We often read on this site of others having difficulty convincing loved ones to change their diet, workout, stop destructive habits, etc. My feeling is that no one will do painful and difficult things (like diet and training) UNLESS there is some future goal or “carrot” dangling out there that they really would like to reach. (As a side note, “better health” has historically been a very admirable goal, and one that we all should be striving for…but it has been shown to be an absolutely poor motivator of people). So my questions:
1)Why do you think “better health” is such a poor motivator for people to change?
2)Without some dream or goal, is it virtually impossible for a person to change their lifestyle?
2)What is your “carrot” that keeps you dieting, going to the gym and putting up with all the inconviences and hassles of this lifestyle? (Mine are that I feel stronger, more confident, and this translates well to all aspects of my life (especially to the opposite sex!). I also wish to have a life where my last 20 or 30 years are not bedridden and/or in poor health, God willing…)
Better health isn’t a tangible thing, unless you’re sick, you know? I mean, take a guy in decent shape but has really high cholesterol. It’s not like lowering it is going to make him physically FEEL better. If we can’t see it, feel it, or touch it, we don’t care about it.
I’ve never known anyone to drastically alter their lifestyle for the better just for the hell of it.
My carrot is the extreme amount of sex and money I’ll make when I sign my first pro boxing contract.
I’m not sure “better Health” is such a poor motivator for everyone. I know it’s one of the reasons why I get my butt out of bed and to the gym. I do think that for those that are lazy and/or have extremely low will power that it is not a very powerful motivator. Another possible reason, is that life is uncertain, and I think some people don’t see the point in beating themselves up if they are going to get hit by a Mac truck the next day… Anyway just a few reason i thought of.
2)For me it is impossible… I need a goal to keep me moving. Even if that goal is to not become a couch potato like some of my friends.
3)My “carrot” is the personal competition… I love going to the gym and beating my previous marks (just another reason why I love EDT). I think you said it best Mufasa when you said, “I feel stronger, more confident, and this translates well to all aspects of my life (especially to the opposite sex!). I also wish to have a life where my last 20 or 30 years are not bedridden and/or in poor health, God willing…)” sounds good with me.
Yeah, I think “better Health” is too vague for most people, especially if they are healthy already. Let’s face it, most of us feel that we are invincible and will be in good health forever. The only thing that can change that feeling is if we get seriously sick, or if someone we are very close to gets seriously sick. My dad didn’t get motivated to eat better or start exercising until he had a heart attack, and survived it. After that, daily walks, oatmeal, fish, etc. became routine. My personal carrot is seeing feeble, old people. I really don’t want to get feeble in my old age. I am approaching the time in life where my hormones are going to change a lot of things, so if I can be strong and in really good shape before I get there, it will make that passage easier and will cause less drastic change in my body. I don’t want to be bed-ridden or flabby as I near my “older years” and so I am busting my ass off now, while I can, to offset, and perhaps delay some of the inevitable changes of old age. Does that make sense? Plus, it makes me feel great!
I was a hyper child - it was only natural that I got involved with sports. And the love of being active has stayed with me. No, “wanna lose flab here…there” type of goal or reason to be active.
Plus, by being in shape I can keep my asthma and skin condition in check.
So many people now are superficial - and appearance is much more important (IMO) than overall health and fitness. Alot people believe that since they're gonna die anyway someday - they might as well enjoy their smoking, junk food, etc. And why "waste" time in the gym? And there are people who believe it's rather egotistical to spend "so much time on yourself" by working out, etc. They believe it to be selfish to do so. There's actually so many reasons people give to avoid the gym or active lifestyle.
I really do it so that I can breath easy on a day to day basis, and I like how I feel when I'm active and healthy. It improves the quality of my life. I'm also constantly learning about my body and about the human body in general. I'm learning about nutrition, supplements, general health. That's exciting. I can't wait til I'm 70 - I'm gonna be one active Granny.
Psychologically speaking, people are much more likely to avoid pain than move toward pleasure, i.e. although EVERYONE wants better health the effort involved is prohibitive for most.
(On a side note, why the heck do ya think “fat blockers” etc. are so popular. Hey, eat all you want, pop this pill and the fat will slide right through ya. Frigging gross if you ask me.)
