here's what I told her (paraphrased):
Set a rule for yourself that you have to show up.
You have to go to the gym no matter what. But you do not have to work out.
You can walk into the gym, have a shower, get dressed and leave. That's fine.
You may do that every day for a week, but eventually you will want to do a few exercises (even if it's just 'fun' stuff like abs, again, that's fine). And then a few more, and so on.
But for now, all you have to do is keep showing up at the same time every day.
That's it.
Same thing works if you're following a program like Bodyweight365, by the way.
You might not be going to the gym every day, but you can take that 'first step' by simply putting on your work out clothes. Even if you get changed straight out of them, you have to keep taking that first step every single day (at the same time).