What is your motivation technique?

No techniques. Health is a core value for me. What I eat and how I keep myself fit are key components of that. I don't need any additional motivation. If you need a motivation technique then I would question what you value as you find important should be motivation enough IMHO.

To get out of bed after 3-4 hours of actually sleeping and laying awake from 3-ish to 4-ish a.m. wondering if sleep will return, my motivation to get up is my bladder. Once I'm done with that business, I just admit that sleep isn't going to happen again and get started.

To get out of the house, I get dressed and go. I have to if I'm going to make a living.

To workout, I get out of bed, get dressed, maybe get to work and maybe get home from work or maybe it's not even a work day, but I don't workout naked. I can workout at the fitness facility in my office building, in my house, or outside my house.

bbell1985 wrote: »

I don't need it. It hurts me more not to go train.

This is me, too. Days I don't work out I fell foggy and sluggish and blah. I try to workout every day.

mystivan wrote: »

Thanks for sharing guys!! I would also love to hear what you say to yourself to push on, on days when it's hard..like the voice in your head..

The voice in my head? That idiot? I ignore him and lift.

It's part of my life. Some days I don't want to workout,m and I have no motivation, but I do it anyway. It's just a habit.

mystivan wrote: »

Thanks for sharing guys!! I would also love to hear what you say to yourself to push on, on days when it's hard..like the voice in your head..

- i bike commute. so i'm pretty much doing it whether i want to or not - unless i feel like making that concrete decision to change what i do. some days i ride because doing it is just easier than the decisions and alterations involved in not doing it. never underestimate inertia for its power to keep you going

- again, i bike commute. so in that context a lot of the time i function by knowing it's always finite. it's a specific distance. it's going to be done. i think it helps that i've always been fascinated by the idea that if you just keep doing something - making the pedals go round in this case - one day you will reach wherever you're going to. it wouldn't matter if i was riding across the gobi desert each time. so long as the pedals are moving i'm going to get there.

the other thing i do is lifting. with lifting it's different because yup, i always can quit. the 'destination' in each workout is arbitrary. i'm not sure what specific thing keeps me going when it's bad, but i got the flu a few months ago. that memory's useful, just because when i had the flu it sucked too - and there was nothing that i could do about it. i find myself using that comparison quite a lot, in i guess just my own kind of way. 'yup, this sucks. if it was the flu you would just have to let it suck, wouldn't you'.

oh. i'll also mention [ because i keep thinking up things to help me procrastinate here on going to bed] something concrete i did when i was just re-starting as a bike commuter. two somethings.

first was to carve out a specific number of weeks. it was sort of arbitrary but i've done this start-again-stop-again thing a few times so it seemed fairly reliable. and i told myself: okay, while you're getting back into this there is a specific and finite quantum of suck that you'll have to get through. it was basically some equation like [physical condition in which this will feel much easier] - [physical condition that you're in now]'. and then when i had that 'gap' in my head, i went through those 8 weeks or whatever it was reminding myself, this is a specific quantum of suck. you're cutting off one tiny inch from that quantum of suck with this ride.' i kind of made myself the mental promise that if i did it consistently for x weeks, it was going to be easier [and of course it did]. so that was another way i got myself started and kept myself going in the beginning.

second thing i did helped too with keeping me in those first weeks. it was a grown up, weight-conscious version of the little kid's sticker chart on the fridge. mine went like this: i did some math, based on 3500 calories in a pound and 500ml of volume to a pound of butter. and i crunched it all in my mind and came tot he conclusion that 40 calories equates to a teaspoon of literal, physical fat. idk if this is true or not; we're talkinga bout motivational tools here, not concrete science

anyway, once i had that i lowballed the hell out of my notion of how many calories each of those suck-rides was worth. decided that for every day that i rode to work and rode home, i could probably safely assume that i'd burned 40 calories going each way. and then i brought out some random clear tub from the supermarket, which held at least 2 cups and decreed arbitrarily that it would represent a pound. therefore, every day that i rode to work instead of driving, i would let myself get out the sack of rice when i got home and measure two teaspoonsful into that container.

i'm very childish, but sometiems i figure out hwo to make it work for me. during my 're-entry' stage, i got an enormous amount of motivation and fun out of nothing more sophisticated than wanting to fill up that tub. and i did a hell of a lot of bike days which were about nothing more than wanting to earn another two-teaspoonsfull ceremony when i got home.

My tip is always the same, get dogs that need walks/runs to survive lol. Although I can go one, maybe two days without walking/running them anything past that and they are pent up, whiny, and just plain guilt monger's.

I love my dogs more than anything in the world and (sadly for myself) I care far more about their wellbeing than my own, so I do many things for them that I would never do for myself, such as making sure that no matter what they get exercise every day and they have lots of enrichment in their lives. It works as a plus for me me because I get exercise too.

It is much more fun to go on adventures or even walks around the neighborhood if you have a buddy or a reason to do it. I would never go on a hike by myself, however having a dog to enjoy it with completely changes the experience...sure I'm alone but I have a companion who is having a blast too, so I take them on hikes by myself all the time. Plus workout selfies are so much more fun when you have "someone" else to take them with, and dogs can't blow you off and are always up for anything you want to do that day! - oh and they get accustomed to routine, so you better believe my border collie and Australian shepherd are up bright and early for their morning walk rain or shine, nudging and licking me until I can't ignore them any longer- if that's not motivation I don't know what is.

For other workouts, I find group classes the most motivating thing out there. You make friends in the classes, and even if you barely talk to them it's amazing how quickly you begin to feel not only accountable but also excited to meet up to do it. Same goes for running races, everyone is so friendly and encouraging and the comradeship is unbelievable, even though you have never met them in your whole life.

At home doing the workout dvds is very motivating and fun, it sounds strange but for some reason it really changes the dynamic of a home work out and kicks it up a notch, I get a similar feeling as the group classes even though they are just in the DVD, because you think about how other people are out there doing the same thing or something (I'm not really sure to explain it lol but they are fun).

Personally the most motivating thing for me when I used to workout every day no fail (even when I was sick or had pulled an all nighter or was hungover) was that I enjoyed going to the gym and and making myself better and working to be a better me, but in a visible area... because yes knowing other people can see how hard you are working and that you are all doing it is very motivating- it's just plain true! Now that I don't always have access to a gym, I have a much harder time sticking to it... there are no other gym rats I feel like I'm proving myself to by showing up everyday etc etc so I got to find other ways of motivating, and it's hard. But the good thing is that the more you do it and the stronger the habit the less you have to make a choice/ think about it... it just becomes part of your day.