How I made working out less boring: 8 Game-changing Tips

I started to really enjoy my fitness journey and literally all my workouts once I got serious about training and gave it high priority. The things that helped me tremendously are: I promised myself to go to the gym consistently, I changed my mindset, I set goals I wanted to achieve, I started tracking my progress, I began taking progress pics, I started changing my training program every now and then, I started following fitness people, and I educated myself more on fitness and training.

Introduction

In a recent blog post, I wrote about why the gym is so boring (if you haven't already, make sure to read that article as well) for the average person.

In fact, all my co-workers are actually disgusted by the thought of going to a gym and 'lifting weights' (they never name specific exercises such as squats or deadlifts, but they just refer to going to the gym as 'lifting weights'... i.e., generic as hell!!).

As a matter of fact, they actually say I have no life since all I do is work and work out :shrugs. But if the gym is so boring, then how could I still be going to it for 5 days a week?

That's what you'll find out in this article!

I'll tell you how I made the gym fun and exciting early in my fitness journey... and ever since, I've never gotten bored when I went to the gym.

Let's get started!

Things I did to make working out less boring

Here are the 8 things I did that helped me to never get bored at the gym again:

1. I made a promise to myself
2. Changed my mindset
3. Set goals
4. Tracked my progress
5. Took progress pictures
6. Changed my training program
7. Started following fitness YouTubers
8. Learned more about fitness and training

Let's discuss each point in more detail below.

1. I Made a promise to myself

Your mindset is the most important regarding whatever it is that you want to achieve.

Whether you want to achieve a fit lifestyle, lose weight, gain muscle mass, or start a new career, it all starts with having the proper mindset!

With a proper mindset comes responsibility to yourself.

When I promised myself that no matter what, I wouldn't let my fitness journey get derailed by whatever life throws at me, I noticed I started working out consistently month after month.

It didn't matter if I had exam periods during university or if I hadn't slept enough...I made sure I hit my personal number of workout days every week!

If you promise yourself to go to the gym consistently for a set period of time, you will also notice that as you go through the grind, you will experience boredom at some point.

2. Changed my mindset

Another thing that helped me put things in perspective and not get bored due to the lack of short-term results was that I switched my mindset from short-term goals to long-term goals.

I specifically said to myself:

As a matter of fact, as I'm typing this right now (September 25th, 2023, 7:50PM), I'm actually a bit tired, and the thought of skipping the gym today crosses my mind (I'm seriously thinking that right now, as I'm writing this article).

But I immediately reminded myself: if I go to the gym in a moment after I finish writing this section, it won't have much impact for the rest of the day, but it will positively affect my future in some way or form.

3. Set goals

If you can motivate yourself to start going to the gym, then in the first month or two, you'll be very excited and want to go to the gym every day.

But for the majority of people, from the third month onward, boredom slowly starts to hit them.

In the initial few months, you'll still be exploring the gym, the exercises, the training, the atmosphere, and everything related to gym life. But once you're past that stage, you need to have a plan to continue being excited about your new journey.

Without a solid plan, you're basically doomed for failure. Creating a solid plan for yourself is actually pretty easy if you know where to start.

It all starts with setting goals that you'd want to achieve. Don't make up any goal, though! Think about what it is that you truly want to achieve with your fitness journey.

Then, break that goal down into smaller goals and set deadlines for each part. Make each smaller goal as specific as possible. Think about how that specific goal relates to the other goals and how they all make up the major, overarching achievement you'd want to strive for.

But stay realistic. Don't think of goals that are unattainable or unachievable. For example, don't set a goal of losing 50 lbs in 1 month or bench press 3 plates in 6 months.

Setting goals and having something to work toward will help you stay focused and on track. It leaves less room to wonder why you do specific exercises or why you go to the gym at certain times a week.

With a more focused mindset, you'll get bored less easily.

4. Tracked my progress

What also kept me excited during the initial years (before the gym and working out became an intrinsic part of who I am) was checking my progress every now and then.

For that, I started tracking everything related to my fitness journey, from the calories I eat to the number of sets and reps I did for each and every exercise (which I still do even to this day!). If you log your gym progress, you'll have something to analyze after a while.

Nothing motivates you better than seeing the results of all your hard work. That alone is a reason to track your progress.

There are many ways to track your progress and many variables to track. To start, I suggest you keep track of the exercises you do, the sets, the reps, and the load for each set.

