If you have been wondering how to workout when you hate it, you have come to the right place. In this article, I would like to discuss with you 6 tactics that will help you move past your initial hesitation towards working out.
For starters, I will say that if you are out of shape, you are going to hate working out more AT FIRST. But, once you start to see some progress, you will become addicted to changing your body for the better.
Luckily, this article will provide you with actual solutions instead of philosophical solutions that may or may not work.
I used to hate working out. As a scrawny guy, I desperately wanted to put on muscle. I would go to the gym, not see results, and then get made fun of the next day for how skinny I was. It was demoralizing.
Fortunately, I cracked the code, and now, 14 years laters, I still workout 3-4 times per week. And now, I love going to the gym. I know what kind of life changes can be made. My confidence has never been better, and my body has never looked better.
Before we get into the tips, I recommend downloading our app All Workouts: Personal Trainer (iOS | Google Play). It will help you choose a great workout plan, and it is easy to use! Track all your progress, do HIIT workouts, choose the best weight training plan, and more!
Tactic 1: Focus on the end goal
One of the best tactics for making exercise a habit is visualizing the end goal. What does your future self need to look like in order for you to be satisfied? Are you going to need to lose 60 pounds? Do you want to gain 30 pounds of muscle?
These are valid goals. The best thing to do here is visualize your end goal, and work back from there. What do you need to do in order to make your future bright? You know that you need to put in the work. There are no shortcuts to this.
The good thing here is that since you have an end goal in mind, you can now work backwards to find out what it is going to take.
For example: If you want to lose weight, you know that there are 2 things that you have to do. You have to be in a caloric deficit, and you have to exercise regularly. And since this will not happen overnight, you know that you will need to put in the work overtime to win.
Tactic 2: Focus on small wins
What would you consider a small win? Showing up to the gym? Working out 4 days this week? Losing 1 pound this week? These are ALL wins, and I recommend counting them up.
Literally find a win in everything that you do when you go to the gym. Make it a game to find out how much you are winning every day, every week, and every month.
Here is an example from my own life. I just went to the gym yesterday. Here are some small wins that I am happy about:
- I felt a lot more positive about life after going to the gym
- I was glad there were no injuries
- My dumbbell weight was stepped up for one of my exercises
- I was able to get a full hour in
- The building muscle process is happening
- I was able to get home and help my wife cook dinner
These are just examples of some of the many small wins that I encounter on a daily basis. One of my favorite wins is how much working out makes you feel better afterwards. Once you learn how to workout when you hate it, your emotional state will improve.
Tactic 3: Have a plan
After spending 7 years just doing random stuff in the gym, I finally was able to get my life together and start building the body that I wanted. Once I started following an actual workout plan, I was able to really step up my game.
It was just the workout plan though. It also included a diet plan, which we will discuss in tactic 5.
Following a specific workout plan that fits your goals is essential to moving forward with learning how to workout when you hate it. It is important to note that depending on your goals, your workout plans will look a lot different.
If you want to lose weight, you are going to want to do more high intensity interval training. Here are some beginner hiit workouts that you can do at home! If you are looking to build muscle, you are going to want to do weight training workouts while minimizing your exposure to cardio.
Maybe you don’t have access to a gym. That is fine, here are 15 workouts to build muscle at home with no weights. If you do have access to a gym, your possibilities are endless. As we mentioned before, our app All Workouts: Personal Trainer will help you on your journey.
Tactic 4: Try shortening your workout before giving up
The most important thing when you want to know how to workout when you hate it, is building habits. The most important habit here is just showing up to the gym. Once you get comfortable being there, your mind and body will be ready to extend your time.
I have a friend who lives in a community that has a gym. He had never been a gym goer before, but he knew that he wanted to change his life for the better. So everyday, he would leave early for work, and spend only 5 minutes at the gym.
Just 5 minutes! He did this for a month until he realized that he wanted to step it up. Now he goes 3-4 days per week, and spends 45-60 minutes for each session. The best part about it is now he loves it and his body is on pace to hit his goals.
Maybe it is the length of your workout that is holding you back. Have you learned about high intensity interval training? Each workout is only 15-30 minutes long and burns a ton of calories. That would be a great start for you!
Tactic 5: Dial in your diet plan
In my opinion, diet is the most important part of any body change goal. Why? Because your diet can determine weight loss or weight gain regardless of if you are working out or not.
There is a lot to cover when it comes to diet, so I will only cover the basics here. It is all about calories. Learn how to calculate your maintenance calories before anything. I am going to be honest here. If you are not willing to count your calories (at least at first), you probably won’t see any meaningful progress.
Once you have calculated your maintenance calories, you can now eat towards your goals. If you are trying to lose weight, you will need to eat at a caloric deficit. Which just means that you are eating less calories than your maintenance calories. The target is usually 500 calories less per day.
If you are trying to build muscle, you will need to eat at a caloric surplus. Which means that you will need to eat more calories than your maintenance calories. For building muscle, a good start is 500 calories per day over your maintenance. You cannot build muscle in a caloric deficit! It is that simple.
One thing I like to tell people is that what matters is your total calories over time. Some people think that they can eat under their maintenance calories 6 days out of the week. And then on the 7th day, they have a massive cheat day and ruin all of their progress. Don’t do this!
It is totally ok to have a cheat day, but make sure to calculate the calories you are consuming on cheat day to still be on track.
Tactic 6: Make it ridiculously easy to workout
I am a huge fan of having workout equipment at my house. I have dumbbells and a pullup bar that I use when I just don’t feel like going to the gym. Those 2 alone can make for a great workout.
I am not suggesting that you create a whole home gym in your house. But you can pick and choose some items that may really help you make it easy to do. When I say make it easy, I mean easy to start. I know that working out in general is not easy.
The whole point here is to get started and put yourself in a situation where you can’t say no to working out. In fact, you can even build a home gym with limited space. Anything is possible when you are fully committed to your goals.
Main Point: How to workout when you hate it
I know that was a lot of information. But do you feel a little bit better now about learning how to workout when you hate it?
Let’s be real. Working out is not easy, and if you are out of shape, it can be extremely difficult at first. But, let’s take solace in the fact that things will get better. If you follow all the tactics in this article, there is zero doubt in my mind that you will be a champion of your goals.
It really is a simple strategy to get into shape. Unfortunately, since results are not immediate, a lot of people drop out when they see that it’s going to take time.
Remember that this is a process. And if you follow the rules of the process, you are going to get in perfect shape. Eat right, workout, and do it consistently. If you can follow those 3 simple steps, you will have no choice but to hit your goals.
What do you think about all this? Did you learn how to workout when you hate it? We would love to hear from you!
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