How to Make Your Training Fun Again: 8 Simple Tips to Blow Through Training Ruts and Enjoy Your Time in the Gym

In a previous post, I wrote about the problem of losing sight of having fun with your training. Many of us in the fitness world fall into the trap of letting our training take control of our lives, taking it far too seriously, and forgetting the importance of enjoying the process. We forget what got us into fitness in the first place and what has kept us coming back for more, and before we know it we're left disillusioned, burnt out, and miserable. 

This guy is stoked to train.

In order to keep this at bay, it's important to frequently ask yourself why you train and what keeps you continuing on your fitness journey. But sometimes asking questions isn't quite enough. Sometimes training just becomes mundane or stale—it loses the luster it once had, and just telling yourself to have fun with it doesn't change anything. We need something that will help us remember why we commit so much time and resources to lifting things up and putting them down, or running to nowhere in particular, or exercising competitively. Following are a few practical steps to inject fun and excitement back into our training and give you the kick in the pants that you need to put a smile back on your face and motivate you to keep moving forward. 

1. Blast from the past. Think about one of you first "true loves" in fitness. No, I'm not talking about a physique-of-a-god/goddess athlete whose Instagram you stalked religiously. I'm talking about that program or athletic pursuit or skill that first really drew you into the fitness world. Perhaps it was an amateur barbell strength program like Starting Strength that first got you into lifting. Perhaps it was long mountain hikes that drew you into the realm of endurance running. Maybe you started as an avid Crossfitter but have since transitioned into weightlifting. Or perhaps it was good old school bodybuilding that eventually led to competing in strongman. Regardless of what it was, revisit that first fitness love! Take a few weeks or months to go back and do whatever it is that first gave you that constant itch to move, to lift, to improve, to compete. Most of us, over the years, tend to transition our focus and our methods. Nobody follows the same program for 10 years straight, and most of us gradually transition between athletic pursuits. So if your training no longer gets you fired up and excited to get in the gym, go back and do whatever first got you going! Chances are, with a number of years under your belt, you'll have an entirely different experience now than you did before. You'll see how far you've come, you'll notice new things about the sport or the program that you've long since forgotten, and heck, you may even become a better athlete or gain some new perspective on your current training. Sure, going back and following a beginner program or practicing a sport you no longer compete in may not be the most traditionally effective way to improve your performance, but give it a few weeks and remember that you're doing this all because it's fun. You'll likely come away feeling refreshed, enlightened, and excited to move forward in your training. 
2. Take a walk down memory lane. I never really plan it, but inevitably about once every year, I end up stumbling upon and looking through my old training logs. If you've lost motivation and can't seem to get excited for your training anymore, take some time to look at how far you've come. Dig up some old pictures of you as a skinny-fat freshman in college who had never touched a weight before and compare it to the relatively Herculean physique you now boast (and feel free to laugh at your terrible sense of fashion back then, too). Find your old training logs and chuckle at how you now warm up with your bench press 1-rep max from three years ago. Search for an old email exchange with a coach: "COACH! HELP. Whenever I try to squat 105lbs my knees cave in and my back rounds and my nose bleeds and I think I'm going to pass out WHAT DO I DO," and smile, thinking about the fact that you'll be squatting 315lbs for reps later today. There's nothing quite like looking back at how far you've come to put a smile on your face and give you a renewed vigor and appreciation for your time spent in the gym. So go back, laugh at yourself, feel good about how much you've accomplished, and let that fire you up to enjoy the journey!
3. And now, for something completely different. One of my first reactions when someone tells me that their training is stressing them out or that they're losing motivation to get into the gym is to tell them to stop doing whatever it is they're doing and do something completely different for a while. "B-b-b-but, my gaiiiiinnnnz! What about my gainz?!" Yeah, not squatting for 3 weeks will probably cause your squat to go down a little. But hating your life, getting bored with your training, and dreading going to the gym every day sure as hell won't help your squat numbers in the long run either! Many contend that the best way to get better at something is to do that exact thing over and over and over again. This makes sense, and to an extent, it is true. However, this doesn't take into account confounding variables like mindset, motivation, and happiness, and humans are rather confounding creatures. Sometimes, the best thing you can do to get better at your sport is to take some time and do another sport—not because playing golf necessarily makes you better at playing football, but because having a refreshed mindset, renewed energy, and new perspective is hugely valuable for driving you forward. In addition, learning a new skill is fun, especially when you have an athletic foundation that can carry over into this new endeavor. I played volleyball in high school and enjoyed the sport quite a bit, but I was never very good (and was also not very strong or athletic). Flash forward 11 or 12 years, 8 of those years spent as a dedicated student of various aspects of strength and conditioning, and I find myself joining in a local co-ed volleyball league. To my surprise, even after a decade of virtually no volleyball, I am twice the player I ever was in high school (though still not very good). Being an athlete makes you a better athlete, and there's nothing more exciting than learning a new sport or skill (or revisiting a sport you haven't done in forever) and making tons of progress in a short amount of time. And even if you never come back to this new sport or skill, you'll likely return to your original sport with a newfound appreciation and perspective. So, are you a gymnast? Do some powerlifting for a while! Are you a runner? Try yoga! How about a Crossfitter? Pick up rock climbing! A powerlifter? Do only bodyweight exercises for some time! An endurance runner? Try parkour! When your training becomes a burden and you start dreading your time in the gym, find something completely different that you've always wanted to try and go do it. You'll come back to your sport with excitement and vigor, and perhaps you'll even discover something new that you love.

