It has been ages since my last blog as have been super busy with clients, tax returns and training twice a day.
After 22 training sessions in 11 days I am now having a few of off days for the body to recover. There is nothing worse than off days!! Especially after the first couple days (when you are actually tired and thus feel the benefit). Here on day 3 my body is ready to roll and not overly happy about waiting longer to get back to it.
This minor moan is of course a million miles away from the average person who is not even close to needing to consider the effects of over training and rest periods. Most people are awful at doing exercise and the consistency they show is just horrendous.
When looking at exercise my 2 favourite questions are?
– How many exercise sessions did you do over the last year?
(yes, the last 12 months! Where 1/week = 50, 2/week = 100, 3/week = 150 and so forth – minus missed periods of exercise)
– What was the longest you went without exercising?
This will tell you all you need to know. When you know how many sessions people have done in a year you can see both how “good” they are at exercise when going full guns blazing and how good they are at consistency. The latter question revealing the spread over 12 months. e.g. if i exercise 6 times a week when on my plan, but take about 3 months off twice a year. I will still average 3/week in total sessions which sounds good, but through taking 6 months off doing nothing that is obviously a disaster for progress.
I have discussed previously my answer to this, see the post – 367 exercise sessions. The longest without exercise being about 5-6 days.
So the real question is –
How Can I Motivate Myself to Go and Exercise???
Well, there a various things you can do in general but I want to point out today the big lie about exercise motivation. If you understand this it should change your whole perspective of approaching exercise and getting yourself to do it. The lie is –
Motivation is Your Natural State
You do not need to motivate yourself to exercise, you just need to remove the things that de-motivate you from doing it.
It is human nature and natural to want to move your body. Life (events/your thinking) take you away from this motivation state.
For example, think of a dog, you do not need to motivate a dog to go outside and play, no great speeches are required, no motivational videos on you tube must be watched and no advice needs to be given…open the door and he will be out in the park running around like a mad case, see video below (the cat at the end has other thoughts on this). Any parent will know kids are exactly the same –
Adults are no different except we pretend we are more serious and we come up with more reasons to not do something, We have learnt to become better at demotivating ourselves. Either way, it is not motivation you need, it is control of the things that demotivate you.
Common ways to crush your natural motivation state include –
Being Tired – Be it from eating rubbish foods, not eating enough food, no sleep etc. If your body is physically tired (this is unnatural except near bed time etc) then it detracts from your motivation.
Not Knowing What To do – Ever had that thought about going to try some bit of exercise or equipment but the fear of not knowing what to do stopped you? The motivation was there – “I would love to play on that bit of equipment” (go to that class etc)….but then so were the de-motivators too “you will look such an idiot when you get stuck on the machine” (when you can’t keep up etc).
Fear of the unknown / Not knowing What To Do – While the above point refers more to trying something slightly different to the normal…if you haven’t ever exercised, never been to a class or never lifted weights it is a mine field about starting. But do not confuse this lack of know how as a lack of motivation. The motivation is there, the desire is there, it is your fears that stop you. But fear can be overcome in many ways. The easiest way is getting a person in the know to show you or going along with a friend etc.
Not following your wants – Many inconsistent exercisers tell me how they despise one or two elements of their training plan. “Ben, I love the bike and treadmill but hate the rower and that other thing”…..well…..stop doing the ones you dislike…..(see my point below on being an athlete)…
Doing it in the wrong location – With a passing inspiration to do exercise the flash photo of the gym being rammed busy will steal that enthusiasm to exercise. The idea of having to leave your house may defeat the enthusiasm to move your body. The key is having the ability to exercise where your heart desires. If you don’t know how to, then see point above.
Pre-meditating your Exercise intensity – Your motivated side says “I would love to go and do a light session to get some of this stress out the way”….then the de-motivators kick in – “um, are you serious – picture how much it would hurt going level 13, lifting 80kg…are you serious??” …..you were motivated already…but you tricked yourself into thinking the intensity had to be at a certain level of effort…. = demotivated!
Pre-meditating Your Exercise Length – The motivated side says “i’d quite fancy a short easy jog now before we go to do dinner”…the demotivation bringer of doom voice says “what a total waste of time, unless you hit the magic ’20 minutes’ of exercise there is no point”. …the result = Exercise 0, sitting on ass 1
Pre-meditating Your exercise Plan – Some days you just cant be bothered to stick to that plan but would love to do something else…..simple advice…do something else!!
Injury and pain – Injuries suck the life out of you as one it hurts and two sometimes you should avoid the exercise itself despite being keen. The key is to play to your motivated side by still doing all you can except that which is explicitly ‘banned’. For example, instead of running use the arm machine to get out of breath, do some boxing etc. Instead of squats hurting your back use the leg extension machine. Perhaps simply warm up and do rehab work. Just go with your motivation to do something.
Many others – There are a boat load of different reasons you can demotivate yourself.
I will point out some more of these de-motivators and give some practical solutions to these issues in a later blog post as i have things to do, but I want you to understand the real concept at work here.
BUT Wait – I’M An Athlete!
If your exercise consistency is poor then all of the above works well. But people tell me “no, i am training for xxx sport / xxx event”….. I have to do this exercise, i must use this type of training, follow the plan to the letter
HOLD UP!!
If you are a serious athlete, you do not miss training sessions….end of story!…
If you are a serious athletes you will exercise 250-300 times plus a year…..Consistently!
Failing that, you are not a full on athlete and the above applies to you as it would anyone else. There is more than one way to get to the promised land of athletic performance as shown by the varied training methods of top level athletes. But all athletes are consistent and rarely ever miss a session except for injury. For serious athletes who are hitting the numbers and never miss session then we would have a slightly different conversation from above but if you are not consistent every day, 12 months a year. You are not acting like a serious athlete.
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You DO NOT NEED motivating. You simply need to remove things that De-Motivate you, be it specific thoughts or certain circumstances or rules.
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– WHAT IS DEMOTIVATING YOU?
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July 17th – July 29th (12 days)
Training hard twice a day and everyday. I was training 5am and at midday. It was working really well and I love being up early to hit the weights. Eating maximal – ish calorie amounts and protein intake. After 10 days i could already see noticeable muscle gain…happy days !!!!!!!!!!! 
….though hardly massive amounts obviously.
Diet – Protein – 212g, Carbs – 338g, fat – 69g, calories – 2198 % P: 30% C : 48% F: 22%
Exercise – Weights x 18 sessions, 1 jog, 1 track session, 2 off days
Weight – 71.7kg average Body fat – 38.3mm* average
Supplements – Protein shake x 1/2 a day
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*This is my own 10 point self measurement system, it does not correlate to body fat scores. At a guess 40mm – 8%, 50mm – 9.5%, 60mm – 11%, 70mm – 12.5%. I do not take it everyday if looking to gain muscle or maintain as it puts me off wanting to eat more. If on fat loss phase I take it daily.
Battersea – For Personal Training Battersea please contact me. I am available for sessions in homes, private gyms or Personal Training Battersea Park