How I finally stopped quitting the gym

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I had quit before. More than once. I knew what it felt like to build something over months, then watch it disappear because life got in the way. So when I signed up again, I was not just hoping it would be different this time. I actually understood why it had not worked before.

The difference was not motivation. Motivation comes and goes. The difference was that I finally had a clear goal and enough experience to build a system around it.

The Photo I Did Not Want to See

There were two times I quit before this.

The first time, it came down to money. I was doing casual work, the monthly fee became a problem, and I slowly stopped showing up. For a few months I had been consistent, then less and less, then not at all. The second time the reason felt more serious. I wanted to be the best version of myself, I wanted to look better. But without a concrete goal and without structure, that kind of motivation is not enough. It fades, and that is exactly what happened.

This time I had something specific to hold onto. I saw a photo of myself at the beach, taken around three or four months into a break from training. Thinner arms. That classic skinny fat look that creeps up on you when muscle starts disappearing but body fat stays. I knew I had lost ground during that break, but seeing it in a photo is something different from just sensing it. In that moment I told myself I would not let it happen again. I was not going to let all that work disappear a third time.

That photo became my reference point. On days when I had no interest in leaving the house, I came back to it. The full story of how I got to that point, from swimming as a kid to the first gym memberships that did not stick, is in Skinny Kid, Heavy Weights, and One Beach Photo That Changed Everything. It worked better than any motivational quote ever did.

A Goal That Actually Meant Something

This time I knew exactly what I wanted: gain weight, build visible muscle, and stay consistent long enough to keep it. Not a vague idea about getting in shape, but a real target with a number attached to it.

I started at around 72 to 73 kilograms. My short-term goal was 80 kg, partly because the body needs time to adjust to a higher protein intake without digestive issues along the way. The long-term goal was around 90 kg.

Having a specific number changed how I approached every session. Each workout had a purpose. And while nutrition and protein tracking deserve a post of their own, one thing worth mentioning here: splitting protein across five smaller meals instead of three large ones made a significant difference, both for digestion and for actually sticking to the plan day after day.

The full breakdown of how I tracked protein, which sources I used and why I eventually switched from quark to skyr, is in a separate post: How I Tracked Protein to Gain 10kg. For anyone starting out, I use Optimum Nutrition Serious Mass (link) as a post-workout option when hitting the daily number from food alone gets difficult.

Too Much Training Does Not Work Either

Earlier I was training four to five times a week Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, with the weekend off. It sounded serious on paper. In practice I was constantly tired and never felt the energy boost that is supposed to come with regular exercise. My body simply did not have enough time to recover.

I cut it down to three sessions a week. At first Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Later I switched to Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, which gave me more flexibility in planning my week. An added bonus: Tuesday is one of the quieter days at the gym. Fewer people, more space, almost the whole place to myself. Highly recommend.

Some weeks the schedule shifts anyway. That is fine. What matters is hitting three sessions, not sticking to specific days.

Why I Switched to Push/Pull

Before, I trained with a classic body part split: chest and triceps one day, back and biceps another, legs on their own day. It makes sense in theory, but it punishes missed sessions hard. Skip leg day once, twice, and suddenly a month has gone by without training your lower body at all.

Push/pull solved that problem.

Every push session follows the same order: chest first, then triceps, then legs and abs at the end. Every pull session goes back, biceps, then legs and abs. The logic is to start with the main muscle group while you still have full energy, and attach the smaller supporting muscles after. Abs always come last, they get worked regardless of which day it is, but they never take priority over the main lifts.

The result is that even if I only make it to the gym twice in a given week, I have still trained my whole body. Nothing gets left behind.

I used to dislike chest training and much preferred back. Since switching to push/pull, my chest has finally started developing visibly, which is its own reason to keep going. My legs were already reasonably strong from years of cycling everywhere, so those were never the weak point. I also made a conscious decision to keep core training in perspective. I did not want to end up with visible upper body muscle and a protruding stomach from eating without any thought behind it.

The Sauna I Did Not Expect to Love

For a long time I avoided the sauna entirely. One day I tried it after training and something clicked.

I started going regularly, partly because I had heard about the benefits for blood pressure, which I keep an eye on. But mostly because it simply felt good. The routine became: ninety degrees, around ten minutes, then a warm shower, not cold. Cold water after strength training works against you. Muscles want to expand after exercise, and cold water causes them to contract. Warm shower every time.

The reasoning behind that is covered in detail in Why I Stopped Doing Cold Showers After Training — the short version is that cold water after strength training works directly against the recovery process your body starts during the session.

After a while I started attending infusion sessions, which are guided sauna rounds led by a sauna master. He announces which essential oils are being used that day, controls the timing, and the whole experience becomes more immersive. You feel the oils on your skin, the scent stays with you after you leave. It is noticeably more relaxing than sitting in a regular sauna alone.

I wrote about the sauna in much more detail separately, including the research behind it and how it affected my blood pressure over time: Sauna After Every Workout. Around the same period I also added WeightWorld Omega 3 (link) and WeightWorld Magnesium Glycinate (link) to my routine, partly for the same reason, both have research connecting them to blood pressure and recovery.

The sauna became the reward I had earned by finishing the session. That shift changed the entire evening at the gym, from something I had to do, into something I actually looked forward to.

Paying €70 a Month and Why It Helped

This gym costs €70 a month. I am someone who thinks twice before spending €70 on a video game, and I genuinely enjoy gaming. But for the gym, the decision stopped feeling like a sacrifice fairly quickly.

I started thinking about it differently. A game gives me a few weeks of entertainment. The gym gives me energy, a deeper sleep, because a body that trains regularly simply demands more recovery time, fewer health problems, and a body that performs the way I want it to. Put that way, €70 feels like almost nothing.

The price also helped in a practical sense. Knowing I was paying every month whether I showed up or not made skipping feel genuinely costly. A small financial commitment that quietly held me accountable without any extra effort on my part.

What Actually Changed

Looking back, the version of me that kept quitting was not lazy. He just did not have the right structure. Too many sessions per week, a training split that punished every missed day, no reward waiting at the end, and no real skin in the game.

This time all of that was different. Three sessions instead of five, a flexible push/pull system that keeps the whole body covered, the sauna as a ritual worth earning, and a monthly cost that makes quitting feel like a waste.

If you have tried before and quit, that does not mean the gym is not for you. It might just mean the setup was wrong. Get that part right, and the rest follows.

One thing this post does not cover is what happens when something outside your control forces you to adapt the system. A hernia, an injury, a schedule that makes three sessions a week feel ambitious. That side of consistency is in What a Hernia Taught Me About Training Ego.

The content on this blog is based on my personal experience and does not constitute medical, nutritional, or fitness advice. Always consult a qualified doctor or professional before making changes to your training, nutrition, or lifestyle.