08-20-2007, 05:38 PM
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Keeping your motivation.
I think motivation is something that everyone here fights with. We get the people that pop in on the forum for a week or so, then come back 2 months later and say "Oops, I kind of drifted out of it." It's a common thing, we all lose motivation sometimes.
What's your advice for keeping motivation? How do you get re-motivated? Do you need others to motivate you? Can you have self motivation? Basically just want to talk about our motivation and what you can do to keep motivated towards your fitness goals. Discuss.  PS.. Did I mention the word "motivate?" 
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08-20-2007, 07:19 PM
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I think a big part of motivation is planning. Setting tons of mini goals instead of month long goals. Like instead of just being able to complete 10 push ups I want to be able to complete 15 push ups by the end of 2 weeks. Meal planning but planning reasonable still allowing yourself to eat foods that you enjoy but just not as often. If you don't enjoy something chances are you won't stick with it.
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08-20-2007, 07:22 PM
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I read an article a few months back in Men's Health. They wrote about a coach that took a different approach to playing college football. instead of doing all the monotonous drills and hell week during summer, he just had his team play.
Kids that play football, play because they love the game. I have yet to see a group of kids get together and do football drills. No, they get together and play. You never need to motivate kids to go out and play do you? Unless of course he has Xbox or PS3. I can't tell you the hours we all just rode around on our bikes. Sometimes there was someplace to go and other times there wasn't. Every once in a while someone would say "race you to the end of the street." and we'd all break out in something that adults call fartleks. Do you see how adults take the fun out of everything? That coach? MH reports that his team was champions of something. I don't doubt it. Most individuals train specifically. Meaning, if you want to run a race, you run. If you want to Kayak across a lake, you Kayak. Recently people have been doing cross-training, which is adult speak for "I am bored with running and I want to inline-skate." So, how does an adult stay motivated to hit the rowing machine at the gym? they really should have a big guy with a leather vest, stand behind them and bang out a rhythm on a kettle drum. I think that would be hilarious. Sure beats paying all that money for a "personal trainer." All a personal trainer is, is a man or (even worse) a woman with a great body, that you see once a week, who looks you up and down and makes you feel like crap because the breakfast cart had those damn cinnamon rolls that just jump onto your spare tire. Instead of working out with you, they could just send you an email reminder that speedo day in front of the whole gym is coming up. If you want to stay motivated, do something that is fun in the first place. There isn't enough will-power in the world to keep someone going to a gym to do the same old workout every day, if it isn't fun. Recently my wife and I started going to the same gym. and as horrible an idea as it sounds, it is really working out well (pun intended) as we have fun together. Now granted she does the treadmill and recumbent bike, and elliptical in the time that I run 5 miles on the treadmill, but she likes it and this is the first time we can stay together where one of us isn't either going too fast or too slow. As a runner, I know that if I do some leg curls on a machine in the gym it will help me become a better runner. But the day I start riding a bike to be a better runner, you might as well call me a triathelite, because I am bored. Next thing you know, along come the ultras or something else to put the spark back in it. I have also just described marriage. Shaw
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08-20-2007, 07:25 PM
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Yeah, great advice (from both of you).
I usually have a typical ideal in mind. For example, I used to be able to keep motivated to jog everyday at the beach because I knew come the weekend, I would have more stamina and less muscles cramping when I could surf on the weekend. Recently I haven't been able to surf much (time constraints) so since I haven't had the weekend to get ready for, I faded out of it. Actually, I pretty much was catering all of my workout so that I could perform a little better and be in better shape for surfing or bodyboarding. I need to get my motivation going again and get back into it. I've slowly faded out of fitness routines.  And as for training by doing, as you were saying Cabezon, I would LOVE to get better at surfing by actually surfing. However it comes down to time for me. I can squeeze 30 mins of workout in to my day. 30 mins of surfing = 10 mins getting wetsuit on getting in, 10 mins in water, 10 minutes rinse off and all that. But yes, I agree with most other things, its always best to train for it by doing it. 
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08-22-2007, 04:07 PM
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It also helps to have others that are into fitness and keep you thinking about it.
..It's much tougher when you're just dealing with your self and trying to keep yourself into it.
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08-22-2007, 09:29 PM
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I agree if you have friends who really aren't that involved sometimes they might not support you and give you a harder time about eating with them and just make it difficult.
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08-22-2007, 10:00 PM
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Quote:
 This is what I have to look forward to in an hour! Luckily it's a free session.I definitely need others to help motivate me. I've got a co-worker that I go to the gym with. I really only need the motivation to get there. It's so easy to say oh "I'm so tired" or "I don't feel like going" and then go home after work.Once we are thereat the gym, I don't want to follow each other around. I'll do my thing and she can do hers. I do want to see if maybe once a week she'll want to play racquetball with me. I've never played so I think it would be fun to try. I'm also going to find a picture I hate of myself and one that I like and tape them up somewhere in my apartment. That should be some good motivation. The gym I joined is going to give us a corporate discount (already got part of it). Just got an email that next week is the info session here at the office. They need at least 6 people to join to keep the discount (2 of us already joined) so I'm hoping that not only they get enough people so I get $90 back off of my registration fee, but that I'll have some other people to go with. Just as long as not too many people join cause then it will be awkward.
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Julie
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08-23-2007, 12:31 AM
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Motivation? I look in the mirror =).
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08-23-2007, 02:51 AM
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The only that keeps me from being super motivated is partying.
I never feel like hitting the gym after a night of drinking. But, when I am on point all I need to do is monitor my goals and think about just lifting heavier weights and breaking personal bests, or if I haven't lifted in a month or so, getting back to where I was before. For motivational material, I just watch training videos of powerlifters and olympic lifters and that gets me pretty motivated.
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08-23-2007, 01:45 PM
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Quote:
I like to keep pictures up of people with bodies that inspire me. i also like to look in the mirror and see how good I look.
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