How to get motivated to go to the gym?

Maybe just aren't a gym person. Or a machines person.

If you want to do strength training, you might check out Crossfit. Every workout is different and it's almost all functional (plus some traditional Olympic lifting).

You can also do stuff at home.

Or, if you are very social, try a group weight lifting class. My gym has a couple including Group Power where we lift to music, TRX (which something you can do at home with your own body weight as well) and Kettlebell workouts.

Thanks for the suggestion about crossfiting. Right now, I have to stick with the gym for a year. That's what I signed up for so I want to push myself until it becomes a habit for me. The more I go, the more confortable I will get going to the gym.

Okay, this is really lame, but I signed up for personal training sessions at my gym.  It did get me into a normal routine of going to the gym.   Part of it was because I needed to transition from post surgical physical therapy (shoulder surgery) to rehab workouts and needed guidance.  What it did, though, was get me going to the gym twice a week on a regular basis .  Now, even if I do not have a personal training session, I try to go during that time.  I feel like I am cheating myself if I don't go!   

Hope this helps.

Sharon

I do have a personal trainer but he is my friend so I don't "schedule" anything with him. However, I did get another one of my buddies to join with me so now we go together and that way we are both accountable and we can push eachother.

Like Bill I looked at it as a required lifestyle change.  There was no way I would go through everything I have and not optimize upon the second chance on life I have been giving.  Now if I don't get my gym time I usually end up having a bad day.  Like others I am at the gym very early around 5am.  My motivation is the freedom I now have both in life and in diet, I don't have to live on 1,000-1,400 calories a day and only protein.

The main motivation is the pride that not only I take in my accomplishments and goals but the pride my wife and kids have in me.  Seeing the smile on my sons faces when I did my first 5K was a life changing moment that was the first of many such moments. 

Good luck!

I have the same motivation. I have a beautiful fiancée who encourages me every day and I look forward to having a beautiful family with her in the near future and the longer I stay healthy, the longer I will have with them. :) Good luck in your upcoming marathons. I see you really have them lined-up.

 I am pre-op but I have gotten addicted to exercise already.   My employer has a phenomenal gym - state of the art.  I would go over, do 20 minutes on the eliptical and call it a day.  Then I went and visited the fitness trainer. She did a fitness assesment and developed a workout plan specifically for me. I love it! I think it helps knowing exactly what I am going to do when I get to the gym.  Before, it was way too easy to give up on figuring it out  and I would just go home. 

It is awesome feeling the strength and health... seeing the results on the scales and measurements. 

  I am also doing 4 personal training sessions with her before surgery and I can't wait to be cleared to come back!

That's the spirit! I wish I would have gone before surgery but I just didn't feel up to it. The better shape you are in before surgery, the faster you will recover. Good on you for kick starting the weight loss before surgery and good luck for surgery! It'll be a walk in the park.

It’s obvious you like sports and the outdoors. Just find things you like to do and stay active. You don’t have to go to the gym necessarily, especially if you have to force yourself to do it. If you are set on forcing yourself until it becomes a habit, just make yourself an appointment every day for the next 30 days to hit the gym for say 30 minutes. Just get up in the morning, eat a little something and drink some coffee and walk over the gym and do it. Sometimes the most important thing is to just show up. Personally, I enjoy lifting weights and consider the time in the gym to be my meditation of sorts. It’s my stress reliever and the best I feel all day is while I’m working out. I enjoy being big and stronger than the average bear and look forward to breaking new records and achieving goals on a daily basis. I’m sure you get excited when you take your golf game from say, 72 to 71. I get the same thrill when I get 6 reps instead of my normal 5 reps on something.

LOL Earl. I wish I was shooting a 72 going to 71. My plan this week is to hit the gym 5 times in a row. Maybe a sixth on the weekend. Then do it again next week and slowly get it up to 7 days a week. I don't want to push myself to hard just yet so I don't get fed up with it so I'm doing Cardio one day and Cardio+Weights the next and keep rotating like that. Golf/Hockey/Fishing and my stress relievers but maybe there's room to add the gym to that mix. We'll have to wait and see.