In the aftermath of the holiday season, large numbers of people purchase gym memberships. The extra holiday pounds many accrue over a few days of inactivity and excessive food consumption often acting as powerful motivators to get fit; a leaner body beckons. The difficulty, as many know, is sustaining the motivation. The fall off rate in gym attendance is tremendous, even with those who have paid for a full year’s membership. The key, then, is to find effective ways of perpetuating one’s motivation.
Motivation’s Evil Twin: Demotivation
Demotivation is easily explained; if gym attendance takes place after work, individuals often feel too tired to make the effort, putting it off until an ever elusive ‘tomorrow.’ Exactly the same argument is applicable to early morning or even mid-afternoon attendance – busy work routines do appear to siphon one’s energy. And add to this the fact that results inevitably take time to be observed, and the chorus of demotivating voices whispering in one’s head become ever more audible.
Exercise: The Cure for Tiredness
The good, if somewhat counterintuitive news though, is that it is the nature and direction of one’s beliefs rather than the amount of energy that one feels one has available that determines whether exercise routines are maintained. Exercise, far from depleting energy and vitality, actively regenerates both; it is inactivity which contributes to fatigue and exercise which combats it. Vigorous exercise also flushes the cardiovascular system of accumulations of stress-related cortisols; attending the gym does not add to stress but rather significantly diminishes it. So, how can one challenge the thought and behavior patterns that lead directly to an easy chair in front of the TV instead of a rowing machine at the gym?
The Determination Muscle
The most important ‘muscle’ to work on is a mental one: determination. And one way of keeping this muscle in good working order is to drop unrealistic expectations. It is inevitable that regular exercisers will hit a plateau, where they appear to be working out vigorously but are neither losing weight nor developing significant visible muscle definition. There is no easy way around this; like the famous ‘wall’ that athletes encounter during marathons, it has to be worked through rather than succumbed to. A degree of benevolent obstinacy is necessary to counter those siren-like inner voices advising one to throw in the towel.
The Paper Coach
On occasions, committing thoughts to paper can be exceptionally helpful. Compiling a list of all the reasons why exercise can be of benefit is not simply a ‘paper’ exercise. It can help focus one’s motivation, and keep the goal in view. If the aim is to feel healthier and more vigorous, and to look leaner and more defined, pin it to the side of the refrigerator and look at it every day. Disliking one’s current physical condition and shape, while it can become exaggerated and harmful if taken too far, can also powerfully spur individuals on to reach their goal. The plateau has to confronted, and keeping the goals in view will help in the struggle.
The Couch Potato’s Enemy: Exercise Companions
Finding an accomplice can also sustain commitment; if an ‘exercise buddy’ attends workouts as well, it would be letting him or her, as well as oneself, down to decide not to show up at an appointed time. An exercise companion can also supply the words of encouragement needed to drown out the inner temptations to ‘give it all a break this evening’; and this is a role that can be reciprocated. Strong, mutually empowering friendships can be built in this fashion, as well.
The benevolent obstinacy described above can clearly be fortified with the help of an obstinacy accomplice. But the obstinacy itself is likely to take on a life of its own after a certain period, especially as the plateau starts to come to an end and one begins to see signs or real, new progress. When this starts to happen, it becomes appreciably easier to go to the gym on a cold wet morning, or resist the temptation to eat fatty foods just because friends are doing so. The goals which were written on that sheet of paper are beginning to become more securely internalized at this point, finally acting as sources of motivation.
Expect Obstacles in the Path
It is also important to develop a new relationship to setbacks. Life is littered with contingencies; all manner of unexpected snags and obstacles can and will clutter the path ahead. It is as well to be prepared for this, to ‘take it in one’s stride’ as it were, even though one’s stride will almost certainly not be in the form of the neat upward line one had been imagining. There will be occasions when unwanted weight mysteriously returns, or another plateau makes its unwelcome presence felt. These are not personal failures so much as inevitabilities and one’s inner obstinacy coach needs to be fully aware of their likelihood. Again, the temptation to ‘take a rest’ will emerge; yielding to it will almost certainly not result in a temporary respite but a full retreat, accompanied by self-recrimination and unnecessary disillusionment. If one has survived the first plateau, others can be overcome, too. It’s just sensible to expect them from time to time.
Reward and Variety
One means of keeping a ‘feel good factor’ alive in times of exercise struggle is to develop the habit of rewarding oneself for keeping up with the program. A small, inexpensive treat (preferably not comprised of processed foods, such as healthy, albeit small amounts of raw or lightly processed dark chocolate) to keep spirits buoyant can be a sensible and helpful strategy.
While it can simplify matters to continually practice habitual exercise routines, constant repetition can also become exceptionally boring. Varying the routine on a regular basis can introduce a degree of enlivening freshness to the workout and help sustain that ever-threatened motivation.
Prepare Meals in Advance
A simple but all-too-easily overlooked issue is eating; for the exercise to bring one’s goals to reality, healthy eating is an essential component and this requires a certain measure of forethought and planning. There is always a temptation to yield to hunger by the shortest possible route and reach out for fast food; to counteract this tendency, prepare meals well in advance, in suitable portions, so that all that is necessary is reheating.
A New Mindset
Eating well, developing the art of benevolent ‘self-obstinacy coaching’, and driving through plateaus and setbacks will cumulatively become a new mindset, a new habit of living, bringing the healthier lifestyle and physique one had hitherto only dreamt of, in its wake.
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