5 Ways to Stay Positive at the Gym (#pinspirationthursday)

We all have those "life is lame" and "woah is me" and "leave me alone" days. We're human, and life on an cloud of perma-positivity is virtually unheard of. Introduce me to someone that's never angry or doesn't feel down (like, ever) or insecure and I'll drop and give you a million burpees.

That person doesn't exist.
And I'll never do a million burpees.

Furthermore, that person doesn't exist at the gym, either. The fitness funk hits everyone, I promise you. Not every workout is amazing. Group fit class isn't always great. And sometimes your goals will seem virtually impossible to reach. So why try, right?

Wrong.
So wrong.

Yes, you're allowed to be negative or feel funky.
You're also allowed to hate the gym.

But you're not allowed to give up on it. Or yourself. And I promise you, it's entirely possible to find positivity when you think it's lost forever. Today, I'll tell you how to do this at the gym.

But first, put a smile on your face. Smile = Positivity. Right?

1) Don't let numbers rule you.
They are just one small part of the story. You are not defined by how much you can lift OR how much you weigh. You define yourself by fighting resistance and getting stronger (and leaner). You define yourself when you remind yourself that, yeah...that exercise was hard and those weights burned my muscles. Look at you, strong friend.

2) Accept that it's not supposed to be easy.

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Exercise is supposed to challenge you, right? So if you're feeling particularly weak, or if you're struggling with a particular exercise (I see you pull-ups), let those frustrations fuel you. It's absolutely OK to struggle. The struggle is, and should be, completely real. (Unless you're about to hurt yourself, at which point you need to just stop and figure out what the problem is...remember, there's a "good" struggle and one that just leads to injury).

3) Seek help from available resources. 
Members of the fitness staff at your facility are there to help you with your fitness. If you need help, if you're not seeing results—use that staff. They'll pick you up and get you to where you need to be. They'll give you exercises and a hefty dose of pep talk.

4) Stop comparing yourself to others. 
I do it, you do it...you walk in the gym and see that one person with "perfect" abs. Chiseled biceps. Whatever. And suddenly, you suck at life and exercise. HELLO. Stop comparing yourself to that person. Just stop. They have issues, too. They're not perfect and most importantly—they're not you.
You do you to the best of your abilities. Wipe away the negativity with a hefty dose of "I can do this because I am awesome and beautiful and wonderful."

5) Leave negativity at the door, and don't pick it up on your way out.
If something is bothering you at home or at work, check it at the gym door. Use the gym to escape that funk. You deserve an hour just for yourself. And in that hour, you can virtually transform yourself one bicep curl, one mile and/or one plank at a time. Because endorphins, right? Those feel-goods that surge through your body when you exercise. Truly embrace what they can do for you, then give that funk you checked at the door the cold shoulder as you walk back out again.

Bottom line, stay focused at the gym. On yourself. On all that you're setting out to do, and all that you're capable of doing now and tomorrow and all the days to come. Positivity isn't always easy, but it's always possible.

Find a way.
In AND out of the gym.

PS: If you need more inspiration today, please check out 15 more inspirational quotes to knock the hibernating Winter blues out of you. It's where I found the above quote.

Question: What exercise makes you happy? Me? Burpees. No, seriously...burpees.