Personal Trainer & Nutritionist
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Now that you’re old enough to join the gym, all you need is your parents’ approval? We can make that happen! In this article, I’ll tell you 6 tips you can use to persuade your parents to sign up at the gym.
#1 Sign up with friends
Try to find a friend who also wants to sign up at the gym or already works out there. We humans are social creatures and tend to adapt to our surroundings. If your parents see that a friend or even several friends are working out at the same gym, they will be more likely to agree than if you go alone, especially if they know your friends’ parents. That’s how I did it back in the day: I signed up with a few friends at the gym at the same time.
#2 Sign up with your parents
If you have a good relationship with your parents and don’t mind if you work out at the same gym, you can sign up with your parents together. Maybe your parents have been toying with the idea and now you are giving them the opportunity. This way, you’re not only thinking about yourself, but also about your parents’ health, and you can exude a sense of responsibility. Realistically, it’s unlikely that you’ll always go together, but this way your parents will worry less because they won’t have to “let you out of their hands” directly.
#3 List the benefits of strength training.
Strength training in the gym has not only aesthetic, but also health and also psychological benefits. Weight training requires and teaches discipline and perseverance, with which the benefits go far beyond the body and the gym. There are many examples of successful people for whom sports, often in the gym, play a central role in their lives. The discipline and stamina from strength training can also improve your academic performance, a strong argument to make to your parents.
#4 Health before beauty
Bodybuilding is unfortunately tainted by a lot of prejudice. Although many people are now aware of the benefits of going to the gym, it is still often associated with bodybuilding, even though there is so much more to it than just the aesthetics. Even if you want to go to the gym primarily to build muscle, putting the health aspect first can help convince your parents. Saying that you care about your health (e.g. improving posture, strengthening your back, etc.) will make you seem reasonable and mature to your parents.
#5 Cover the costs
Suggest to your parents that they sign you up and you cover the cost. If it is too expensive for your parents or they are afraid that after a few visits you won’t go and the year contract will be paid for nothing, they don’t have to worry about that. You can also make a deal with your parents, for example: You pay yourself in the beginning and if you go regularly, they cover the cost or they pay and if you stop going regularly, you have to pay the annual contract yourself. The last option, may also motivate you to go to the gym regularly.
#6 Train at home first
If you don’t already do it, you can start working out at home first. When your parents see that you are doing it regularly at home, they will see that you are serious about it. This will not only reassure them that you will be going to the gym regularly, but they will also be less worried about you getting injured if you are confident in performing exercises like push-ups, pull-ups, etc. I also trained at home with my own bodyweight for 1-2 years in the beginning, which I’m sure helped convince my parents that I would be decent at working out at the gym as well.
Conclusion
Convincing your parents to go to the gym can be tricky, but with intelligent reasoning, you’ll get there. Put yourself in your parents’ shoes and try to reflect on yourself: What could really be their background for not agreeing right away? We humans tend, consciously or unconsciously, to say something other than what we think. If you approach it psychologically, you may come up with even more appropriate arguments.
Did these tips help you convince your parents to sign up at the gym? Feel free to let me know in the comments if it worked for you. If you have any other questions about signing up at the gym, you can ask me there, too, and I’ll be happy to help!