Just say 'now.'

Men's Fitness, April, 1999 by Ben Kallen

Slacking off from your workouts? Here are 10 ways to beat procrastination before it beats you.

Hey, it happens. You promised yourself you'd hit the gym four times last week, but somehow you only made it twice. Or you were planning to go for a run at 5 o'clock, but somehow you got stuck watching a game on TV and now it's too dark outside. Maybe you would be working out right now if you weren't feeling a little tired, and if it weren't such a long way to the gym, and if you could only find your sneakers ...

This kind of procrastination is no big deal if it happens only once in a while - but if it becomes a regular occurrence, it can seriously interfere with your workout goals. How do you keep an occasional bout of laziness from gradually pulling you toward the outskirts of couch-potato-land? We asked procrastination experts for some timely advice on the matter. Put the strategies they describe to work, and do it now.

1 Set stronger goals

You may think you already have workout goals, but if you're procrastinating, they aren't powerful or specific enough. "Setting goals is a motivating factor that keeps things in perspective," says exercise and sports psychologist Lew Lyon, PhD, director of the Good Health Center at Baltimore's Good Samaritan Hospital. "Rather than just saying, '1 should work out,' decide what you really need out of your workout program." Are you working out to become stronger, to be more muscular-looking, to lose excess body fat, to become better at sports? Figure it out. "Next, set specific goals you can reach in a certain amount of time, and measure your progress every couple of months," Lyon adds. "If you can say, 'I like the fact that I'm lifting heavier weights on a curl,' that can really keep you going."

On the other hand, maybe you've set your goals too high. If that's the case, not making the progress you expect could be keeping you from the gym. "I can't take Don Knotts and make him Arnold Schwarzenegger," Lyon says. "You can gain strength and definition by working out, but genetics will determine how much muscle girth you'll eventually end up with."

2 Change your workout program regularly

"If you do the same thing for a long time, you won't grow as fast, and you'll get bored more easily," Lyon says. "An exercise program needs to be re-evaluated regularly to avoid staleness." There's another reason to vary your training: Muscles become accustomed to the stresses of unvaried Workouts and essentially become "bored" as well Lyon recommends developing a routine that mixes hard days and easy days, which you can do with a trainer or just by following the advice in Men's Fitness. This will give you faster results and will help keep your Workouts from becoming mundane.

3 Set a firm schedule

Write your upcoming workout times in a datebook or calendar, and stick to them as you would any other appointment. "If you set a time to work out, you're more likely to do it. But if you say, 'I'm going to exercise sometime today,' you may not ever get around to it," says Bradley Cardinal, PhD, co-director of the Sport and Exercise Psychology Laboratory at Oregon State University and a leading expert on why people become and remain physically active. If you find that you frequently need to be elsewhere at the appointed hour, or that you often feel tired and unmotivated at that time, then change your schedule to one that better meets your needs.

4 Work out with a buddy

There's a simple reason for this rule's success: If you've planned to meet someone at the gym, you pretty much have to show up on time. (Assuming, of course, that your friend is the sort who shows up on time himself.) You don't even have to work out together, although some guys find that motivating as well. "Having both of you there will help you to push each other along," Lyon says.

Keep in mind, though, that a workout partner should be at approximately the same level as you. "If you want to run 10 miles and your buddy can't last past five, that can be a problem," Lyon says.

5 Reward yourself

The benefits of working out can take time to see, so give yourself some more immediate payoffs. 'Make a behavioral contract with yourself, saying. 'I'll do this during the week. and on the weekend I'll go to the movies,'" advises Cardinal. If the rewards are good enough, you may be amazed at how well you respond to basic self-bribery.

6 Try the "five-minute compromise"

If you simply don't feel like working out when you've intended to, tell yourself you'll exercise for five minutes, and that if you don't want to continue at that point you'll stop. Most of the time, you'll end up doing the whole workout anyway.

7 Remotivate yourself

If you've been skipping workouts, you need to remember the reasons you started exercising in the first piece. "One missed session isn't the end of the world - you can just get back into it," says Cardinal. "Two missed sessions, or a week's worth, and you need to ask yourself why you're avoiding it. Then reflect on what makes working out important to you, and stress the positive benefits."