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topic of the week -What is the true secret to staying motivated long-term?

Admin

Administrator. Graeme
Staff member
We see it in the gym all the time , summer approches the gym gets a bit busier , but slowly the numbers dwindle down. So many people start a workout regime only to stop it as quickly as they started

Why do you some people stick to it for years when others can't even stick it for weeks?
What is the secret to staying motivated over the long term?



What is your pre workout routine to stat motivated and lift the most that you can ?
 
Drive and determination. Some people are very driven and they tend to do well at things they want to do well at. Some peoples determination is not too good and they are not very consistent.

Bazza's point of enjoying it helps a lot too.
 
As someone who has motivated and demotivated/remotivated a couple of times, heres my input:
A) as bazza said, enjoying the training is a big part . The where/when/who you train with may form part of this too.
B) having goals that you're passionate about. As an exame - If reaching 200 DL really means something to you you'll reach it. Or, if you're just going for it cuz its a bandied about number or cuz itd be cool then you're not going to sustain the drive.
 
I think drive and determination are important but if you're motivated by those character traits alone, you'll eventually burn out.

I think it's important to find something you love doing. If you love a form of training (or two or three) then you will look forward to it, even when you aren't feeling up to it, or think you don't have time or whatever. You'll stick with something you love because you WANT it.

Adding goals to that is a bonus if you're goal driven.
 
1. Enjoy what you're doing... you're more likely to be consistant on a program you find fun then one you hate doing.
2. for me l find l need to hate myself / hate how l perform a lift to motivate me to get better at it. Nothings stronger then hate, it can drive you to do some good things.
 
Understanding that what drives you and motivates you changes as you grow older and encounter new chapters of your life.

In the very early days for me (and I would be lying if I didn't admit to it) it was simply to look good. To walk around in a stringer top and just look massive and ripped. I did that, I got there and I am here. Now the reason I keep going is to maintain what I worked so hard on, because I enjoy it and to better myself. I know more about the physiological and psychological benefits of the training I do. It helps me in every other facet of life, from work to having very good mental clarity.

I am sure if and when I have kids, my priorities will change again - it will be to keep strong and healthy for them, but I think no matter what - looking and feeling strong to me will always have a personal component. Ultimately you have to want to do it. I have to say within myself, and many others I have trained - getting "comfortable" (read: relationships) tends to loosen up your training and nutritional schedule. (eg I am sitting at 13% right now, where as I'd usually be 10-11% year round and maybe sub 10 during summer).

Kudos to those who have the iron clad strength to push through those comfort barriers. Out of all the myriad of close friends I have (both female and male) the single varieties are the leanest and in the best shape :D Makes sense.. when you're always hunting you need good stamina, when you've always got a wild boar on the spit.. well not so much :cool: A way to alleviate this is perhaps have a motivating partner who will train with you. My missus has incredible genetics - doesn't lift weights, just goes for a run every now and again and she's lean all over with good proportions + the calf development of a female figure model (actually, probably even better). So that doesn't help me in any way.
 
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The secret is wanting the change - if that leaves you, for whatever reason (you're 'over' bodybuilding, your partner 'doesnt care' what you look like, other things become 'more important than how you look' etc etc) you lose the reason to be there in the first place.

If you don't truly want it, you'll stop trying to get it.
 
The secret is fear. Fear of mediocrity, fear of being what you started as.

Everyone who continues to train values physical capability and the fear of surrendering that capability drives them to maintain it or improve it.
 
1. long term goals.
2. short term milestones/goals eg; reaching a certain weight/weight lifted.
3. who you train with. surround yourself with strong motivated people, you will get strong and stay motivated. same goes for bbers. for me personally knowing that there are people stronger than me gives me that drive, creating a hunger to get stronger.
4. seeing progress. taking photos to see changes in size, looking back through your log to see where your lifts were at a few months b4 ect.
 
My motivation levels for training are about on par with my motivation levels to do anything else like brushing my teeth, having a shower, eating, wearing clothes, etc.

I suspect that the people who say: "I want to get fit but just don't have the motivation" make it out in their minds that exercise is something huge and overwhelming, when it really doesn't have to be. Perhaps they see it as some impossible feat, or as something that's just impossibly boring, but in any case the people who whinge that they just don't have the motivation probably set a standard for exercise that makes it demotivating, because that standard is either unachievable or or not something they'd actually like to achieve. Of course, I'm only speculating here, and I guess there would be other options available, but this seems to be a fair deduction based on my observations.

Like I said, it takes about as much motivation for me to go to the gym as it does for me to literally go anywhere or do anything. Sure, I need a bit of extra motivation to push myself to or near failure, but to just show up and challenge myself a little? That's motivating! To constantly push myself into the ground while training would be demotivational, and to "train" at such a low level of effort that to call it "going through the motions" would be implying too much would be demotivational. But to find something I enjoy and that's at a challenging but very achievable level, that's exciting, and has me looking forward to the session, and leaving the session feeling really good. If you look forward to something, enjoy doing it, and feel like a king once it's done, then you're not going to need much motivation outside of that.
 
1. Enjoy what you're doing... you're more likely to be consistant on a program you find fun then one you hate doing.
2. for me l find l need to hate myself / hate how l perform a lift to motivate me to get better at it. Nothings stronger then hate, it can drive you to do some good things.

Point 2 - absolutely. Want more, want better.
 
For me it is one word: Results

I am sticking to it because I get results that better my life, everything seems easier and better than before. Of course looking better and being stronger is great, but overall results are what I crave more of, a better overall quality of life. I also enjoy lifting, it still amazes me that you can transform your body by doing a simple thing such as lifting weight repetitively (although we sometimes over complicate this fact lol).

I guess it comes down to that old saying "You can live or you can LIVE", and the iron game lets me LIVE. ;)
 
All very good points which have been raised and I agree with but I think also ROUTINE is a big one, whether you lift before work, during lunch time, on weekends whenever make it part of your routine.

So for me going to the gym at my lunch break is not a chore, it's just what I do, and if for whatever ever reason I can't get there I know i have to make the time up somewhere else, either after work or weekend whenever.
 
Enjoyable environment to train in. Understanding the impacts and effects of training. Realizing it's a long term process.
 
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