Busting Barriers: “I’m too tired.”

You know you need to get to the gym, but something’s standing in your way.

In this series we’ll tease apart the most common barriers that have kept my clients from getting to the gym and we’ll identify how to bust through those barriers so you can create lasting routines that will get you to the gym and on the way to achieving your fitness goals.

Busting Barriers: “I’m too tired.”

When I talk with my clients about their struggles to get to the gym I know I’m likely going to hear “I’m too tired.”

I really get it. Women have a lot on our plates. We’re expected to manage our commitments to our jobs (often more than one), our kids, our parents, our partners, our friends, our volunteer work, our households… to say nothing of “self-care.” Just writing it all out is exhausting. Is it any wonder that so many of us say we’re “too tired” to go to the gym? Many moms tell me that with their kids keeping them up or getting them out of bed multiple times a night, they are too fatigued to make it to the gym the next day.

Let’s get real though if you’re waiting until you’re not tired to take care of your body you’re never, ever going to get there. We’re all going to be tired until we die. (You’re welcome for your daily dose of inspiration!)

Instead of waiting for the nonexistent day when you’ll be bursting with so much energy that going to the gym seems easy, you can embrace the suck of being tired and realize that working out is actually a solution to our tiredness problem.

Research shows that when you work out you actually get more energy throughout the day. Your muscles might feel tired during your squats, but you’ll get to the carpool pick up line with a little more pep to get you through to bedtime. And when you do get to sleep your sleep will be deeper and more restful. And, unlike some of the other reasons we might go to the gym, like changing our body shape, the boosts in energy and sleep come early on in starting a new fitness routine. A bit of near-instant gratification is a great reason to roll out of bed and lace on your gym shoes.

If the siren song of your pillow seems just too irresistible, you may have to find ways to trick yourself into getting out the door. One of my clients, Alice*, recently shared that she has a rule that helps her get to the gym: once her alarm goes off she tells herself she just has to get up to pee. Alice realized that for her the hardest part of the process was just getting out of bed, so she created this routine to get her feet on the floor. Once she’s made that initial trip to the bathroom she is up, so getting her gym clothes on and getting out the door is the easy part!

To get through the “I’m too tired” barrier you need to acknowledge that you’re tired now and you’re going to keep being tired, but going to the gym is a solution that will help you be less tired!