How to Get Motivated to Go to the Gym After Work When Tired

By Paul Butler · Online Coach & Personal Trainer

After a full day at work, the last thing anyone wants to do is work out. It is right there in the name. Meanwhile the gym bag in the boot has been there so long it is basically a lodger.

So how do you get motivated to go to the gym after work? Make the decision before five o'clock, go straight there without stopping at home, and learn the difference between being drained and being genuinely exhausted. Most after-work tiredness is the first kind, and a session often does more for it than the sofa does.

Why am I too tired to go to the gym after work?

Usually because your head is tired, not your body. A day of meetings, screens and decisions wears out your concentration, but your legs have spent most of it sitting down. The sofa feels like rest, so it wins. Genuine physical exhaustion from poor sleep or illness is different, and that one deserves rest.

For 18 years I ran around 25 hours a week of face to face sessions before going fully online, so I know exactly what the end of a long day feels like. The trick is working out which kind of tired you actually are.

Drained or exhausted? Know the difference

That last row matters. If you are flat every single day regardless of sleep, the post on being tired all the time goes through the common causes, and it starts with a blood test rather than a pre-workout drink.

Will exercising after work give me more energy?

For a lot of people, yes, though the evidence is messier than gym posters suggest. A large analysis of exercise trials found that regular exercise increased feelings of energy and reduced feelings of fatigue. But in the studies that tested exercise on its own against a placebo, the effect disappeared (Puetz, O'Connor and Dishman, 2006).

So I won't promise you a surge of energy. What I will say is that "I'm too tired" at half five and "I'm glad I went" at seven are both very common, and you only find out which one wins by going.

Won't training in the evening wreck my sleep?

This one puts a lot of people off, and the evidence is reassuring. A review of 23 studies looked at what an evening session does to that night's sleep in healthy adults.

"Overall, the studies reviewed here do not support the hypothesis that evening exercise negatively affects sleep, in fact rather the opposite."

There was one exception. Vigorous exercise that finished within about an hour of bedtime might make it harder to drop off and stay asleep. So a six o'clock session is fine. A punishing workout at ten at night might not be.

How to actually get there

• Decide before five o'clock. Write down which evenings are gym evenings. If it is still a decision at half five, the sofa usually wins. I have written about why deciding in advance works in how to get motivated to exercise.
• Never go home first. Once you are through the front door, the session is in serious trouble. Bag in the car or at work, and go straight there.
• Change before you leave work. It sounds daft, but walking out already in your kit makes skipping feel like more effort than going.
• Eat something at four. A yoghurt, a banana, a protein bar. Training on an empty tank after a long day is miserable.
• Put it in your work calendar. Block the time like a meeting so nothing gets booked over it, and so leaving on time doesn't need an explanation.
• Arrange to meet someone. Cancelling on yourself is easy. Cancelling on a friend who is already in the car park is a lot harder.
• Have a twenty minute version. On bad days, do the short one. It keeps the habit alive, and you can always do more once you are there.

If after work just isn't working

Some weeks it won't, and some jobs make it impossible. That is fine. Try a lunchtime session, an early start a couple of days a week, or one weekday plus one weekend session. You don't need to go every day either. Two sessions a week is plenty for most people, which takes a lot of pressure off the evenings.

Frequently asked questions

What if I get home first and can't face going back out?

Don't sit down. Keep your kit by the door, get changed the moment you walk in, and be back out within ten minutes. Once you have sat down with a cup of tea, getting back up is a much harder sell. If home is the only option, a short home session beats a cancelled gym one.

Is it worth going if I only have twenty minutes?

Yes. Twenty focused minutes on a few big exercises is a proper session, and it keeps the habit going on a busy day. Short sessions add up over a few months, and they are far easier to keep doing than long ones.

Should I eat before an evening workout?

If lunch was more than four or five hours ago, have something small an hour or two before you train. Keep it light so it doesn't sit heavy. Then have a proper meal afterwards, rather than skipping dinner because you feel you have already "used up" the evening.

Is it OK to train after a really stressful day?

Usually, yes, and plenty of people find it is the best part of a bad day. If you are wound up, keep the session steady rather than trying to break records, and don't add heavy weights when your focus is elsewhere. Leave the hardest work for a calmer day.

This is general information, not medical advice. If you feel tired all the time for weeks, regardless of how much you sleep, speak to your GP.

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The 2019 Stutz, Eiholzer and Spengler review of evening exercise and sleep and the 2006 Puetz, O'Connor and Dishman analysis of exercise, energy and fatigue are linked in the text. Images from Pexels (free to use): Liliana Drew, Mizuno K, Andrea Piacquadio.