It’s in you to find!
Self Motivation Mindset
When it comes down to exercise motivation and discipline, it’s all about the mindset. One best way that worked for me was to make Health my #1 Priority – everything else came second!
A workout session clears your mind, shifts your energy, changes your outlook on life to positive, puts you in a better mood, improves focus, and makes your body feel better.
After a few workouts you will notice that you feel much better and you’re more productive after – every time! And it doesn’t depend on whether the workout session was intensive or not, although you should strive for one most of the times.
Use this fact to your advantage. Whenever you just don’t feel like going to the gym (feeling mellow or tired), or you have a lot of work to do, or the gym closes in 40 minutes and you think there is no point, or you’re hungry – address the problem directly (jump up and down, have an apple or granola bar, have some coffee, take an mp3 player with you) and say to yourself:
I feel better EVERY TIME after the gym! That’s EVERY TIME including today!
I know I will feel better after I go, so this is it: I am going to the gym!
Once you’re at the gym, here are some of my tricks to get going:
- Step into a steam room or sauna for a couple of minutes (in workout clothes)
- Breathe deep, first slow then fast, stretch your neck, touch your toes, stretch your legs
- Just start! Get on the elliptical or a bike and start cranking for 5 minutes
- Put some music on: hard rock, heavy techno, deep house, whatever gives you a boost
- Once your heart-rate is up (130+) you will feel better; increase speed and resistance
- After 15-25 minutes do some machines or weights, few push-ups, crunches and planks
- BEST SOLUTION: Find a vigorous fitness class that you truly enjoy, eg. kick-boxing, zumba
Exercise Motivation is a powerful tool to push you in the right direction. When you find a support system that works for you, remember what is is and use it as much as possible. When is stops working, find another, then another, then perhaps come back to the first one.
Do whatever you have to do and become the master of your body, your mind, and yourself.
People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.
– Zig Ziglar
I faced a lot of challenges, both internal and external while trying to achieve my fitness goals. For instance, friends would invite me out or delicious food would drive me nuts. Bottom line, I had to do whatever it took to achieve and then maintain my goals.
Check out this most inspiring video you will ever watch!
Make a commitment
Get an inspiring mental picture and bring it up whenever you feel tired or lazy. Even better, I photoshopped a picture of some random guy with a fit body I found on the Net and put my head on top. I printed it out and showed it to my trainer for an extra “no mercy” push. I looked at the picture from time to time for my own mind power boost.
Another great boost is having a drill sergeant pushing you or even yelling at you. It may sound annoying, but it works! If you don’t have access to one (you’re not in the army or don’t have access to a bootcamp workout session), watch a Navy Seals or Marines training on youtube and “install” a drill sergeant in your own head. Play back the empowering yelling to yourself in your head when working out.
This self motivation mindset works for me like a charm when pushing myself to 110%:
Come on, 2 more reps, 2 more steps, 20 more seconds, you got this, finish it!
Personal training can get expensive especially if you want to keep it for maintenance purposes after achieving your goals. I tried bootcamp workout sessions at DCC, TKMT, and MECHA for a few months. They’re not the same as personal training, but they work as an awesome alternative. One thing for sure – exercise motivation is plenty!
The benefits that I found in doing a bootcamp workout session:
- It was in the morning so it was a good way to start my day
- A very intense workout… you really feel it!
- Location was convenient…so I had no excuse to skip
- The class size was smaller (7 – 15 people)
- An option to work outdoors in the Summer
Maintain your Diet
When you are hungry, you are simply short on nutrients. It’s not HOW MUCH you eat, but HOW WELL. It’s about quality, not quantity! You have to focus on maximizing nutritious food – fresh and organic as much as possible. You can also try this Performance President’s Pack if you’re short on time and still want to maximize the nutritious value.
Diet was always much harder for me than exercises, so it required an extra boost in self motivation. I bought a recipe book on quick healthy meal options and enrolled in a cooking class – both were a great investment.
But when I just needed an immediate boost in energy, I had to grab a cup of coffee or a shot of espresso. However, if you want to keep it ultra healthy and natural, one of the best energy boosters out there there days is a nutrient-packed and balanced naturally-caffeinated e+ shot.
At this stage, try to focus more on controlling and managing your diet more than on the exercising. You need to develop a new lifestyle now. It’s time for action.
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More quick tips:
- Plan your weekly meals in advance. Knowing what you will eat for breakfast makes it a reality. You will reach for the right things in your kitchen and there is less chance for you to drift from your diet.
- Control is important when you are eating out with friends.
- Start eating several small meals through out the day. It will be difficult and you will get hungry more frequently, but try to manage it by eating things that fill you up. For example, for breakfast try a slice of multigrain bread, less than a tablespoon of peanut butter and a small banana.
As I went along, I also learned that health food was actually turning out to be healthier for my wallet too! I would sauté some vegetables such as broccoli, green peppers, onions, tomatoes, use veggie pasta sauce and add it all in a whole wheat pita with a bit of low-fat cheese. It’s filling and tasty!
Also add a lot of fibre to your diet and opt for veggie options when eating out. Lots of cool water as a snack and avoiding bad fats and simple carbs (white bread, sugar, etc.) will show you some excellent results!
It is also a good idea to get your blood checked for HCL and LDL to establish your weight loss goals. Doing things in steps will keep you moving towards your objective and you will feel less discouraged if you set reasonable short term targets.
Find continued support
Working out with a friend can do wonders for your exercise motivation. Make a pact with him or her to be firm with each other. As an example consider the following of how you can both keep each other motivated and focused:
The Terms:
- Total strikes allowed: 3
- Must attend Gym five times per week, one hour per visit
- If location is convenient… no excuse skip
- Skip gym and you get a strike
- Three strikes: paid cover to a hot night club, cooking a meal, etc.
