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Off-Topic What's your source of motivation?

Immediate: dopamine, seratonin, stress relief & feeling of being a little more badass than before. I empower the rest of the day.
Long term: health & longevity; still physically capable to sprint fast or carry a water heater up a set of stairs; pride in abilities & aging physique; positive example for kids.
It's only hard or miserable unless you compare it to the alternatives.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
 
Kenny Croxdale said:
Dr Jason Curtis, Sports Phycologist

Dr Jason Curtis did an interesting presentation on Motivation at the 2012 Albuquerque Stength Clinic, ...

Winning The Challenge

The reserch was based on Define Fitness, a large local gym with multiple locations, annual weight loss contest that was in January each year that coinsides with New Year's Resolutions.

Body For Life

Defined Fitness' program was based on Bill Phillip's Body For Life Weight Loss Contest that he promoted in his Muscle Media 2000 Magaine back in the 1990s. Phillip's also wrote a book, Body For Life.

The beauty of the book is its simplicity.

Curtis' Research

Essentially, Curtis determined Motivation is to some extent part of someone's DNA. Some individual had a lot of Self Motivation, some a had a little and other just didn't have it.

The break down was...

1) Self Motivated Individual

These individuals, as you might expect, had the most success. They were relentless in achieving their objective.

Many of the individuals on the StrongFirst forum have this.

2) Quasi-Motivated Individual

These individual had enough Motivation to show up for their Personal Training Session or show up if they had a Training Partner that held them accountable and to push them.

One of the most interesting aspect of this group was success was determined to a greater degree when...

Bonding With The Presonal Trainer

Curtis research rotated Personal Trainers. Think of it like dating and finding someone you are compatable with and connect with.

Curtis determined that individual who connected with their Personal Trainer and/or Training Partner were more successful.

While this goup had success with their Weight Loss, they weren't as successful as the Self Motivated Group with relentless drive.

3) Non-Motivated Individual

These individuals didn't have sustainable Motivation.

They started exercise and diet programs. After a few week, they stop for various reasons.

As per.

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The Psychological Aspect of Relentless Motivation

The research by Dr Richard Wisemen in his book, The Luck Factor, supports Dr Jason Curtis.

View attachment 18951

The Dateline story below (10 minutes) is the Cliff Notes on it.



The Success Rate of Lucky and UnLucky Individual

Wisemen found the Success Rate Percetage of those who considered themselves to be UnLucky and those who belived they were Luck were the same.

1) Lucky Individuals didn't give up.

They kept trying. They looked for ways and methods that would eventually get them to their destination

A great example is from a book by RJ Ringer on being behind in a race...

"I will eventually catch up to you.
I will try to pass you on the right, on the left, go under or go over you.
If I can't, that noise behind you is me breathing down your neck."

Ringer Take Home Message

Never give up or stop trying.

Alexander Graham Bell stated that when something didn't work, he did not view it as failure. He was simply eliminating what didn't work and moved closer to finding the answer to what would work.

As per Einstein, "Research is what I am doing, when I don't know what I am doing."

Another book on what determines Motivation and Success is...

Drive

View attachment 18952

RSA ANIMATE: Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us, 10 ninutes.



The Three Factors That Drive Motivation

1) Mastery

Being consider an authority on something.

2) Autonomy

Being in control of your own destiny.

3) Purpose

Knowing what you do matters.

Summary

1) Motivation

a) Multiple Factors Dive It.

b) Some have have relentless drive, some a little and some don't.

2) Self Motivated Individual

This group is like a Train on the Track going full Speed.

The downside of these individuals often is having too much Motivation.

They can be overzealous, OverTraining at times.

With this group, you often have to "Rein them in".

2) Quazi-Motivated

Find someone that you can connect with that will hold you accountable, encourage you and push you; a Personal Trainer or Training Partner.

Have enough Motivation to show up and then draft off them. so to speak.

3) Non-Motivated Individuals

Some individuals are not Motivated enough stick with it.

This group for the most part cannot be Motivated.

With that said, at times a traumatic experience may prompt some Motivation in them to some degree.

"You Can Lead A Horse To Water..."

Trying to work with the Non-Motivated is the same as this saying goes.

Trying to help them is time wasted, if they aren't ready of willing.
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I lost all my motivation due to multiple reasons, first, stress at work, incredible marathons in IT thanks to our beloved environment that people think it's just working sitting on a desk, but I guess I'm not the only one.
It's one of the worst environments with tons of hours spent and high speed of execution, if you don't keep up you get fired...
This company has put me so down that not even a strong coffe and redbull could lift me + 30s cold shower...
Now I feel better and in somehow I made it, or probably I got used to it which is probably worst, the problem is that I lost motivation in training, every time I need to train myself, I just can't do it...
I always have been high performance in many sports, competitions etc, but since years I don't compete anymore and it has been only a roll down the hill............

Well what to say, I'll check this post better later, hopefully it gives me some boost... Thanks for sharing.
 
A few random thoughts: first, I think that once we get on a path, motivation isn't so critical anymore because we've got the momentum, and we have developed a habit of training. A friend of mine who is extremely detrained and unmotivated asked me for a suggestion, to write down some things they could do to 'get back into shape'. I asked them to choose 3 days of the week, they did, and I wrote a program giving them ridiculously simple things to do on each of those days for 8 weeks. I said that even if they didn't feel like going to the gym, to go, walk on the treadmill for 5 minutes and then leave, and they wondered if it was a waste of time. They were incredulous that I didn't include some crazy HIIT program or something like that, and my response to them was that the key, critical factor at this time was that they got into the habit of getting into the car after work and going to the gym, instead of going home.

