See, damn it! I want a Wii!
I like participating, but I've found that working out just on a machine allows me the sort of mindless time that I require while benefiting myself with the post exercise endorphins.
While working at 24 Hour Fitness all those years I did in the Long Long Ago, I heard time and time again that it takes 21 days to develop a good habit. I've heard it elsewhere, too. Now, I don't think it means seven days a week of going to the gym, but I've taken it to mean that if you develop a schedule of sorts with the gym, etc, it takes three weeks for it to be solidified, or at least more solid than not. It takes way less time to break it, I've learned, personally. Also, I forget the number of days, but it's less than a week for, say, stopping a strength training regimen, to bring your muscle strength back down to its starting point. I think it's way less than a week, more like 4 days, but I can't remember.
I am finding that my greatest challenge here is the limited amount of workout equipment at my apartment facility. I use it because, without a full time job, I don't feel that I can afford a gym membership at the moment. I don't like the equipment at the facility because, while it provides the basics, it doesn't allow me to pick and choose different workout routines, I don't care for much of the cardio equipment since it messes with my bad knee, and it's a small room and makes me claustrophobic. I am better about it, but anything that comes around that makes me have a reason not to go makes it way too easy to not make the right choice.