   

   Curry is also the spice of life.

4. Variety, spice of life, etc. As I mentioned above, many contend that doing the same thing over and over again is the most effective way to get good at that thing. Others contend, to varying degrees, that training is most effective when it is highly variable. The conjugate method, a powerlifting program developed by Louie Simmons, uses a rotation of a huge number of exercise variations, such that lifters may perform a new squat variation every week for a few months. Crossfit is based on training for the "unknown and unknowable," and many Crossfit coaches and athletes base their training first and foremost on variety (of exercises, time domains, weights, etc.). On the other hand, many coaches and athletes insist that if you want to perform well in the clean & jerk and snatch, or in the squat, bench, and deadlift, you should perform those exercises all the time and not worry so much about variations and fancy accessory stuff. If you want to deadlift well, you should deadlift all the time. If you want to get good at running, you should spend most of their time running, and not in other athletic pursuits. You get the idea. I think both perspectives have value and elements of truth, but regardless of who is "right," the fact remains that variety tends to make things interesting. And if your training no longer interests you, then perhaps it's time for some variety. This may mean something as simple as adding an exercise that you rarely do to your regular training schedule. It may mean taking a more periodized approach, breaking your training up into phases in which you focus on hypertrophy, then strength, then power, etc. This may mean following a program that follows a consistent overall structure but leaves considerable room for variety, depending on how you feel that day. It may be as simple as using one of your training days to go workout with a buddy and do whatever he or she is doing, or taking one day per week off of your regular weightlifting training to join in a Crossfit class at your gym. But the primary goal should be varying your training in a way that excites you—it should be something fun that gets you stoked to get into the gym. Perhaps this introduction of variety will give you a massive performance boost and will end up being a permanent fixture in your training, or perhaps it will just act as a change of pace for a few months with no massive effect on performance. But regardless, it is a great way to inject some fun and hit the refresh button on stale training. 
5. I think we need some time apart. Sometimes, you just need a break. In the same way that taking a vacation from work improves productivity upon return, taking a vacation from your training can help get your body and mind in the right place and allow you to push to the next level when you return. So, when your training starts stressing you out, boring you, or wearing you down, take a week or two off! Spend some time away from the gym. You may be surprised to find that after a week or so, you may start to miss your time in the gym and be excited to get back. In addition, your body may desperately need some time away from the heavy barbell or from high mileage runs. An occasional week or two of diminished intensity can do wonders for both mindset and physiological recovery. Note that during this "vacation" from exercise, I do not recommend that you turn into a couch potato and play video games all day. Take it easy, but stay active by getting outside, walking, swimming, biking, surfing, etc. 
6. Game on. What's something that's (almost) always done for fun? Playing games! Board games, video games, sports games, and so on. We play games because we enjoy them, because they make us feel good, satisfy something deep within us, and because we have fun with them. If your training has become too serious, a grave and weighty (get it?) affair that is done out of obligation rather than joy, turning your training into a game or approaching it as a form of play might be one of the best ways to bring fun back into it. 
   
