by: Gabe Lay, Dillion Smith, Rodney Walker, and Nathan Clark
Fitness Motivation: Do You Have it or Lack it?
Going to the gym should be easy, right? It is one of the best ways to take ourselves and ensure longevity and ease of everyday living. Unfortunately for most people, getting in a workout is a hard sell. There is often one or multiple variables, such as work, school, or other passions and pursuits that stop people from doing this one critical thing, which could literally save their lives. It may sound dramatic in those terms, but it is the undeniable truth. As of writing this blog, our own team members have encountered instances of demotivation ourselves and wanted to provide some insight and wisdom for overcoming the lack of motivation for exercise that plagues so many of us. Here are some of our tips:
- Drink More Water: This may seem like an obvious thing to suggest to anyone, but it is often overlooked, especially as a means to improve training regimens. The important thing to keep in mind here is that our bodies are around 60% water. It makes up the majority of a person, so it is vitally important to drink enough. Without it, it is easy to feel sluggish, sick, exhausted, and completely demotivated. We suggest making drink breaks a part of your daily routine, to ensure that the water intake is adequate. Everyone is different, but the general recommendation is eight, eight-ounce glasses of water per day, which is commonly referred to as the 8×8 rule, and is equivalent to about two liters
- Schedule the Exercise: Here is another recommendation that seems so simple, yet is so easy to break. Most of us live by our schedules. You never miss school, work, or social obligations because you just weren’t feeling it, so why do that with exercise? Our recommendation is to put a workout period in with your daily or weekly planner, and make a vow to stick to it. It may be hard with other responsibilities throughout the day, but you deserve to not be too busy to get three to four hours a week to yourself. You owe it to your body’s physical and emotional wellness to plan out the workout, and stick to the schedule.
3. Find a Mode of Exercise that Suits You: It is entirely understandable that exercise is NOT everyone’s thing. It’s nothing to be ashamed of if that describes you, but it is still vital to get daily activity. Our advice here is to find something active that you like to do. Typically speaking, most people view exercise as a bunch of sweaty, jacked dudes in the gym, yelling about their sweet overhead press. In reality, that is not the case. Some of your favorite, underutilized activities may actually be exercise or something that could have exercise applied within it. This could be recreational activities, like dancing, mountain biking, kayaking, etc. If that isn’t your thing, you could also apply physical activity to something that it is not often associated with. A good example of this is LARPING, or live action role playing. Essentially a group of people envision a fantastical world, where factions are at war, and they simulate these with fabricated weapons, providing themselves with a good amount of activity, while simultaneously doing something they love.