If you’re talking about the individual making their own choice, probably not. But said individual could be led through some kind of program where they were not responsible for their own choices (military, etc.) and could have lifestyles changed. But of their own volition…usually it takes some kind of major event or realization.
My personal carrot is that I feel fucking awesome every day. I get up early, hit the weights and I can take on the world. My mind is clear, my body feels right and I am on a high. To be fit all my life is also a goal, but shit, I’d do it for the way I feel right now!
I started out just lifting so I wouldn’t be the scrawny kid in school. It worked. I put on some muscle and people quit picking on me. I kept doing it because I like the feel of muscles working. One day I got to a trailhead after a four day hike. A group was getting ready to head in and not just hike but climb the mountain we had camped at the base of. The leader was about 65+ and very fit. I immediately thought “If I have to get old I want to do it like that”. As I go through life I see older people skiing backcountry terrain, hiking some steep section of a trail, and once in Sun Valley I saw a 70 year old guy ripping it on a long snowboard. They all had some things in common, a joy for living, a huge smile, and a healthy active lifestyle. Now I’m 42. I train hard, I ski hard, and have a great time. The only thing is that I need younger ski partners and hunting partners because the ones my age just don’t keep up at all. Good thing I have kids.
I do think that for the majority of people the main motivator to put forth the effort in the gym is to simply look better…naked preferably. They even determined this to be the main impetus for professional athletes too. In a way, I think many people are pretty much dissatisfied with their bodies (sadly), and hope that working out will make them look better and be happier with themselves. I know that this is the case for myself, and that I am somewhat obsessed with the goal. It probably didn’t help that I spent all of my youth overweight, although perhaps not obese. In fact, I was having this discussion with my close friend and training partner the other day. I contended that the two of us are actually less happy with our bodies than two mutual friends who do not even bother training, let alone researching on this site and others! He ultimately agreed, and so did one of my friends I was using as a comparator. One of my friends is a high level competitive bodybuilder, heavyweight, and he has said to me that he is not “happy” with his physique…but perhaps this is necessary for him to take his training to such extremes. As yet, I have not used illegal steroids etc, but do research them and am open minded about employing their use in the future. I am 24 years old.
AS LONG AS IT DOESN’T BECOME OBSESSIVE (e.g. anorexia, mutiple plastic surguries, depression from not being satisfied with our look, “Adonis Complex”), don’t you think that “not completely being satisfied” is a healthy driving force to stay in shape?
Mufasa: Unfortunately, even our best most heartfelt efforts
can not foster change in our loved ones. For change to occur,
whether it be fitness related or not, each has to come to their
own private revelation! Until then, we’re wasting our energy; it’s
analogous to telling a drunk - you know that beer isn’t too good
for you.
I was a fat kid, (skinny-fat) from a fat family, who realized at age
13 that things needed to be different! So I educated myself as to how
many calories were in the foods that I ate and how my body responded
to them. Next I got involved in weight training and sports. Now, "over"
20 some odd years later, I'm more passionate about fitness than
ever! BTW - My family is now fatter than ever. Despite all the wisdom
and encouragement I could offer them, they remain the same.
Well, lots of thoughts here, but I’ll add one more. I honestly believe that most people have no friggin’ clue what it’s like to be in good health. People think they’re healthy so long as they’re “not sick”. But, as most people on this site know from personal experience, there’s a world of difference between simply being “not sick” and waking up each morning with energy to burn and a fierce desire to grab the day by the throat and make it into something you want. Once you’ve experienced the latter, it’s hard to go back to the former.
I have a little analogy that I use when I talk to people about fitness. I draw a graph with the vertical axis going from 0 to 100. Then I draw a horizontal line at 50, and tell them that below the line is “sick” and above the line is “healthy”. So you can be “healthy” at 51 (which is where most people are), but if the flu or something comes around and you get ten points knocked off due to illness, well, then you get sick. But if you start at, say, 70, then you only get knocked down to 60 or so, and you’re still fine. Maybe not setting any new records that day, but still feeling a lot better than the average “healthy” guy sitting there teetering on the brink of 51.
