8 Ways to Maintain Gym Consistency
- Sheterria Sparks
- Nov 7, 2022
- 10 min read
Updated: Jun 13, 2025
“I’ll just go tomorrow, really early” are the words I told myself for nearly a year in regards to hauling ass to the gym that was less than ten minutes from my house. I either had too much homework, an event to attend, or some other mundane task that just had to be put before moving my body a little bit that day. Of course, this didn’t bother me because my excuses felt valid. But what happened when I made sure to do my homework early in the day or had no plans in the evening? I still didn’t go. Now, I had to feed my dog, or make dinner, or make it to a certain store just to get that one thing I really needed before they closed. So yes, the gym could wait, again. In the time I put it off, I finally realized I’d never run out of excuses for why I should be able to stay home. When I finally decided to make a change in my life it was far from easy, but these eight methods made it possible:
Avoid Deadlines
One of the biggest contributors to gym avoidance is not seeing instant, specific results. As humans living in the age of increased social media validation, it's become the norm to seek the most aesthetically pleasing version of everything imaginable down to our breakfast. So when you have a beach trip planned, it's almost instinctive for many people to become conscious of what their body will look like in those tropical waters or in that skin tight dress for a night out. Wanting perfection for a vacation or a large event often leads people to turn to fitness plans that are meant to give them results fast. However, the healthy dosage of time spent at the gym per day does not yield fat loss. I repeat: gym =/= fat loss. Fat loss comes from eating in a caloric deficit, so you’d need to eat less calories than you’re burning. The average person needs to burn 3500 calories in order to lose one pound of fat. So sure, you can run that off on the treadmill for about…5 hours a day. Then follow that up by eating lettuce for all of your meals to lose that extra 15 pounds in two weeks. But you’d probably feel lots of misery and be two steps from death's door by the time your flight lands. So don’t try it. Gyms are designed to help you reach a human's basic needs of 60 minutes of body movement per day—NOT to give you a beach ready body in a week. In order to stay consistent you must pace yourself and walk in with no expectations. After every workout, it's important to ask, "Can I come back and do this tomorrow? Next week too?" If the answer is no, you need to slow the rigor in your work and appreciate where you are today. The way you’ll feel after going to the gym consistently for a month is a million times better than how you’d feel after a few cute vacay pics.
Make Mondays Mandatory
Never miss the first day of the week. As work systems have developed, we aren’t all working Monday through Friday for eight hours in one space anymore. Your week could start on Tuesday at 3pm or Sunday at midnight, who knows. But whatever day you consider the “starting point” for the week should also be a day you get your best workout in. Why is this? You have to go into the week strong in order to finish strong as well and in turn, stay consistent with your practices. Getting in the gym before your first official day of the week or the night of can feel like the perfect kickstart to your success for the week. You’ll be ready to get in the office and aim high or mindfully navigate daily conversations just a little better. This day is always the hardest so if it starts great, the tone is set for the tasks ahead!
Develop An Alter Ego
As a woman who found a way to play sick on the day of every pacer test in PE class growing up, the vision I crafted in my head of an “active woman” was one I never associated myself with. I couldn’t picture running for over 45 seconds without breathing heavily, or attending a CrossFit session without puking! So even when I would leave my gym clothes out the night before or wrote out a full workout plan in my notes, there was something psychologically programmed in my brain that always thought I wouldn’t make it to the end of the week. It just did not fit my persona to be a fit person. But I knew it was someone else's. I woke up for the gym a bit early one day and pulled out my notes to make a small biography for a woman named Naomi: a 24 year old pilates instructor with a background in martial arts. She'd been a competitive swimmer since she was eight years old and went to the junior olympics twice in high school. She also registered for 5K races for fun on the weekends to maintain her speed that broke every cross country record in her college's history. Basically, Naomi eat, sleeps, and breathes fitness. When I got out of my car, I was still SheTerria but when I walked through the gym doors, I was Naomi and I could do any workout. Will it be easy? Absolutely not. But will I be confident that I can give my best effort up until the end? 100%. As a few days passed, I felt more like Naomi without even trying. After a few weeks, she became irrelevant. Naomi was just a figment of my imagination that embodied a small part of me that needed growth and consistency. Instead of being intimidated by women like her, I chose to embrace her and reflect those traits onto myself with a shift in mindset. Though my alter ego faded with time, I'd never have made it to this moment without utilizing it. What qualities could you give your alter ego to help you out in the gym?
"Set benchmarks for yourself...personal goals for a certain amount of time helps keep up the momentum because you want to exceed them. You should always give yourself at least a week or 2 to hit a certain weight or a certain rep and build to that every time you workout until you hit it in that time frame. it’s also very important to stay precise and within your range so you don’t over do anything and hurt yourself."
- Mabinty, 9 years of training.
