Recently, I have been working hard (even took a week of vacation) remodelling a room in our house and doing other home projects. I had a deadline to meet and worked 10-12 hours per day plus had other family obligations. I have been physically and mentally tired from this.

It was clear that I was not going to be able to do SL5×5 or start my intermediate training program for a two week period while doing this work. Rather than letting this get me down, I instead made sure that I did some other exercises that I could quickly do when I had a chance: pushups, chin-ups, pull-ups, pistol squats, reverse crunches, brick pinches and brick curls.

So, I think I am saying the same as some other replies in that if you can’t do your regular workout…at least do something physical. Don’t sit on the couch munching on chips and drinking beer wishing you were motivated to work out.

What a lot of people fail to do is to plan their workouts. So at least have a basic plan or structure that you can work with. Otherwise training becomes monotonous and you waste a serious amount of time.

When i don’t feel like training, i just force myself to go in. There have been times when i’ve had hardly any sleep or food but still forced myself to training and hit pb’s on those days. But there have also been days when i’ve gone in and had a bad training session, however those sessions pissed me off so much they caused me to refocus and pushed me back on track again.

I once had a job that required me to travel a lot around the country, the first thing i would do is find out the nearest gym no matter where i was in the country. I would will myself to find a gym somewhere. I frequently worked construction for 10 hours, gone in and still squatted heavy.

There were times when i had football practice in a different county. I would take the 2hr train straight after work carrying all my pads, train for two hours and take the two hr journey back and get ready for work the next day at 8am. But i never really felt tired, because here i was distinguishing myself from the rest, like a hero who has more on his back then most can imagine, but he nevertheless perseveres. Going round, going through, going under, going over obstacles, however he can.

Don’t allow yourself excuses. Even when you are entitled to one, dismiss it, slap yourself around the face.

Arnold said: It is not strength that makes you strong, it is going through struggles and beating them that makes you stronger.

You’ll go consistently because:
1. You like lifting, the results from it, and you enjoy the company.
2. Spotters help you lift more/check you form (placebo effect or not).
3. It’s a lot easier to let yourself down than your friend.

keep in mind that sometimes just going to the gym period is more important than what you do there, just to keep up the habit. so you can say to yourself “okay i’ll just drive there and go on the eliptical for a couple minutes, easy” because it always feels good to get out of the house. when i go for a smaller workout i end up doing a longer one as always because i just get addicted and must do more more more!

it will quickly get easier and easier to go because you get addicted to the good feeling you get during and after a workout =)

looking at sites like stronglifts and going with a friend also helps