Regarding the 'shot in the arm' that we all need from time to time, mine is to do a quick internet search of the benefits of the primary lift that I'm doing for the day. Might sound silly but if I'm grumbling on deadlift day and I search 'benefits of deadlifts', by the time I'm done reading, I'm looking forward to getting to the gym and practicing.
 
1. Self-efficacy: seeing success creates the desire for more success. Getting stronger/more muscle makes me want more. Running for an hour in the woods makes me feel like a million bucks, and there's satisfaction in knowing it didn't come all that easily.
2. After I stopped working with my hands, got "educated", and starting sitting at a desk all day, I looked and was soft. Don't like that. My grandfather was a big role model. He worked with his hands until dark every day of his life except Sundays, never touched a weight or otherwise worked out, but was as capable as anyone physically. That's the vision I have in my mind of what a functioning human should look like. That lifestyle is going more and more by the wayside as we are supposedly progressing. Training isnt a complete replacement, more like an artificial one. But at least it's something.
3. It's a hobby. Don't have many these days due to other commitments, but hobbies are good to have. It's convenient and provides the benefits above.
 
I am addicted to physical activity, so the internal motivation for dedicating time and effort to training is never an issue.
Absence from training causes a lot of negative impact, so it is not training that needs legitimacy.

However, it does take som external motivation for me to eat very strictly. Last spring i sacrificed all kinds of chocolate, sweets, beer et cetera for two months to cut weight for competition. The external goal was decisive, as I, given normal circumstances, would consider such a strict died as doing more psychological harm than physiologically good.
 
KennyT said:
I’m 52. My kids are 17 and 20. My stated goal for years has been that I will attend their 70th birthday parties. This objective fuels me every single day.
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Lol. I'm looking forward to dancing at great grandkids weddings. The math is the same.
 
As a child I had back injuries that limited what I could to do.
Even so, I found sports\activities I liked and could measure progress.
As an adult, I have less time and more things to do.
So, I look for the best methods I can find (and implement them).
Efficiency means looks for activities that meet several goals at once.
Health, fun\enjoyment and efficiency.
Now, just past middle age, being independent is becoming more important. (It is really, health in disguise)
 
Very simple. I see someone whose physique / physical abilities do not impress me and I say to myself "ain't effin' happening here." Likewise, when I see someone who has obviously worked hard and successfully to better him/herself I use that for inspiration to keep at it. I have sometimes asked strangers "you're really in shape. What do you do?" All kinds of answers that show there is more than one way to skin a cat!!

Also, I am mentally in a place where I simply just cannot see myself training hard and working toward improvement. I mean to the point of "if I was homeless, where would I keep my kettlebells?" I refuse to coast: as @Steve Freides said, "be relentless."

That said, there are people suffering from disease, injuries, and other maladies through no fault of their own. That obviously cannot be helped. It's the "I don't have time" crowd that I absolutely refuse to humor.
 
I just can't live without physical activity, and it is very important for me to see the result - this is my motivation. It is very important for us, people, to see the result of our work, and here I get a beautiful and healthy body. There are only advantages
 
When I was a kid, I got bullied for logging the poorest numbers in fitness tests like pushups (0), pullups (0), situps (under 10). That didn't motivate me - just made me feel that some people are born strong/fit and others aren't... and ain't a damn thing I could do about it.

Junior high/middle school years also sucked because coaches would yell at me for being weak, give me a C in PE, but not give me anything useful to help me get out of being weak. Not even a basic progressive overload training program. I didn't know at the time that some grade school PE coaches were not there out of a love of helping kids get fit.

So by the time I was in college I had some vague notion that getting strong was desirable. Maybe I wasn't born to be as athletic as Michael Jordan, but maybe "strength training" was not all BS. So that was my original motivation to start exercising. I eventually achieved my first pullup, worked up to doing 50 pushups in one set, etc.

Somewhere along the way, exercise turned into a habit. So now I don't even think about my workout any more than I think about brushing my teeth - it's all just part of my lifestyle now.
 
GovernorSilver said:
When I was a kid, I got bullied for logging the poorest numbers in fitness tests like pushups (0), pullups (0), situps (under 10). That didn't motivate me - just made me feel that some people are born strong/fit and others aren't... and ain't a damn thing I could do about it.

Junior high/middle school years also sucked because coaches would yell at me for being weak, give me a C in PE, but not give me anything useful to help me get out of being weak. Not even a basic progressive overload training program. I didn't know at the time that some grade school PE coaches were not there out of a love of helping kids get fit.

So by the time I was in college I had some vague notion that getting strong was desirable. Maybe I wasn't born to be as athletic as Michael Jordan, but maybe "strength training" was not all BS. So that was my original motivation to start exercising. I eventually achieved my first pullup, worked up to doing 50 pushups in one set, etc.

Somewhere along the way, exercise turned into a habit. So now I don't even think about my workout any more than I think about brushing my teeth - it's all just part of my lifestyle now.
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I was the kid behind you in line, trying to duck out of the pullup bar embarassment.
 
I'd get a big dose of satisfaction and be able to give myself a pat on the back if I could achieve some of the recognised "standards" ie Timed Simple, Snatch Test, OAPU both arms, HSPU, Pistol Squats both legs, Deadlift = 1.5 x Bodyweight, ................ 15 Pullups, some sort of as yet undefined pushup ie 50 bodyweight or 10 with a heavy backpack
 
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