Offer Incentives
Offering yourself incentives is one of the most effective ways to stay consistent if you tend to be impatient or have a hard time being motivated by the health benefits of working out alone. It's important to make sure the incentives you are offering yourself do not hinder your health progress in any way. No, you do not need to give yourself an extra thirty minutes on socials because it'll keep you up later. And you definitely don't need an extra serving of ice cream before bed because it'll just make your workout harder tomorrow. These incentives work best when they come from your H.S.W. list. What is "H.S.W." you ask? It's a simple way to organize your priorities, especially for people who often feel overwhelmed with daily activities and never feel like they have enough hours in the day. A.K.A...um, everyone in a capitalist society. The "H" is for things you have to do in order to stay aligned with the goals you set out for yourself or to simply survive, like work on assignments or drink enough water. "S" is for things you should do in order to become a better version of yourself and reduce stress in your life, perhaps it's organizing your clothes for the week so you aren't rushing to work with seconds to spare. The "W" is for things you want to do for your own pleasure that may put you in a better mental state; this may be reading one book a week or teaching yourself a new language. Chances are if you don't already have a physical H.S.W. list, you definitely make a mental one everyday. Take note of the contents on this list and start to make more time for those W's when you can. Perhaps when you leave the gym, you could set reminders to spend 30 minutes on DuoLingo working on your Italian. If this additional time you're now spending at the gym is cutting into time for those wants, shorten time at the gym: it is perfectly okay! Even if it makes your workout shorter, you'll feel better doing it knowing you have something to look forward to.
"My one tip would be setting a schedule and really sticking to it...that’s how you create a habit. If you go when you don’t want to that is when it will stick to the point where you know you need to go no matter what."
- Moriah, 4 years of training
Replace Numbers with UF
If you are new to working out, there's a good chance that with the help of technology--or a fit person nice enough to lend you their routine--you are following a specified workout. Something along the lines of "do this for x amount of time" or "x amount of reps". I realized early on in my journey to improve my core strength that trying to count out 30 butterfly kicks or minute long planks would be the death of me if I kept that up longer than three days. By the end of that week, I felt so discouraged while doing this circuit and realized I wouldn't keep it up much longer. I realized a workout made by a fitness advocate wouldn't work for me because that wasn't me yet. I had to meet myself exactly where I was in that moment, which is when I started "UF" or "Until Failure" exercise. I did all the same workouts but I stopped as soon as my body was ready to. No timers, no counts, just me listening to my muscles. It's exhilarating to see how far your body can go when you eliminate imaginary limitations. My new limitations were shaking muscles, a warming torso, and dripping sweat. By the time six weeks passed, I realized I could go even longer than the original workout suggested me to. Listening to your body will always lead to the perfect workout for you.
Be Self Centered
Everyone knows the two major benefits of going to the gym: getting fit and improving your health. But these aren't enough to make the whole world show up. Most people have to feel a sense of individuality in order to achieve anything that must be done alone, which is why making a list of clear, personalized reasons why you should go to the gym is a major part of staying consistent--like being active with your children or getting better at dancing, there are endless reasons to get fit. When finding your reason, play with the opposite theory and ask: "What would happen if fitness is not important at all? What are all the reasons I shouldn't work out?" Unlike generalized motivation videos meant for everyone, this method works with those that lack surface level motivation. The mind will do the work to come up with specific reasons why you shouldn't, then the body naturally wants to do the opposite. What's a reason you shouldn't get fit?
"My tip is to go ESPECIALLY when you don’t feel like going! I learned that doing this sets you apart from WANTING to be great versus BEING great....and always take before pictures! The smallest changes to your body can only be seen with pics and they’ll end up being a huge motivation."
- Kylah, 6 years of training
Get Organized
No matter how much of a free mind you think you have, your body is still a product of habit. Without an organized lifestyle, it is nearly impossible to stay consistent--even if your mind is set on it. Sleeping in two-three days a week, waking up and eating healthy one day and completely garbage the next, procrastinating projects and assignments until the last day to the point you have heightened stress one or two days a week: these are all things that throw your bodily organization off. It is much easier to get your body to do something when you do it daily at the same time. If you haven't even organized the tasks on your plate right now, it will be difficult to add more. The best schedule consists of eating, sleeping, and working at the same time everyday (even weekends in the beginning). If that sounds impossible ask yourself did you get this far in life by containing your energy in the realm of what was deemed "possible"? The easiest way to conquer the impossible is chunking into smaller parts. Start with one week of waking up at the same time everyday. Then add on meals at the same time. Then bring in independent work and study times. Always leave an hour out of your day to complete random errands or just to have a little down time without a single responsibility--not even answering the phone. Once you've built up this foundation for yourself, now you can add in some lifting or treadmill time. Thinking you can add layers onto an already crumbling cake is one of the biggest setbacks in fitness and in life. Get your shit together to get your shit together.
"My workout tip for is to set realistic goals for yourself and shy away from being so result focused but to fall in love with the process. Sometimes i think i get so focused on the results that when I don’t see them overnight or at the rate that i want to see them then I’ll get discouraged and stop going to the gym, but if you try to respect or fall in love with the grind the results will come quicker than you think! Consistency is key"
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