How Can I Get Motivated To Exercise?
At this time of year, the urge to hibernate can become strong.
The couch calls loudly and the year’s best telly is running (well, that’s how it used to be before streaming…).
How can you stay motivated with exercise? How can you not fall off the bandwagon? (At least I think it’s “off” - I can never remember that metaphor…).
Here’s a selection of reasons and motivations I’ve observed - or experienced - over the years. Take from it what you will :)
Use one from the first list at your own peril! But I heartily endorse everything in list two.
LIST 1 - AMUSING & INTERESTING REASONS/MOTIVATIONS THAT I DON’T NECESSARILY ENDORSE…
Revenge
Yes, revenge. Revenge training is … “a thing” (as they say…).
When I was dumped for the first time by my first ever girlfriend, I remember saying to myself, “I’m going to make her regret that.” By which I meant I’m going to become super fit in order to make her want me back, and then she’ll regret what she’s done. And it worked! She wanted me back! And then she dumped me again a few months later. Deploy revenge training at your own peril.
Anger
A few years back, I faced some challenging interpersonal circumstances. As a recovering neurotic, I had become less conflict-avoidant, but I tacked too far the other direction and became too angry. During this time of my life, I did a fair bit of anger-fuelled training. I guess it was better that I hit a boxing bag than a person, but I think you need to be careful with angry training - it may fuel your fury and not quench it.
Proving Them Wrong
Proving Them Wrong training is when you use exercise as a physical ritual to summon up your willpower to persist in some aspect of life which is really demanding, and where you feel that others expect you to give up or fail. It’s a close cousin to revenge and anger training, and includes elements of them both.
This form of training is best accompanied by the Eminem song “Lose Yourself” or the Rocky movie classic “Eye of the Tiger” (or the Aus Rock classic, “Driving Wheels” by Jimmy Barnes). With this mode of training, you say to yourself, “I will prove them wrong as surely as I will crest this hill / lift this weight / beat this time”.
LIST 2 - HEALTHY REASONS & MOTIVATIONS THAT I RECOMMEND
Momentum
I have a client called Amy who has amassed for herself a great deal of momentum in her training. Amy will be the first to tell you she’s not a sporty person, and not naturally motivated to move much (unlike yours truly). But, she’s been so incredibly consistent with doing a little bit often, that she’s built a great routine that seems - to me - to be self sustaining.
When you form an exercise ritual, it takes energy to NOT do it.
The main thing to take away here is to take heart if you find it an immense struggle to train consistently. If you persist, it is very likely to get a lot easier.
Social Pressure
There are ways you can place yourself in a situation where you have (healthy) social pressure to exercise. Here’s a few:
Get a custom training program (from Extension Fitness, of course ;) )
Get some other program (I like MyProCoach for runners)
Join a class (preferably small - so you get to know people & they’ll ask where you’ve been if you don’t show up)
Get a Personal Trainer (Extension Fitness, of course ;) ) One way to make sure you do it is to pay someone to make you do it…
Join a sporting team (or training group)
Defragmentation
The right type of training can clear the mind and lift your spirits.
For me, I tend to experience this with water based training & sport. I have vivid memories of great epiphanies and obtaining a calm mind from taking myself off surfing. Also, around 10 years ago, when I was having a pretty rotten time of things due to anxiety, I found that after I swam laps of the pool I experienced a remarkable sense of rationality descend into my mind. You may need to experiment, but I think there’s probably some form of outdoors activity which will have a similar effect for you.
A Physical Achievement Goal
One way to MAKE yourself exercise is to commit to some event where you’ll be physically challenged. It could be running in the City to Surf, or climbing up Buff Knoll. Maybe even multi day hiking on the Bibbulman Track. It needs to be hard enough for you to know for sure that you’re going to suffer if you’re not prepared…
A Health Scare
One way to apply the cattle prod to yourself is to have a health scare. Not that this can necessarily be orchestrated. Although, if you know you need to address your physical inactivity, you may wish to summon up the nerve to see some sort of health professional that can be trusted to talk plainly to you about risks you may be facing from lifestyle factors (e.g. excessive alcohol and a lack of exercise). I’ve known a few people for whom this has worked a treat.