If showing up at the gym is all that matters in the beginning

NOTE: If you are ONLY interested in the *how* part of the article, you can directly jump to the 4 bullet points in the article.

I've been going to the gym for over three years (on an average, two-three times a week). I've seen that people just won't show up after a few days/weeks. Some of it is because they genuinely get caught up with their work; but mostly, I've seen the same guys (who used to come to the gym) at the smoking lounge, at nearby liquor stores, and sometimes just lazing around in the office with lots of spare time. How do I know? At one point, I was one of those who don't show up :).

Here, I have tackled the *showing up* problem, which I think is a very important to solve. And, I am damn sure that if you happen to be one of the several millions working in a corporation, you'll see that the options I offer make sense.

Non-crappy explanation to why we don't show up?

Firstly, I think, before signing-up with a gym, we stress a lot on how serious are we about going to the gym and improving our physique, isn't it. For some reason, I've used the *how-serious-are-you-card* to motivate a lot of guys to join the gym or take up a sport. Now, I think that the seriousness quotient is what hurts the process of forming a routine. And, if you have worked in any good corporations, you'll know that it is extremely essential for any serious business to have ultra-motivated individuals working on it for a long enough timeline in a very disciplined manner.

That said, most of us join the gym to simply improve our physique. It's NOT as serious a matter as representing our country in the Olympics. So, take a chill pill.

In the beginning, going to the gym is a new activity and we are motivated to spend an hour at the gym. But over time, we realize that going to the gym to improve our physique is a long-term investment, and that we'll get our returns only after a few months or years. Sadly, instant gratification runs our minds and souls, and not getting quick returns negatively affects our seriousness and motivation levels.

How to show up more often?

You must try to remove *the seriousness* from the equation to be able to show up as often as possible. These are the options that have helped me out, see it helps you show up more often:  

• Partly dress for the gym when you leave home in the morning - sometimes all it takes to head to the gym is having the dress on. At times, just coz I have my sports shoes and T-shirt on, I head to the gym to spend some 20 minutes lifting lightweights.
  
  This is something not everyone can afford to do (some of us have to go to work in a formal attire), but if you happen to be a workplace that allows casual dressing, it makes sense to dress for the gym when you leave for work.

• Don't have a gym partner - it is very counterproductive to have a gym partner coz you associate your going to the gym with your partner coming to the gym. A partner is great to improve the time spent at the gym, but, this is only if you go to the gym. Having a partner actually makes it difficult for you form your own routine.
  
  I think, you'll show up more often if you go solo.
  
  Here, I assumed that your partner is someone who is going to the gym JUST to improve his physique and not to represent his country in the Olympics. 

• Don't set a time-of-the-day for going to the gym - Hasn't it happened that you got really busy in the morning and you had to skip something you do every morning (say, going to the gym); But in the evening, you got free but you were not in the mood to do what you usually do in the morning.
  
  If you don't set any time for going to the gym, the advantage is that you can go to the gym whenever you feel like and whenever you find free time. The disadvantage is that you might forget going to the gym (you can handle this problem by making sure that you are dressed for the gym or you have some kind of a "hit the gym" reminder every four hours).

• Join the office-gym or the one that happens to be on your way - the gym I go to is right next to my workplace. This is really important coz we all have this 20 minute burst of hitting the gym everyday. These bursts can be put to use if we can access the gym in 5-10 minutes.

I think, these four points can help you hit the gym more often. In the beginning, it's more about showing up than about how serious are you about gym'ing. 

PS: I've some friends who (2 years back) used to talk about health/gym every time we got together, and every time they planned on joining the gym. Guess what! They are still planning.

PS: I understand that *seriousness* is what is prescribed to show up as often as possible, but I am against it in this case. Why? If it doens't work for you, it doesn't. Case closed.