Workout Motivation

I had just spent a long time rehabing my knee injury, and the doctor had finally gave me the green light for running and more intensive exercise. I was pretty excited about it because my cardio was horrendous from the layoff and I felt that I had less energy because of it.

A friend of mine who was out of shape and looking to improve asked to join me in my workouts. I was happy to have the company so I gladly told him to come. He could only do a few pushups could not do one pullup, but I knew that if he would keep coming that he would improve quickly.

And he did. After only a few workouts, he was able to do his first pullup. He was also doing a lot more pushups and I gave him some ideas that would help him with his diet. I was also making a lot of improvements myself, and was excited to watch someone else improve as well.

But then something that happens all too often occured…

He stopped coming to the workouts!

I don’t know whether it was because he wasn’t progressing quickly enough, or because he was busy, or whatever else – but he stopped coming to the workouts. The first few times I tried calling him to ask him if he wanted to come, but then it became clear to me that he wasn’t interested.

I quickly forgot about it and continued working out and trying to eat relatively decently. A couple of months later, I ran into my friend and he remarked to me “I’m just not able to get into shape, no matter what I do” and shook his head, accepting his fate somberly.

The Secret to Success…

Most likely, all of you had the same thought while reading this. Why is he complaining about not being able to get into shape when he didn’t even give it a long enough try? Well, there you have the reason why 95% of people don’t succeed at goals they set for themselves. They quit before they have time to succeed.

And that’s the secret to people who reach their goals. They don’t quit. I think this is an important concept here. There is no secret formula to fitness or anything else. It’s just applying the same, tried and true concepts (in this case, eat well, workout hard) and continuing to do them. I guarantee you that for 95% of you, if you apply the concepts you find on this blog, you will reach your goals!

[What kind of motivational post would this be if there wasn't a Rocky video in it!?]

Okay Rafi – When Are We Getting Some Motivational Tips Already!

All right, so you know you can reach your goals, and you know you have to not quit. But it’s hard, and you want some motivation to keep you going! First, I say think back to a time where you did something really hard that was worthwhile, and how happy you are now that you did it. This is different for everyone.

The second thing is to think about why you started this fitness adventure. There was clearly something about yourself that you wanted to improve, and improving yourself physically can give you increased confidence and a new fresh feeling about life. Think about how badly you want it and how it’s worthwhile to give the momentary “pleasure” of sleeping in for the long term pleasure of looking and feeling great.

There May be a Day Where I Eat Poorly and Don’t Get Off the Couch…But Today is Not That Day!

Another great thing is to keep yourself thinking about today. Maybe tomorrow you’ll skip a workout. Maybe yesterday you did skip a workout. But dang it, TODAY you won’t. Even if today is the only day in the entire year where you put in the effort to reach your goals, it doesn’t matter. TODAY you will stick to your workout and diet plan. Today you will succeed.

And every day that you follow through on your goals, mark it down as a victory. Those little victories add up – and soon you’ll win the war.