What's your motivation and what worked to actually act on it?

The_Wright_Fit

For me, I didn't want to buy new pants as my current ones were getting a bit tight. From that I decided I needed to be a bit better about actually going to the gym. I started out going to a class or two a week. Spin class was good for me since I like biking. Boxing was fun as well so going m/w gave me a good break between classes initially for my body to recover and not wear myself out right off the bat.
Fortunately I'm stubborn so going back was more of a proving to myself that I would. The class being on a particular schedule also helped me stick with it rather than giving myself excuses to miss it.

rusgolden

For me, just seeing the benefits with health and wellness has been great motivation. When I started on this journey 18 months ago, I was at my heaviest and just knew I needed to make changes and start losing weight. After a few months with good results, my motivation came from events... last year had a HS reunion and this year my son got married. I also had good luck with meeting interim weight goals and now just about 10 lbs from reaching my final goal weight.

I've changed my workouts up a little over the months, but really looking for some ideas to change it up some more so the workouts don't become stale.

The_Wright_Fit

Good for you! Keep it up!
What sort of ideas are you looking for? Just new things to try or stay motivated? Have you found you've hit a plateau?

rusgolden

So far motivation hasn't been an issue for me as I've been very consistent with my workouts even while traveling. I have reached a bit of a plateau with my weight, but I feel like it is somewhat self induced with food choices of late... scales not going up, but not going down either (or not as fast as I think it should).

I think I've talked myself into skipping the gym routine for a month and shake it up by doing some other workouts at home... I have a rower I hardly use as well as bands, etc. At the start, going to the gym was a way for me to stay on a schedule as it was always too easy to skip if I was going to do it at home, but I have proven to myself the past couple of months with my running routine that I can stick to it even if I'm not going to the gym.

I have options galore as far as cardio routines I can do, but really don't want to give up the strength training aspect, so that is where I'm really looking for ideas/guidance.

The_Wright_Fit

What do you do for post-workout recovery? When I hit my recent plateau I added another morning at the gym and started making sure i had a protein drink within half an hour or so after my workout. I also started bringing one to work to sip on during the day rather than the other snacks I keep around. And water, obviously, I have to have ice cold water. Rarely but occasionally I'll need some caffeine in the afternoon but most of the time, especially now with the protein, i do much better.

I'm terrible about using my gear at home. Even going to the gym I'm bad about deciding what to do if i'm not in a class. I tend to end up just doing a circuit of the machines.

Good for you on sticking to a routine!

Have you done things like adding a step for the home workouts? There are a ton of exercises that can be applied there for strength and cardio. Squats with hand weights are easy, lunge steps, shoulder presses, etc..

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/training.html has a lot of excellent info as well including fitness plans and examples. I'm also fascinated reading about Arnold Schwarzenegger and his body building finesse. Not just that, but how highly regarded he is just overall. Not that I'm a bodybuilder but there's a lot to say about his concepts, technique, and results.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/15-things-that-made-arnold-schwarzenegger-great.html