Motivation...it escapes me

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  • DeltaZero
    DeltaZero Posts: 1,197 Member
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    Motivation: http://youtu.be/lsSC2vx7zFQ
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    If you can't get yourself motivated then you shouldn't be here cause you're not ready.

    you seem like tons of fun
  • Escloflowne
    Escloflowne Posts: 2,038 Member
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    If you can't get yourself motivated then you shouldn't be here cause you're not ready.

    ^^^ See this is harsh
    You don't want it bad enough. Yet.

    ^^^ This is not

    You should be here to help find motivation, morning workouts are hard at first but try and find a routine that is based on 3 workouts a week and you have to do them to progress, like NROL or something!
  • Phaedra2014
    Phaedra2014 Posts: 1,254 Member
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    Hi, I was wondering how you all get motivated to get up and workout. I've been saying to myself that I will wake up early and hit my treadmill or when I get home from work. While I do wake up early enough to get it done, I choose to stay in bed with the covers up to my neck....it's just so comfy lol. When I get home, I'm tired from the day. I know these are just excuses I am using to justify my lack of motivation.

    What are your motivational strategies for getting up off your butt and doing?

    I make exercise a priority no matter what. That's how badly I want to be successful at accomplishing my fitness goals.
  • asianmonkie
    asianmonkie Posts: 264
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    I find that the less you think about it, the more you will be willing to do it. Don't think, just wake up, get out of bed and get started. Your brain is still half asleep so it won't know what's going on :D
  • Phaedra2014
    Phaedra2014 Posts: 1,254 Member
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    You don't need motivation, you need commitment. Commit to doing it and follow through. Don't waffle around. Once you commit to showing up to work each day, you just go do it even if you don't feel motivated. Same with working out.

    Take some time and find out when your best time of the day is to work out. For me it's the afternoon, so I go to the gym after work, before I go home. That also gives me a nice buffer between work life and home life, so that I don't bring home the work stress as much.

    If you're set on going in the morning, then instead of thinking about how it's comfy in bed, think about how proud you will feel when you've finished your workout, how the day will just seem brighter and go better, about how you will feel like a strong, successful person for having conquered the lazy bug and gotten that workout in.

    After a while the routine gets so set that you won't dream of skipping.

    +1
  • stormbornkraken
    stormbornkraken Posts: 303 Member
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    The first two weeks are absolutely the hardest, but after those first two weeks you'll find that you're not exhausted, you're actually ENERGIZED. It feels really good, and it's a wonderful stress relief. I'm just getting back on the wagon after having a baby, so I understand the wanting to stay in bed. :) You just have to force yourself to push through it, and pretty soon it won't be as tough to get up.

    I find this very true. You are setting a new life style habit. Behavior is a tricky thing to adjust but it can be done. Pluck up the courage and soon you will have benefited enough from the new habit that you will understand why it is crucial for your physical and mental health.
  • Mindylee143
    Mindylee143 Posts: 27 Member
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    One of my new MFP friends just posted a blog on motivation the other day...here's a link. It's right on.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/xX_PhoenixRising_Xx/view/that-motivation-situation-609960
  • Mouse_Potato
    Mouse_Potato Posts: 1,495 Member
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    If I only did the things I felt motivated to do, I would never accomplish anything. :flowerforyou:
  • Silvara_11
    Silvara_11 Posts: 133 Member
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    FOOD motivates me, if I wake up early and work out I know I can eat what I like the rest of the day. So easy to get motivated if you like to eat :)

    It also helps when you find an exercise you can't live without. For me if I don't do regular yoga and go on regular hikes I get grumpy so very easy to just get up and go.

    If you want to hit the gym in the morning best to be packed an ready to go the night before.
  • ecw3780
    ecw3780 Posts: 608 Member
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    First of all, I never ever tell myself I am going to get up and exercise. It wont happen. However, when I do get up, the first thing I put on is workout clothes (unless I am going to work). If I am going to work, I set out my workout clothes so they are ready when I get home. Actually getting the clothes on is my biggest battle. Once I am in the workout clothes, then I make myself go work out. Then I barter with myself. "Run to the tree, then you can stop" "Lift for 10 more minutes and you can have peanut butter". Even if you only exercise for 15 minutes, it is better than nothing at all. Lastly, if you can get in 10,000 steps a day, that alone will cause a big change.
  • brandi712
    brandi712 Posts: 407 Member
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    You don't want it bad enough. Yet.

    As harsh as this sounds - it is true. Change is hard. Building new habits takes time. For the first few weeks, you just have to get up and do it. No one else can make you - you have to want it BAD.