Write those down during each training and use whatever tool you feel comfortable with. I have tried many tools before, including:

• Plain old pen & paper
• All sorts of mobile apps specific to fitness
• Web apps
• Trying to memorize everything (hint: DON'T do this)
• Note-taking apps

What I found worked best in my case, because I log my workouts in a very specific and detailed way, was simply to use Evernote and write it all down in there. The downside is that Evernote or other general note-taking apps don't have a format or layout specifically designed for custom fitness logging, which makes exchanging or publishing my logs and progress difficult.

Try out different ways of logging your progress and pick what suits you the best!

5. Took progress pictures

Tracking your progress in numbers is one thing. But visually assessing the changes in your body is something completely different.

I'm talking about taking progress pictures, of course.

When I felt bored in the gym or felt unmotivated to continue, I used to get on my computer and look at progress pictures I had made in the past.

Seeing where I come from and all the progress I've made ever since has never failed to push me back on track and regain my motivation to continue my journey.

I strongly advise you to take progress pictures too. You don't have to know how to do perfect poses as long as you pose the same way consistently and take pictures every now and then (once a month is usually enough for a start).

Learn the basics of some bodybuilding poses that show your muscles in the best way. Do those poses each time you take pictures?

This way, you'll have the same pose to make comparison easier, and you'll see better what your results are and what areas need extra attention.

6. Changed my training program

Doing the same thing over and over again is boring, no matter what other tips and tricks you try to keep it exciting.

The same holds for training and working out. You can make progress pictures, set goals, make promises to yourself, and track all of your progress.…

But if EVERY-SINGLE-DAY looks the same, you'll get bored and lose motivation sooner or later!

To keep things exciting, I switch my workout program every 3 to 4 months. I'm now mainly focused on strength training and Olympic lifting, but even within those types of training and exercises, there are things you can change to prevent getting bored.

Even one exercise can be done in many different ways.

For example, take bench pressing. You can do regular 3x8 bench presses for 3 months, twice a week. Then, change to heavy loads for 5x3x1 rep per set. You could then change the load to much lighter and do high repetition work (25+ reps per set).

Then there are the different variations on bench pressing: close grip, wide grip, incline, decline, dumbbell, machine presses, etc.

And if that is not enough, you can even change your training to velocity-based training, where you do each rep (the eccentric as well as the concentric phases) with specific velocities.

And we're not even finished yet! You can mix all of the above within the same exercise: do the first set with low reps and high load. For the second set, do a close-grip bench press with medium reps, followed by a third set of velocity-based repetitions.

As you can see, the possibilities are endless. Switching your training program every now and then keeps it fun to go to the gym consistently.

7. Started following fitness YouTubers

There are also other things you can do outside the gym to prevent getting bored of the gym.

Follow fitness influencers on Instagram/TikTok and YouTube and indulge in their content.

It doesn't necessarily have to be content directly related to training and exercising, though.

It's also perfectly fine to watch videos of gym fails for entertainment.

Engage with the community. Join Reddit fitness groups and check out all sorts of fitness blogs (such as mine! :p).

The point is: becoming a member of the fitness community extends beyond just your local gym.

The fitness community on the internet, in general, is huge and spread out over different channels and sites.

Being a member of the fitness community and actively involved in it will prevent ever getting bored at the gym again.

8. Learned more about fitness and training

The more you know about something, the more interesting it becomes.

In the article about why the gym is so boring, I wrote why it’s logical that something as simple as lifting weight is, of course, boring.

But even the simplest thing can be practiced and executed countless times until it's perfected. To know what makes something perfect, though, you have to study it.

And believe it or not, even something as simple as curling a dumbbell to train your biceps can be analyzed and practiced so many times until it's perfected in every aspect!

That also holds for more complex exercises, such as the deadlift and squats. And if you truly want to have a technical challenge that will take years to perfect, try out Olympic weightlifting!

Conclusion

I'm a firm believer in that saying, and I truly believe that you too can make 'going to the gym' the highlight of your day, just as I have done.

When you have goals you want to achieve, a plan to follow, and you're tracking your progress… then few other things feel like going after your goals and slowly seeing your progress advance week by week.

If you put your mind to the gym, and really take it seriously and give it a high priority, you'll notice that it'll become much more fun (and heck, even exciting!) to go to the gym.

Do you find the gym boring, and if so, why? Or are you excited every day to hit the gym just as I am? Let me know!