It’s Sunday evening and you’ve seen a great Instagram post or watched a YouTube video that has left you feeling motivated for the week ahead. You set up your gym gear at the end of the bed the night before as you know what the plan for tomorrow is. You go to bed ready to tackle the day ahead. Then the kids or pets have you up and down all night. Your partner is talking during their sleep all night (Or is that just me?) When you wake, it’s cold, dark and raining outside and you know the workout of the day has running involved. Do you still go or do you decide you’ll leave it for tomorrow?
Motivation wavers, but discipline builds habits. Motivation is useful to get a process going but discipline is what keeps you going when it gets hard. The decision to do something you don’t want to do but you know you need to do to become the person you’re not. The person you want to be. Every day you get to make hundreds of choices that lead you down a road closer to who you want to be or to be comfortable. We won’t find any comfort in growth. Similar to the gym and all of our workouts. Growth is never comfortable but it is always rewarding. Every time we make the harder choice that we didn’t make yesterday we become someone that is slightly different to yesterday. That’s why it’s so hard. You’re killing the old you to become who you want to be. That process is hard. Your brain and your body seek comfort. Comfort doesn’t create the change you’re looking for.
That’s why we create a community that is supportive. A community that cares about one another. A community that will be there with you every step of the way to nudge you along when needed. Having the community there makes it easier to show up every day because it becomes your family. When you take a couple of days off of the gym you’ll soon see people reaching out to see where you’ve been or checking in.
If we think of the gym as building a discipline, some days just showing up is enough. Don’t worry about how hard you went or what your score was. Just show up. Build the habit of being here and the consistency will pay off. Get used to coming in when you don’t feel like it as what you may find is those are your best days in the gym. It is common that on the days you think are going to be your worst inside the gym turn out to be the days you hit new pb’s! Even if you don’t hit a new pb, at least you showed up. It’s easier to get in the habit of not showing up and deciding you’ll come tomorrow. Then tomorrow becomes the next day and the next. Before you know it it’s been 2 months since you’ve been in.
When the alarm goes off, and the snooze button feels tempting, countdown from 5 and then get up. Studies show this simple “5-second rule” can trick your brain into action before it convinces you to stay in bed. Prepare everything the night before to make it easier to go to the gym before work. Walk yourself through the entire process of your morning routine and see how you can make it easier and more efficient to get to the gym. Day after day, just show up and not only will you build a new habit of fitness. You’ll also see that the gym is a metaphorical training ground for life’s challenges.
Doing the hard things we don’t want to do but we know we should be doing. We get to make hundreds of those choices every day. Make the gym and your training for health a non negotiable for your life. The gym is more than a place to work out—it’s a training ground for life’s challenges. Every time you choose discipline over comfort, you’re preparing for life’s inevitable curveballs. Whether it’s work stress, parenting hurdles, or unexpected setbacks, you’ll find strength to push through because you’ve practiced doing hard things here.
Training isn’t a punishment for what you’ve done the days before. It’s an opportunity to grow physically and mentally into the person you want to be. For all of the parents out there it’s also the habits that your children will see. The better we can be, the more of that they will replicate as they get older. If they replicate that from a young age, that is now a habit that’s instilled into them. A habit of becoming healthy and stronger.
One of our members recently quit smoking after decades. She planned to wait until January but decided, Why not now? Despite the cravings and challenges, she said no each time—and that’s the power of discipline. Her decision shows that the habits we build today shape the person we want to become tomorrow. Whether it’s quitting smoking, lifting heavier weights, or simply showing up, every step forward counts
This week, commit to showing up no matter how you feel. Let us help you build the discipline that leads to growth—inside and outside the gym.