    To me, it wasn't harsh at all. It was brutal honesty. And I both respect and respond to it. Thanks!
  • prettygirlstorm1
    prettygirlstorm1 Posts: 722 Member
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    I love to exercise but I also love to eat which is why I maintain and not lose. I have two classes at the Y that I belong to that are wonderful: Spinning and Pilates. These classes run four days a week so I am motivated to go to them. The other two days are not so fun so I take my workout clothes with me to work so that I can go straight there. I know if I go home first it's a wrap I am in for the evening. I think finding something that you like to do always makes working out easier. I also have a cousin and my daughter who motivate me. I want to lose a lot of weight and my daughter is that ideal weight so she and I support each other! Working out with someone helps as well. Good luck to you
  • JONZ64
    JONZ64 Posts: 1,280 Member
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    Are you somehow under the delusion that we all LOVE to go to the gym/run/workout every day, no matter what, with nothing better we'd rather be doing? :huh:

    Some days I'd rather do ANYTHING other than going to the gym, but I force myself because I know it's what I need to do. We all do. And when I'm done, I take an emotion photograph of how I feel, and use that to remind myself of how awesome I feel AFTER I'm done, to help me out of bed the next time I'm feeling worthless and lazy.


    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: I do LOVE working out, but yeah seriously there are some mornings where the dream I was having was more enticing than the fat sweaty guy on the elliptical in front of me, BUT as you said AFTER I feel so awesome it is worth it:tongue:
  • Fodao
    Fodao Posts: 63 Member
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    Whenever I have to keep at something I don't want/like, I have to fixate on a powerful emotion I've associated with my goal.

    The next time you are hit with a wave of emotion, either good or bad, concerning your goal (such as: a comment from an esteemed family member about how different you look, or the latest (or even imagined -- predicting the future) cautionary report from the doctor telling you you need to change your lifestyle), sit down and mull it over for a few moments to let it really sink in. You want to remember what it (the agony of defeat, the exhilaration of success, or the fear of consequence) feels like.

    Then, the next time you think of not doing something to meet that goal's end, try to recall that memory and (especially) emotion. If it's powerful enough (and it may take some time to find a memory/emotion that is powerful enough -- like someone else said earlier: you have to want your goal *enough*), there won't be much of a struggle; you won't think twice about it.

    Of course, you'll try to get out of it again in the future, but you just have to keep beating it down...
  • brandi712
    brandi712 Posts: 407 Member
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    Motivation: http://youtu.be/lsSC2vx7zFQ

    This is amazing! Thank you!!!
  • emdeesea
    emdeesea Posts: 1,823 Member
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    Well for one thing, I'm honest with myself. I'm not, nor will I ever be, a morning person so I don't schedule workouts for myself in the AM. Because it just won't happen.

    I do go after work because, well, I just do. It's become a habit. I admit, it was drudgery at first, but part of the reason you're so tired after work is because you don't work out. Once you get stronger you will have more energy to do these things.
  • pmumble
    pmumble Posts: 19
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    Motivation is only a temporary fuel you can use to build discipline. Discipline is what you need to cultivate. Working out needs to become a habit.

    3, 3, 3 is one way to go for discipline/habit building.

    Use your motivation to commit for 3 days.
    When you get to the third day, commit to 3 weeks.
    At the end of the 3 weeks, commit to 3 months.

    By the end of each phase you will have a slight boost due to reaching your goal, which makes setting the next one easier.

    Good luck!
  • k_c100
    k_c100 Posts: 5
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    I never feel motivated to work out - there is no form of exercise I enjoy so I have accepted that I will NEVER feel motivated to work out. I'll always dread working out, there is never going to be a day that arrives where I think 'oh I cant wait to go for a run today'. Instead I write my exercise into my diary like its an 'appointment' - just like you have meetings at work, this is my meeting between my trainers and the pavement.

    I'm not a morning person, personally I prefer the extra 45 mins in bed (I do the same as you if I set my alarm to workout in the morning - alarm goes off and I press snooze and lay there for 45 mins with the duvet up to my ears debating whether to run or not!). So if you really cant face mornings then you HAVE to work out after work, regardless of how tired you are. Its your choice, you either get the extra time in bed all comfy and warm BUT you have to come home and work out, or you drag yourself out of that comfy bed in the knowledge you can collapse in a heap when you get home.

    There are plenty of things we do on a daily or weekly basis that we dont want to do - we go to work, we do the washing, the ironing, washing up, tidying the house.....the list goes on. Working out is just another of those things you dont want to do but have to get done. Treat it like an appointment/meeting that you cant get out of, set a time and put it in your diary. Have your workout clothes ready to go, trainers waiting at the top of the stairs and try not to think about it - the more you think about exercise the more you can talk yourself out of it. So dont allow yourself to think about whether or not you are going to do it when you get home, no thinking allowed! Just get home and get it over and done with!
  • akirla
    akirla Posts: 22 Member
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    I am not a morning exercise person. I've got to be at the office really early and I find I loose too much sleep if I try and work out in the mornings. At the beginning of each week I set an exercise goal. I really enjoying going to classes at the gym. Spin, BodyPump, Yoga. I check the schedule and plan my week around it. Most classes are at 5:30 PM so I get off work, do what I need to do for 45 minutes and then change and leave. Eventually it becomes a habit. It takes a few weeks to get going. Once you get up and start doing it, you'll feel great no matter what time of day it is. Set small goals for yourself. Start simple.

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