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Motivation - What's yours?

Jeff7181

Jeff7181

Lifer
I intended to keep up my workout routine and then some after my physical therapy was over and my knee was back to normal. My knee is almost back to 100% and I've been slacking on the exercise and healthy lifestyle due to what I believe is just lack of motivation. It appears it's just as rewarding to get an extra 2 hours of sleep than it is to improve my health and fitness.

So I'm curious... what is your motivation to spend the time and effort to get/stay in shape and live healthy?
 
To be British Champion in weightlifting and to qualify for Euro and World Championships 🙂

I just want to be a complete animal in the gym, lifting huge weights 😀

Koing
 
Sports are fun.

Now stop it, or some idiots will decide we need to ban sweet a/v setups like your's, because they are a health hazard 😛
 
I spent the majority of my life not looking good. I look good now and want to stay that way. Also, things that you can work on and see steady gains in tend to get interesting in their own rights. My main focus to start with was losing fat and getting my body into a shape that the wimminz would desire, but I'm getting more and more interested in my numbers lately. Going for strength and performance related goals has changed the way I'm working out somewhat and is helping me to keep things fresh.
 
kinda along the lines of slithery and dan, I grew up really fat. and actually just recently got motivated to work out again, partially because I got fat again but there are other reasons too. like just being general healthy, I have WAY more energy for my kids, and I miss my abs 🙁

It's a lot easier to get motivated if you set goals
 
1. Health - heart disease, diabetes, cancer run rampant in my family lines. And fitness/strength.
2. Feeling good about myself / looking good for my wife.

I was never overweight, just really out of shape w/ no real definition (5'8" 185lbs). After this past year of lifting, the more progress I make the more focused I am in keeping my routine and being savage at the gym. I'm now at 170lbs, and somewhere between 10-12% body fat.

 
I originally got into weight training because I wanted to look better naked. I made some decent gains, but nothing spectacular. Then, a few years ago, I realized that focusing my training on performance rather than looks would benefit me far more. Striving to increase my fitness as much as possible has to improved everything else in my life, including my health, diet, sleep, looks, sports performance, confidence, discipline, etc. The ~5 hours per week I spend exercising, a mere 2% of my time, makes the other 98% of my life much, much better.
 
Long-term motivation: High energy is my motivation. I suffer from low energy, so if I don't pay strict attention to sleep/food/workout, then I have low energy all day long and life is generally no fun. The way I keep it up is by having a crystal-clear plan (sleep plan, meal plan, workout plan). I've found that if I don't have a plan, it's easy to drift and make excuses, but if I do have a plan, then I know exactly what I'm supposed to do that day as far as bedtime, food, and exercising.

Short-term motivation: Exercising isn't too much fun for me, so I have to trick myself into exercising and entice myself to keep on doing it. As part of my workout plan, I have a specific time and length that I do it every day (5:30AM, for 30 minutes). I have an alarm that reminds me when I do it. Then I put on my exercise clothes (jogging pants and a bright red breathable shirt), this makes me "feel" like I'm ready for exercising. Then I either go biking with a buddy, or I use Netflix - I have a small TV in front of my exercise equipment to keep me entertained for cardio. That way I have something new & interesting to look forward to every day. I've learned that if I'm not specific with myself, it's really easy to make excuses.

So for me, my main goal is to have high energy. To make that happen, I have a plan and then "trick" myself into doing it every day and make it interesting by watching movies or working out with a buddy. That seems to work pretty well for me.
 
For me, it's getting to the point where my body is no longer an impediment to having a happier life. I have had poor body image for over 20 years now, and it led to me not pursuing a social life, settling for solitude and hiding like I'm the Phantom of the Opera or Quasimodo. Now I'm in my early thirties, and I am sick of missing out. I had my first girlfriend last year, for about 6 weeks - and while that was a bust, I learned that even when I have a woman in my life, my negative body image gets in the way. I am determined to lose at least 30 pounds of fat before the year is out (hopefully before November, even), and start feeling comfortable in my skin for the first time in my life.
 
I'm continually tweaking my running and strengthening program to push as close to my physical endurance limits as possible without getting injured.

This year I stepped up to marathons, and I'm hooked. I plan to keep setting new goals for progressively lower times. Once I max out there, I can start competing for age group awards.

My current goal is to run 2:37 in my next marathon, although I'd still be happy to sneak in under 2:40.

Although I love being active just for the sake of being active (and looking good naked, etc.), I'm a competitive person so I need some sort of goal to aim for.
 
It all started off with the express purpose of shedding the fat I'd accumulated over the first 35 years of my life. As I lost the weight I began to enjoy the exercise and stepped it up several times. It has now eclipsed all my other hobbies. For instance, I used to be a computer geek, now I use my computer to post on AT, check email and facebook, and read about running and triathlons.

Now like Buddha I'm trying to push myself to see how far I can go. I started off small with a 15 mile race, in October I'll do a 50K race, and next spring I'll do a 50 mile race. If that goes well, in 2011 I'm going to do a 100 mile race, probably the MMT100. And if I finish that I'm going to put my name in the lottery for the WS100.

I guess my motivation is now addiction...
 
Originally it was looking good naked. It still remains the same, but I have quite a bit more motivation now since I own a gym and looking the part definitely helps.
 
Originally posted by: KoolDrew
...I own a gym...
Click to expand...
That's cool. Do you have equipment for endurance athletes? You know, I have some good ideas for a gym and absolutely no ability (i.e. money) to act on them.
 
My motivation is two-fold:

1) I went through a scary realization that you only have one body, and it's absolutely insane to do anything less than take stellar care of it. I've completely revamped eating and exercise habits.

2) I used to go to Cedar Point (amusement park in Ohio) every year. Then one time there while in my 20s, the ride attendant was unable to strap me into the ride properly because of my gut. Such a humiliating walk of shame off of that platform. I was disgusted, shocked and embarrassed. I will return there next year and be able to ride everything comfortably. That is my vow.
 
Originally posted by: Megatomic
It all started off with the express purpose of shedding the fat I'd accumulated over the first 35 years of my life. As I lost the weight I began to enjoy the exercise and stepped it up several times. It has now eclipsed all my other hobbies. For instance, I used to be a computer geek, now I use my computer to post on AT, check email and facebook, and read about running and triathlons.

Now like Buddha I'm trying to push myself to see how far I can go. I started off small with a 15 mile race, in October I'll do a 50K race, and next spring I'll do a 50 mile race. If that goes well, in 2011 I'm going to do a 100 mile race, probably the MMT100. And if I finish that I'm going to put my name in the lottery for the WS100.

I guess my motivation is now addiction...
Click to expand...

There is a reason God invented cars. :laugh:


Good luck with the races, that pretty impressive.
 
Motivation is a funny thing. If you think about things like brushing your teeth daily or taking a shower, you've trained yourself to just do it without the need for motivation. So I've trained or mentally prepared myself to a point where exercise is just one of those things I have to do regularly. Then it requires less need for motivation on my part to get off my lazy ass. How do you feel if you wake up one morning and can't brush your teeth[for whatever reason]? Train yourself to feel the same way about exercise.
 
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