Why is the gym so boring?

The gym is boring because it IS boring. Anything that requires you to do the same thing over and over again, becomes boring sooner or later. This gets even worse if you don’t have set a goal you’d like to achieve.

Introduction

Why is the gym so boring?

Many people, especially those who have never seriously gone to the gym, find it boring to lift weights and work on their bodies with such an individual type of physical exercise as fitness.

Even if you've convinced yourself to start going to the gym after New Year's Eve....like lots of other people with such New Year resolutions, you'll probably find yourself getting bored of the gym after only 2 to 3 months.

Why is that? What makes the gym so boring?

Let's discuss that below!

Why is the gym so boring?

Look, I'm not going to sugar-coat things.

I'll tell you straight ahead, and it's the most honest answer you'll hear.

After all, what's so interesting about picking up a weight and doing specific movements with it?

Day in, day out...

Week in, week out...

Month in, month out...

And year in, year out....

You're just doing the same thing over and over and over again.

No matter what others may tell you, what other blog posts you may read, or how many YouTube videos you watch on this subject...at the end of the day, going to the gym is probably one of the most boring things you can do.

In fact, I hate going to the gym or doing other types of exercise myself!

Whenever I'm at the gym, I want to leave as soon as possible (and I absolutely mean this; despite that, to others, it looks like I'm having fun or enjoying my time at the gym).

The gym is boring for beginners

There are different kinds of people who go to the gym. Usually, the ones who are considered gym rats or gym veterans are the last ones to find the gym boring... after all, it's hard to consistently go to the gym day in and day out, year after year. To do that, you truly must enjoy the gym and the whole fitness journey.

I'm talking more about the people who don't have as much gym experience as gym rats, and are considered gym beginners at best.

Three types of gym people

Let's first make a distinction between three types of people:

1. People who actively go to the gym for at least 2-3 years.
2. People who used to go to the gym for at least 1-2 years.
3. People that have never seriously went to the gym.

With beginners, I refer to the third group above.

What non-gym goers say about going to the gym

As you may know about me, I work as a dentist in multiple dental offices during the day. Many of my colleagues and about 95% of patients I see daily fall under the third category above.

All of my current colleagues, as well as those I've worked with in the past in different dental offices, have never gone to the gym with serious intentions of working out with weights (the same holds for many patients).

However, all know exercise is necessary to stay fit and live healthy.

But when I ask them why they don't go to the gym, the responses I get all boil down to the same thing, which is:

(And they ALL spread their arms out and do these biceps curl motions with their weak arms with no 'proper form' whatsoever while giving the above answer.)

I've noticed this attitude towards the gym, and lifting weights and getting stronger is pretty common among people who have never taken the gym seriously in their lives.

Another common answer (my favorite!) is:

Seriously??? People think it's that simple to gain muscle... it's just mind-boggling!

(Because, in fact, and all gym goers agree with this, is that putting on muscle mass is MUCH harder than losing bodyfat and requires much more work ìn the gym as well as in the kitchen to prepare and eat all the food.)

Why beginners think gym is boring

Everybody who has advanced in the gym and in resistance training over the years was once a beginner.

Everybody in the gym has had a period before starting their gym journey where they didn't even THINK about starting their fitness journey.

Most people who are non-gym goers (i.e., absolute beginners) and who haven't caught the 'fitness bug' yet, fail to see how the gym can be challenging both physically as well as mentally.

Neither have they seen or experienced the positive impacts that going to the gym and getting truly fit can have on their physical and mental well-being AND their social life.

Absolute beginners think that going to the gym is just you standing there between all the others, doing basic movements like curls and bench presses....and that's it.

But it's much more than that (see the next section).

Beginners haven't truly experienced the gym

Going to the gym and progressing month on month will provide certain experiences that are impossible to really feel or imagine what they're like for absolute beginners who have never been to the gym seriously before.

1. Beginners and non-gym goers have never experienced what it's like to hit a new PR for a lift that you've been plateau-ing in for months.
2. They have not felt what it's like to be physically strong and push 3 plates up during the bench press or squat over 350 lbs.
3. The sound that the plates make as they slightly bump against each other when you push or lift a barbell loaded with multiple plates on each side gives a specific feeling few people in the general population have ever experienced.
4. The feeling you get when you do a heavy lift, and all eyes in the gym are focusing on you to see if you can lift the weight, gives a sense of being admired and looked up to (assuming you, in fact do complete the rep).
5. And above all, once you truly go past the intermediate stage, people in daily life will look up to you concerning fitness and come and ask you for tips and advice on how to start their own fitness journey, whether that's living a healthier and more active life, losing weight, or becoming stronger.

Why do people think the gym is boring?

We, as human beings, are too intelligent organisms to do boring, repetitious things too often.

Our intelligence makes the gym boring

Millions of years of evolution have brought us to the point where we can change our environment, create products that regulate our own internal, physiological processes to enhance our life and health (such as medicine), and even go to space and send probes to other planets and even outside of our own solar system.

These and many other achievements show the strength of our intelligence as a species and what we can accomplish.

It is even more baffling how far we have come if you compare us to other animals, such as the chimpanzee, that are closely linked to us.

Now ask yourself the following question:

Our achievements as a human species simply obliterate repetitious things, such as working out and going to the gym.

And there is no ignoring of that.

Anything that's repetitious becomes boring

Thus, our intelligence makes anything that's simple and repetitious boring at some point in time.

You see that in everything... whether that's painting, gaming, reading the same types of books, or something as common as a full-time job.

Anything that doesn't challenge you in some way or another will become boring.

And going to the gym, for most folks, means doing the same type of training over and over again.

They may change up exercises, and their workouts during the week may hit different muscle groups and all...but the way they train (i.e., their training program) is the same week-to-week and month-to-month.

And as a result, at some point, that too will become boring.

Does the gym ever get fun?

So then, does this all mean that no matter what, you have to suck it up and go to the gym while getting bored to death?

As stated before, I hate going to the gym, and whenever I'm there, I want to leave as soon as possible.

This rush to get out ASAP is, in fact, a good thing because this way, I don't stay at the gym longer than necessary.

This helps me to make going to the gym attainable while working a day job and grinding through life.

However, over the years, I found many other ways that have helped to completely erase any boredom I experienced in the gym.

Conclusion

So there you have it.

The gym is boring because it is boring.

And what makes it worse is that results will only show after a while. Like anything else worth achieving, the gym requires dedication, consistency, and hard work over a long period before you'll get the fruits of your labors.

If you can't think about the long-term benefits of the gym, then it's really easy to get bored.

The first step, then, is to think about the long-term goals and benefits instead of wanting results fast (news flash: there is no such thing as fast results).

Changing your mindset is one of the most significant things you can do that makes it much easier to consistently work out month after month.

What helped you to battle gym boredom?