Pack your gym bag the night before: one less step to start

In a YouTube video from May 2022 titled, in our translation, "How I finally managed to start exercising and keep it up", the German creator and streamer Jasmin Gnu shares the tips that made the difference. Earlier in the video, Gnu recommends starting small, once a week for ten or twenty minutes. Then comes one for anyone who has already decided to go tomorrow. In that video, Gnu says:

"packt eure Sporttasche fertig und stellt sie vor die Tür"

(Our translation: "pack your gym bag and put it by the door.")

Jasmin Gnu, YouTube, 2022

Why the bag matters

Gnu's reasoning is practical. If you're already low on motivation when it's time to go, having to pack the bag can be the very thing that tips you into "not today". With the bag packed and waiting, you're ready to go, and the decision has one less step in it.

It's a learner's tip, which is part of its value. It comes from someone who struggled to start, and it targets the exact moment where most sessions are lost: the minutes before you leave, when every small task becomes a reason to wait.

What the research says

A study of habits and exercise suggests the start is the part worth making automatic. Over one month, 123 healthy adults rated two kinds of exercise habit and kept daily diaries. The habit of starting, the urge to begin that a cue sets off, was the only one that predicted how often they exercised. How automatic the workout itself felt added nothing (Phillips and Gardner, 2016).

A packed bag by the door works on that start. It's a cue you'll see at the right moment, and it removes a chore at the point where the urge to begin is weakest. Getting kit ready the night before is expert and learner practice; no trial has tested it on its own. It fits what the habit research says about cues and starting, and it costs a few minutes. For more on fixing the slot itself, and the same trick from a habits researcher, see the best time to work out.

How this fits the Build an exercise routine program

In the 1h Protocol to Build an Exercise Routine, the paid chapter "One session" builds one session from your slot and its cue to the tick after it, with a back-up. One step asks you to pick one thing to get ready the night before, from the same list as above or in your own words, so that starting takes one step. If your sessions kept getting pushed because there was no set time, your pattern may be the Floating Slot, which starts by tying your session to a moment you never skip. Four one-tap check-ins follow by email on days 1, 7, 14 and 30, if you're signed in. The first chapter is free.

Source: Jasmin Gnu, So habe ich es geschafft mit Sport anzufangen und durchzuziehen!, 15 May 2022, at 5:42 Research: Phillips and Gardner, 2016