Sometimes, after a long, stressful day, you just want to go home and not move until it’s time for bed. The last thing you want to do is work out after work. What can you do when you feel the laziness coming on and you just don’t feel like working out after work? Give a few of these ideas a try!
1. Open up your schedule. If you find yourself wanting to skip the gym because you are stressing about everything you have to do when you get home, ask for a little help. Have your significant other agree to prepare a healthy dinner, help the kids with homework or with anything else you may want to rush home to do. If you’re on your own, spend a little extra time in the morning or the night before to eliminate as many of your right-after-work responsibilities as possible.
2. Go to the gym immediately after work. Don’t stop at home to change or grab your stuff first. The more chances you give yourself to not go, the more likely you are to opt out, so pack a bag and go right after work. In fact…
3. Change into your workout clothes before you leave the office. Get as close to ready as possible before you go. If you have already put in a little effort and are all ready to go, you are less likely to change your mind.
4. Get cute. This works for every trip to the gym, but don’t just schlep it in holey sweats and an over-sized tee. Get dressed up in cute workout clothes you feel confident in, and you won’t be able to wait to squat your stuff.
5. Rock out in your car. Play the song on your workout playlist that motivates you during your workout to push through that last mile, and crank it up high. The music will get you into that push-it-hard mind frame and get you excited to hit the gym.
6. Leave motivators in your car. Find a mantra that speaks to you, and put it somewhere in your car where you will see it. Just not anywhere that will make you crash, like the rearview mirror.
7. Make your commute your workout. Instead of driving to work, then wrestling with driving to the gym afterward, turn your commute into your workout instead. Ride your bike, run or walk to and from the office to burn calories instead of gas.
8. Remind yourself of how great you will feel afterward. Exercise is a great stress reliever. If you want to skip the gym because your work day was particularly stressful and you just want to collapse onto the couch with a bottle of wine, remember 1) the guilt you will feel for having skipped, and 2) how great you feel after a sweaty workout. After a good workout after work, write down how amazing you feel, and read it every time you feel like skipping. Your own words are the best motivator, but sometimes it can be hard to remember how that feels.
9. Have a coworker hold you accountable. Work is a weird atmosphere because it forces you to spend more time with strangers than you do your own family sometimes. Take advantage of that daily interaction by asking a coworker to check in with you every morning to ask if you made it to the gym the night before. You don’t want to tell them no, and you don’t want to lie, so just do it.
10. Let’s make a deal. Just getting through the door is usually the hardest part. On days I just don’t feel like it, I’ll make a deal with myself. Just go, and after 10 minutes if you want to leave, you can. Ninety-nine percent of the time, once I’m there, I won’t want to leave.
Leave a Reply