Most people with gym memberships go for a few months and then call it quits. The reasons for this are legion: financial, lack of time, terrible gym hours, lack of energy, intimidating environment, etc…

Even ‘regular gym goers’ succumb eventually – whatever base crowd you might see in the mornings this year will very likely be a different base crowd two years from now, and the changeup hardly points to mass relocation. No matter the context, it’s always just a matter of time. Everyone eventually bails on the gym.

The logical response in the face of this adversity is to not bother going in the first place, and while I applaud anyone who takes this stance (I am all for logic), I also love a good underdog story and likewise tip my hat to those who crush weights in the face of the resistance (as Steven Pressfield has put it), even as the ambition to do so wanes day by day, workout by workout to the point where the ‘regular gym goer’ crown is finally passed along to the next sucker (usually, in early January).

The only hope for the gym (and for us!) is for it to get more fun. There really is no other solution. To want to lose weight, get fit, sleep better, whatever, does not translate into wanting to go to the gym and no one is going to make a lifelong commitment to a practice they dislike. Not for the sake of bigger biceps, not for a healthier heart. Not for any reason that is not financially incentivized.

But in a day and age when gamifying the gym typically looks like parkour, cross fit, or yoga classes, the landscape looks bleak for anyone without at least a head start on fitness. For while these programs satisfy a segment of the population, they are inaccessible to most for three reasons: classes = scheduled (and scheduled = inconvenient), the likelihood of injury is high (absent, that is, the requisite coordination, dexterity and overall strength nec to complete the lifts/activities properly), plus these programs are insanely expensive.

On the flip side, and more recreationally speaking, we’ve got jogging, walking or even going to the gym with a friend (where the focus in reality is more social than workout driven). Or swimming at the local rec center, rock climbing, trail running, or tennis (either outdoors or on the old Nintendo WII), all super fun options to stay active (and sane), but not satisfactory from the point of view of getting anyone in actual shape.

No matter how you swing it, to get healthy, mentally and physically, you need a membership to the boring, intimidating, gym w access to the machines, free weights and mills and there is absolutely no getting around this. Anyone who argues differently is either single sport focused – a fate connected to injury and early retirement (from all sport), or they are owners of a home gym (a concept I do not like because the gym should not be your home, and vice versa).

The good news is that getting in shape at the local gym, and having fun doing it is very possible with a little reading, an open minded attitude and a break from the traditional reasons that tend to get people to the gym in the first place. When these factors are in play, you become both more confident (i.e., much less concerned with what others are doing), and keenly interested in the work you are doing – to the point where, I can almost promise you, you’ll end up wanting to leave the music/audiobook in the car.

What does a more confident gym goer look like exactly? A gym scientist, aka, a hoodied technician with a deep understanding of what they are doing and why, and armed with a clear enough picture of the science to be able to think creatively and resourcefully for the sake of experimentation.

The experiment being you.

And that’s a fun place to be.

JM.

Next post: specifics re theory, workouts, scheduling, and an science based approach/philosophy that will keep you going forever.