   When we play games, we separate ourselves from daily concerns for a short time to engage in problem solving, friendly competition, and to pursue a goal for the fun of it. Changing your mindset to apply this same way of thinking to exercise can revitalize training that has become tedious and give us renewed energy and motivation to push further. When your time in the gym is time spent playing, spent exploring your physical capacities, pursuing your own goals, setting your own rules and requirements, suddenly it takes on a new light and brings you joy and pleasure. Reframe your training as a game. Put on one of your favorite songs and complete as many reps as you can of an exercise during each chorus. Pick someone else running on a nearby treadmill and (without telling them) "race" them, setting your pace faster than theirs and giving yourself a point for every .01 miles you run more than them. Go to the park and try to quietly stalk and then chase down a bird or a rabbit (probably best to do this when there aren't many onlookers). Go for a jog and take a winding route, sudden turns, and dodge behind obstacles as if you're being pursued by the bad guys. See how quickly you can move 15,000lbs of weight using any combination of exercises, sets, reps, etc. Use your imagination, set up a goal, some parameters, and an incentive for your workout and have at it. (For more awesome ideas on gamifying your fitness, check out Side Quest Fitness, a site by my comrade, Robbie Farlow.)
7. Phone a friend. This applies mostly to the lone wolves and the solo garage gym-ers out there. If you can't seem to get excited about training any more, get a workout buddy or three! Invite a friend(s) (or make a new friend) to train with you a few times a week, or ask one of your gym-going friends if you can join them at the gym a couple times a week. It's ideal to find someone who's close to your strength and skill level and is pursuing the same goals, but there's also benefit to training with people who have different goals or who are at a different level than you. If your friend is a newer trainee, you'll likely enjoy sharing your knowledge and experience with them, and derive some pleasure from having a chance to show off the fruits of your hard work in the gym (just keep your ego in check). If they're more advanced than you, you can take the opportunity to learn from them and enjoy the motivation to become better. And of course, if they're at about the same level as you, you'll enjoy the friendly competition and can use it to push you to the next level. You also shouldn't be afraid to branch out and train with someone who's following a different program or has slightly different goals. I have encountered some people who are so concerned with sticking doggedly to their own program that they are unwilling to change things up even a little bit to train with others. "Ahhg, today isn't deadlift day for me, I can't do any deadlifts with you or I'll lose all strength and my training will be ruined forever!" "I'm a weightlifter, I can't conditioning today, I'll ruin my gainz!" Again, I'm going to assume that you, my reader, are not 4 weeks out from fighting to get gold at the Olympics; so lighten up and enjoy the change of pace and company of a friend for a day. Of course be smart about it—doing max effort deadlifts 4 days in row probably isn't a wise choice—but be flexible and willing to do something different. Adding some competition, camaraderie, and accountability into your training by working out with a buddy can make a huge difference in your motivation and mindset, and can change the way you approach training. 
8. Change scene. Environment can play a huge role in how we feel about training. Sometimes, without our even knowing it, we end up in an environment that negatively affects our mindset and our performance. Are you training somewhere that you feel comfortable or welcome, or do you feel in the way or out of place? Do you look forward to spending time with the people in your gym, or does your gym's environment stress you out? Are you tired of training alone in your garage every day? Are there people where you train who add negativity to the environment? Perhaps you've just been going to the same place for so long that you're simply bored of it. Whatever the reason, a change of scenery may be just the thing you need to get your training back on track and make your time in the gym enjoyable again. Find a new gym, even if it's only temporary. If you train at home, join a gym for a class once or twice a week. Spend a few weeks "gym-hopping," dropping in at a bunch of different gyms in your area to see what else is out there. Pack up your weights and drive out to the woods and train in the midst of natural beauty once a week. You may realize that your environment before, whether it was a commercial gym or your own garage, was holding you back and negatively affecting your attitude; or, you may realize how good you had it, and go running back to your home gym with a newfound appreciation for what it had to offer; or perhaps it will just act as a mini training vacation, a change of scenery and pace that renews your energy and drive when you come back to your regular routine. Taking a break from seeing the same walls, the same people, the same equipment week after week can have a huge positive impact on your training and attitude. 

If your training has lost it's luster, you've lost your drive, or you just don't find yourself enjoying training very much, it's time to change something! Training should be fun, and ignoring this fact can be catastrophic to your attitude and your progress. Try some of these 8 simple tips the next time your find your training feeling stale or torturous, and blow through those training ruts and get back to making progress and having fun!

---

Be sure to subscribe, share, and comment.
Follow me on Twitter @PSprimont and on Instagram @PSprimont

Strong of heart, strong of mind, strong of swole.