If you’ve discovered your favorite pair of skinny jeans doesn’t make you look so skinny, you may be thinking “Hmm…time to go back to the gym.” This is the time of year when even people who hate the gym think about going to the gym. Begin the New Year with a bit of sweating. But if you’re going to join a gym—or returning to the gym after a long vacation you may need a little motivation to get you back again.
Here are 10 tips that my trainer, Mark Lipanski and I put together to help you pack up that gym bag and get back on track. With a little added humor, they all hold points to consider. All are true, some are funny and a few are hard to admit.
1. A gym is not designed to make you feel instantly better about yourself. If a gym wanted to make you feel instantly better about yourself, it would be a mall with lots of sale items that fit.
2. Give yourself a goal and develop a routine. Try to go at least 3 times a week. Maybe you want to lose 10 pounds. Maybe you want to be a cheerleader for the New York Jets. But be warned: Losing 10 pounds is hard.
3. No one in the history of gyms has ever lost a pound while reading “People Magazine” and slowly pedaling a recumbent bicycle.
4. Don’t fall for gimmicks. The only tried-and-true method to lose 10 pounds in 48 hours is food poisoning.
5. Sorry, that’s not a “recovery energy bar with antioxidant dark chocolate.” That’s a chocolate bar.
6. If you’re motivated to buy an expensive home exercise machine, consider a “wooden coat rack.” It costs $40, uses no electricity and does the exact same thing.
7. There’s the yoga instructor everyone loves, and the yoga instructor everyone hates. Memorize who they are.
8. If a gym class is going to be effective, it’s hard. If you’re relaxed and enjoying yourself, you’re at the spa.
9. If you’re at the point where you’ve bought biking shoes for the spinning class, you may as well go ahead and buy an actual bike. Its way more fun and you don’t have to listen to music you don’t like.
10. Fact: Thinking about going to the gym burns between 0 and 0 calories.
Some are funny. Maybe a few you didn’t want to hear. But all are truthful. With or without a gym membership, find some fun ways to get move movement back into your daily routine. Which ones will help you get back to exercising? Please let me know!
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