You should also learn to say NO to anything that takes you away from your commitment to yourself. We go through life making promises to other people in our life, but the hardest promises to keep are those we make to ourselves. Do this for yourself!
Access the bad habits that hinder your fitness goals and follow my rule of fixing it: “Attack it from 3 fronts and find a Replacement.” To eliminate my habit of “eating out,” here is how I applied the Attack and Replace rule:
- Environment: Avoid friends or places that promote bad habit; seek those that encourage and help you. Don’t keep unhealthy snacks in your house nor allow anyone to bring any.
- Mind: Change your mindset – remind yourself why this is not a healthy food choice for you and you should choose better.
- Result: Make the unhealthy food taste awful (burn it, add some unpleasant herb, etc), then find ways to make healthy food more delicious (good herbs, lemon juice, vegetable mushroom pasta, etc.).
Find a replacement, eg. a tastier healthy alternative (eg. organic salad bar, rich veggie or chicken noodle soups, plain yogurt with raspberries and blueberries, etc.)
We all have good days and bad days. Believe it or not but even those tough and buffed personal trainers have off days! The trick is to pace yourself on your slower days so it does not go as a total waste. Here are some tricks that I use:
- Pace yourself or Push yourself, depending upon your energy level that day
- On days you are upset, use the anger to fuel your best cardio workout!!
- Find a workout buddy to push each other, and hold each other accountable
- Eat good nutritious food for breakfast
- Have a protein shake after your workout session. Also have a freshly squeezed veggie juice.
- Take multi-vitamins with breakfast and dinner (eg. Sport Multi-vitamin for Men/Women)
- The steam room for 2 minutes with your work out clothes on. This will heat you up, increase blood flow, soften the muscles, and wake you up!
If there is one thing you can get out of this article is that the key to staying on track is knowing how to channel your energy in the right direction.
If you are feeling less then 100% today, don’t skip the gym, just do an easier workout. Always focus your mind and all your power on the muscles involved, breathe properly and allow yourself 30-120 second breaks between sets.
I guarantee that you will feel much better at the end of the workout session than you did at the beginning of your hour! If you completely don’t feel up for a workout, just do it anyway. Like I said, after every workout I always feel better. EVERY TIME!
Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months and years they spend preparing for it. The victorious performance itself is merely the demonstration of their championship character.
– T. Alan Armstrong
Change your exercises often to keep the workouts interesting and keep the body guessing. Think about it as switching the TV channels vs. watching the same channel everyday for weeks – it makes sense.
Your workouts should not be limited to just going to the gym. Try getting exercises done at home like doing push-ups or sit-ups after waking up and before going to sleep. To easily jump start this self motivation habit, take every stairs anytime you can.
If you’re short on time and/or want to work out primarily at home, get yourself a yoga mat, make a commitment to yourself to workout every day (or get a friend or a spouse to do it together), and follow a 30-day BeFit Workout Plan together with the BeFit Workout Videos (search the BeFit Channel for the specific workouts). Make sure to workout for at least 20 minutes (pick a 20+ minute workout or 2 10-minute ones, eg. butt and abs) and optionally follow with a 5-minute Savasana pose Meditation to your favourite gentle music or sounds to reset your nervous system.
Sign up for the Practical Wellness Guide newsletter to download free fitness & workout eBooks. Also check: Personal Health, Weight Loss Success, and Fitness Workouts.
If you’ve found this article helpful, please post your comments below and spread the word. I want to hear about your fitness goals and your feedback. All the best!
IMPORTANT NOTE:
The information above is based on personal experiences, true results, and real stories. However, please consult your physician before following any advice on this website. For more details read this Important Disclaimer. 11:11
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Hey, that’s powurefl. Thanks for the news.
My pleasure.
I love to hear more of your work..,
Thanks for the motivation, Motivation! 😉
A minimum of eight hours of sleep is necessary for your body to fully recuperate and build muscle after a weight training muscle building workout session. It sometimes feels like there aren’t enough hours in the day, but you have to find a way to fit eight hours of sleep in every night. If you take an honest look at your daily schedule, you will find a way to get those eight hours.
I just started this yesterday after being away from the gym the past 2 months. Started off with Back and Bis. Wow, I’m sore, but I can already feel a big difference. Before those 2 months, I was hitting the gym regularly 3-5x a week doing some good workouts. But this time, I wanted to go in there with a nice proper workout. I’m feelin it.
Work Intervals – Don’t make the mistake of doing hard cardio. Instead of pacing yourself, take complete breaks. Use a heart rate monitor to make sure you go hard enough to get into the “red zone”—85% of your maximum anaerobic threshold – and don’t start again until you’ve transitioned to the “green zone”— 0-75% of your max heart rate. Think of the “yellow zone”—76%- 84%—as a transitional zone. You might feel like you can go again in the yellow but waiting for the green allows you produce more power and strength the next time rather than struggling to maintain crappy cardio.
To achieve this, don’t go too hard and injure yourself, but follow the body building routine in a strict way and stick to the diet and exercise to get a lean and muscular body. Eat healthy food, sleep well and maintain cleanliness to get lean body mass.
When it comes to fitness, there are certain universal questions that experts hear almost every day: How can I get the most out of my workouts? How can I lose weight faster, burn the most calories , and feel energized enough to power through every training session? While there are other elements that may affect your unique situation, there’s one simple answer that applies to all of these questions: Eat! More specifically, eat the right foods at the right time.
Ultimately, the goal of this workout is to build a powerful core, lean muscle, and to burn body fat. Remember that what you feed/fuel yourself with will either aid or hinder your results. I keep track of food intake and eat extremely well to fuel my body. Because of this my recovery is solid.