Hello all,
I am just curious how do you guys maintain your motivation. Especially when things get rough outside of the gym? Is it music, positive thinking or just that internal fire which is so damn hard to maintain? Please share your thoughts.
progression and the will to succeed. youtube videos always get me pumped too. tomorrow is another day to be better than you were, and being average/normal sucks.
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Vanity
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About six years ago, my daughter was born, my mom died, then my daughter had open heart surgeryā¦all within 5 months time. (daughter easily survived the surgery.)
I got real spiritual at this point and did a lot of thinking about āwhat it all meansā. In the end it came down to this: The most important thing we have in our lives are our own bodies. My body and my life is the only thing that I can be absolutely sure about. The rest is out of my control anyway.
I to put more focus on the health of my body. After some years, I realized that this meant getting as strong as possible. Now I lift weights and am stronger and healthier than ever.
You will never go wrong by taking care of and strengthening your body. Never.
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The mirror
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[quote]roland2000 wrote:
About six years ago, my daughter was born, my mom died, then my daughter had open heart surgeryā¦all within 5 months time. (daughter easily survived the surgery.)
I got real spiritual at this point and did a lot of thinking about āwhat it all meansā. In the end it came down to this: The most important thing we have in our lives are our own bodies. My body and my life is the only thing that I can be absolutely sure about. The rest is out of my control anyway.
I to put more focus on the health of my body. After some years, I realized that this meant getting as strong as possible. Now I lift weights and am stronger and healthier than ever.
You will never go wrong by taking care of and strengthening your body. Never.[/quote]
Amazing. Thanks for sharing your story.
When you REALLY want it, you donāt need someone or something to motivate you. You just wanna do it. Ofcourse we all have days when we feel tired, but if you always need someone to push you, you aināt gonna last.
I think Aopocetx makes a good point, you have to have the majority of your motivation coming from internally, although external sources of motivation shouldnāt be disregarded as useless as they can be useful as pick me ups or to drive you a little further. However it is the internal motivation that will be the thing that lasts and that gets you through it in the long term. Iām actually starting an MSc in exercise and sports psychology in a few weeks so hopefully Iāll be able to give you a better answer in a few months, but from personal experience and some reading I can tell you that you do get peaks and valleys in motivation, that is always going to happen no matter what, but as long as the majority of the time youāre eager to get in there and smash it then you donāt have anything to worry about.
But in regards to the OPās actual question, if I am struggling or feeling tired and Iām in the gym then I actually like to just think along the lines of not allowing the āmeā of yesterday, or last week, or last month or whenever, be better than the āmeā today. I think in all sports, but especially in bodybuilding/powerlifting, that you have to compete with yourself more than others, as only you have the same genetics and same life circumstances, so only you can truly compare to yourself (hope that makes sense). But yeah obviously there are many ways to motivate yourself and everyone finds different things motivating, so as long as youāre asking the question as a curiosity rather than trying to find a way to motivate yourself then thatās fine.
[quote]Aopocetx wrote:
When you REALLY want it, you donāt need someone or something to motivate you. You just wanna do it. Ofcourse we all have days when we feel tired, but if you always need someone to push you, you aināt gonna last. [/quote]
this.
Self Motivated to kick the pathetic Asses of kids half my age(47) !
Squat It, Pull It, Push It ā¦Prowler It !
Successful people do daily what others do occasionally.
[quote]T-Fal wrote:
Successful people do daily what others do occasionally. [/quote]
they get a haircut every day?
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The things that help me stay motivated:
- a goal in numbers, fat mass, lean mass, maxes, etc
- detailed log book with my weight, fat%, all details about my workouts and now also tracking macros
- i decide to follow a plan for a specific period of time, including which program and training frquency
- after i start a training cycle i do not allow myself to make decisions, i just execute. I never ask myself if i feel like lifting that day, i just do it, because the decision has already been made. Thus thereās no chance for quiting.
[quote]Yogi wrote:
[quote]T-Fal wrote:
Successful people do daily what others do occasionally. [/quote]
they get a haircut every day?[/quote]
iāve gotta say, ever since iāve been getting my hair cut every day Iā¦ well i have no hair anymore, oh yeah and i gained 50 lbs of solid muscle in 2 weeks, nobigdealbro
I just think how lucky I am to be able to work out. No matter how much it āsucksā some times, I think of people with physical disabilities that cant exercise, Like having MS and Diseases that limit physical movements etc. That gets me out of my shitty self pity mood quick.
Tom
[quote]smblkolds wrote:
I just think how lucky I am to be able to work out. No matter how much it āsucksā some times, I think of people with physical disabilities that cant exercise, Like having MS and Diseases that limit physical movements etc. That gets me out of my shitty self pity mood quick.
Tom[/quote]
I think a realization like that can quickly put things into perspective. I have a client that Iāve been working with for a couple of years now. She has MS, and has placed top 5 in every figure show sheās entered. Seeing how doggedly determined she is always helps me reassess many of my own issues when I may start whining.
S
[quote]rusty92 wrote:
I think in all sports, but especially in bodybuilding/powerlifting, that you have to compete with yourself more than others, as only you have the same genetics and same life circumstances, so only you can truly compare to yourself (hope that makes sense). [/quote]
Thatās very true too. I used to get discouraged seeing people way bigger than me because I could never make gains like that but when I started focusing on myself is when I started making consistent progress. All you can do is improve yourself day by day, week by week, month by month, and eventually itāll add up and you will have made some serious gains.
But yeah, everything else you said, rusty, is basically my thoughts too.
When I need a little push, I watch videos. I like Antoine Vaillant, old Arnold clips, etc.
[quote]wisdom_of_strong wrote:
Hello all,
I am just curious how do you guys maintain your motivation. Especially when things get rough outside of the gym? Is it music, positive thinking or just that internal fire which is so damn hard to maintain? Please share your thoughts.[/quote]
Just knowing that I always feel better (mentally and physically) after a workout is enough for me.
Self Motivated through knowing that I can kick the ass of 65% of the kids Half My Age !
For about a month straight when I go to the gym I just listen to videos of dorian yates training lol. dead serious, when his trainer screams āget it in ladā or you hear him screaming to me it defines everything that life is about. the will to succeed comes form nothing more than working your ass off and pushing the boundaries of comfort and being fearless in your endevors. watching or listening to him train to me defines what it means to truly push yourself.