The Psychology of Quitting: Why Most People Fail Their Fitness Goals (And How Not to)

You've prepared everything to start your fitness journey, bought shoes, tracked macros, and even bought a gym membership, yet you still start ghosting the gym after a short period. You get back to Uber Eats, and things get back to “normal”.

Don’t worry if this sounds like something you would do. Some studies show that 80% of people would quit after 2 months of training. So, why is that?

Key Takeaways

• The majority of people start their journey as a New Year’s Resolution. This “journey” lasts around 3 weeks before it stops.
• Motivation isn’t what makes you go to the gym. If that were the case, you would rely on the feeling you have when motivated, which can be counterproductive.
• Broken goals can mean the difference between sticking to the gym and quitting.
• Build identity-based habits, make it as easy as possible for you, track progress visually, and use social accountability.

The Real Stats on Gym Quitters

Don’t beat yourself down if you went to the gym twice and paid the yearly membership. This is the case for the majority of members.

Quitter’s Day is the 19th of January, taken from Strava’s New Year’s Resolution data. Around 50% of the new sign-ups at this time of the year are people who haven’t trained before.

On the positive side, the stats are changing over the years. Gen Z is making new gym trends, which are making it easier for newcomers.

One of the most surprising facts is that around 65% of the gym memberships go unused completely. And only 9% of the US say they stick to their New Year’s resolutions.

If you are an app developer, you should know that every 4th person deletes fitness apps within 7 days of downloading them.

Quitting Isn’t Weakness - It’s Human Psychology at Work

I watched hundreds of YouTube videos when I started working out at the age of 16. Street workout and gym motivational videos were a huge boost for me. But this type of motivation expired after watching every type of video you can find.

Nowadays, I understand that action drives motivation. Instead of waiting to feel motivated, taking even small steps will help you create a habit.

Discomfort isn’t something our brain likes, so we avoid it at any cost. This might be new for you, but “no pain, no gain” fails in the long term. It can be a motivating factor when you take action, feel the pain, and feel better after training, but constantly being in pain will cause you to burn out.

I had tens of apps that help me plan workouts, and most of them are in the bin. This happens for a reason, and that’s the vague goals. Instead of writing in your schedule “lose weight”, try writing “walk 20 min a day 5 times per week”.

And the last on the list has to be dopamine addiction and modern distractions. Andrew Huberman has some great tips to share when bringing your phone to workouts.

How to Stop Quitting - The Anti-Quitter’s Guide

There’s no need to go hardcore and punish yourself if you skip one workout. On the contrary, making things as easy as possible is the best way to build a behavior.

1. Use social accountability (group chats, buddy system).
2. Track progress visually instead of writing.
3. Build identity-based habits (I’m the kind of person who doesn’t skip leg day).
4. Get over failure fast (missing one day isn’t a reason for total collapse.
5. Making it stupid-easy at first (5-minute rules, habit training).

It’s okay to take accountability for failure, but have in mind that you are not the worst person when it comes to creating good habits, like working out. It’s just hard until it becomes a habit.